Perhaps, hard to say. Another likely possibility is the designer was inspired by the Acronym collaborations they had been doing. Of course those are a bit different in that they are:
- super limited for sneaker heads
- based on iconic styles
- from a collaboration with a brand that is known for doing these very seemingly random elements
But, that is just speculation. I’d like to see how it is executed in person. The upper is knit so perhaps it was just cut and the elastic had to go on top to hide the edge and prevent fraying? traditionally that stretch element would be an underlay.
