Do you remember the first time you saw the Yeezy? In 2008, Kanye West appeared at the Grammys wearing sneakers that no one had seen before. They had a unique design and a thick sole. This was the confirmation to the rumor that the rapper was going to start his first fashion project.
Shortly thereafter, the world learned that the sneaker seen that night at the Grammys was the Nike Air Yeezy I , the first model of what would become one of the biggest and most lucrative fashion collaborations of all time. This Kanye fashion empire will have a huge amount of hype and millions of fans around the world.
13 years later, Sotheby 's auction house revealed that the original Yeezy will be up for auction with a high asking price of $1 million. These sneakers are, along with the Air Yeezy II, some of the most coveted sneakers for collectors, says the auction house. "Created exclusively for Kanye, the Air Yeezy was an entirely new silhouette, designed for an artist rather than an athlete, and it paved the way for many of today's artist collaborations."
The Nike Air Yeezy I was created especially for Kanye before he began his collaboration with adidas with the Yeezy Boost line, Sotheby's says.
Origin of the Nike Air Yeezy 1
It all started in the early 2000s, when Kanye West released his College Dropout album and became a worldwide phenomenon, both in sound and style. Due to the success, it didn't take long for various brands to look for him to collaborate. His first collaboration came with the BAPE brand and in 2007 he launched the Bathing Ape Bapesta FS 001 “Dropout Bear” , and that put him on the Nike map.
Tinker Hatfield (Creator of the Air Jordan), Mark Parker (Nike CEO) and Don C (Kanye's manager and designer) began working with the rapper to bring the Nike Air Yeezy I to life.
The sneakers were first unveiled at the 2008 Grammys and officially launched the following year in three different colorways with a suggested retail price of $215. Clearly, the success of the sneakers made them sell out quickly and Nike came up with the idea of launching a limited version, which Kanye did not like and was the first problem that would later lead him to work with the competition.
In 2012, the Nike Air Yeezy II came to the world in Platinum and Black Solar Red versions, with just 1,500 pairs and a retail price of $250 each. The next model was the Nike Air Yeezy 2 Red October, which have been sold in the secondary resale market for up to $7,000 . Meanwhile, Kanye did not share the same vision of Nike and wanted to be paid a percentage of each pair sold, which Nike refused. This is where the nemesis between Nike and Adidas seized the opportunity and launched with a contract of 10 million dollars and the possibility of creating his own brand that went beyond tennis, the rest is history.
The Yeezy empire raked in $1.7 billion in sales last year, and a pair sold through collector Ryan Chang for $1.8 million just became the world's most expensive sneaker, surpassing the famous pair. of Michael Jordan's Air Jordan 1 and the original Nike Moon Shoes.