A pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1 sneakers worn by their inspiration, rapper Kanye West, have been auctioned for $1.8 million on a specialized investment platform, triple the previous record, it announced on Monday Sotheby's, which organized the sale.
The record for a pair of sneakers was previously held by Nike's Air Jordan 1, which sold for $615,000 at auction at Christie's in mid-2020.
These black high-tops are the first pair of Yeezy publicly unveiled, on West's feet, during the 2008 Grammy Awards.
Prior to collaborating with the rapper, producer and designer, Nike had only worked with elite athletes on some of their styles.
The Air Yeezy 1 was finally released, in a limited series, in 2009. Three years later the Air Yeezy 2 arrived.
The following year, the rapper broke his association with Nike, deeming he was receiving an insufficient share of the company's revenue.
West signed with Adidas in 2014 to create the Yeezy line, a great popular success, to the point of generating almost 1.7 billion in revenue in 2020, according to an internal note from UBS bank, cited by Bloomberg.
While West is not the designer of the Air Yeezy 1, he has had a lot of influence on the final look of the shoe.
The pair for sale through Sotheby's is owned by Ryan Chang, a collector of some of the rarest sneakers on the market, and will be on display in Hong Kong from April 16-21.
The record for a pair of sneakers has been broken several times in recent years, most recently with the Nike Air Jordan 1, which sold for $615,000 at a Christie's sale in mid-August 2020.
