Can you believe that a pair of Kanye West’s sneakers went for the price of someone’s house?
It has been reported that he sold a pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1, the joints he rocked during his tribute to his mother at the 50th GRAMMY Awards in 2008, for $1.8 million.
The auction company Sotheby’s said that it brokered the 7-figure deal in a private sale to a sneaker investment marketplace.
This particular sale made history as the most expensive pair of sneakers ever sold in the world, shattering the previous record made by NBA Hall of Famer, Michael Jordan.
The “Jesus is King” rapper designed the shows with Mark Smith. Size 12, black leather, and dumb gummy sole, these shoes are a collector’s dream.
In addition to a small Nike swoosh on the side, there is a Yeezy forefoot strap right below a bright pink “Y” medallion lace lock.
What makes this so crazy is that Nike don’t even make Yeezys anymore. In 2013, he started partnering with Adidas to drop his signature kicks.
Nike as a brand just keeps winning. They have been a part of this historical auction game in very real ways that can’t be denied.
The first deal was with Jordan, the first major collab partnership that the company ever made, and in 2020, the former Bull sold a pair of his Nike Air Jordan 1s (worn during a preseason game in Italy where he broke the backboard while dunking) for a little over half a million (Reuters says that the sneaks went for $560K and TMZ says $615).
This recent sale is part of the reason why Bloomberg has been gagging on Ye’s business savvy. They estimate that this year alone, he will be worth $3.2 billion and $4.7 billion.