AIR YEEZY 1 PROTOTYPE SELLS FOR $1.8M

Kanye West’s Nike Air Yeezy 1 Prototype
Sells For $1.8 Million At Sotheby’s.

One of the most documented Yeezy sample sneakers in history has sold at a mind-blowing $1.8 million at Sotheby’s auction. Known in the sneaker community as the “Prototype”, this sneaker first came to light when Kanye West himself wore them during his live performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards; eyes were glued to Ye’s feet as he and Daft Punk collaborated on the show. It is considered to be the rarest Yeezy sneaker ever.

The Air Yeezy 1 “Prototype” was certainly not the beginning of Kanye West’s foray into footwear, as he collaborated regularly with Nike (on special colorways), A Bathing Ape, and Louis Vuitton before launch his first true signature shoe with Nike in 2009. But the Air Yeezy 1 was pivotal in Kanye’s development into a true industry competitor that just a decade later is competing with Michael Jordan in sales of lifestyle fashion sneakers. After the Air Yeezy 1 launched in summer 2009 to much fanfare, resell prices eclipsed $1,000 – a rarity during that era of sneakers. $1,000 is just one grain of sand in today’s massive sneaker resell industry, but at the time, it was unheard of. The sequel, the Air Yeezy 2, dropped in 2012, with the infamous “Red October” launching in early 2014. During that time gap, Kanye and Nike had a quiet yet dramatic split, leading to the birth of the YEEZY brand under adidas. Letting Kanye walk to its primary competitor stands as perhaps their most questionable decision of the modern era of the brand.

Before sneakers caught the attention of luxury auctions houses, the Prototype Yeezys were a regular fixture on eBay. These 1-of-1 Prototypes at one point were listed at $50,000 and later $75,000 by private sellers, which obviously pales in comparison to the $1.8 million it sold for at auction.

The buyer is RARES, which specializes in fractional ownership of collectible sneakers and other goods. Gerome Sapp, CEO & Co-Founder of RARES, commented: “We are thrilled to work with Sotheby’s on this acquisition. Our goal in purchasing such an iconic shoe – and a piece of history – is to increase accessibility and empower the communities that birthed sneaker culture with the tools to gain financial freedom through RARES. We look forward to working with Sotheby’s to continue to identify rare finds that will help elevate, preserve and uphold sneaker culture.” Those who are interested in owning a piece of the Air Yeezy 1 “Prototype” will eventually do so through the RARES platform.

YEEZY FOAM RUNNER RED

Better late than never. The first-ever all-red adidas Yeezy shoe release is finally coming, and it’ll be in the form of one of the most provoking “sneakers” of the modern era. That would be the trending Yeezy Foam Runner, a shoe made of recycled algae and currently taking the footwear world by storm for its prehistoric look (as well as its many comparisons to Crocs). According to Yeezy Mafia, a release is  expected in October 2021 and is officially dubbed the “Vermilion”.

All-red has become a signature color-scheme of Kanye West after he introduced with his Air Yeezy 2, the swan song of his short-lived tenure with the Swoosh. Many expected the all-red look (commonly referred to as the “Red October” colorway) to establish itself on  a more mainstream model – possibly the Yeezy Boost 350 v2 or Yeezy 700, but there’s no better way to pair the audacity of the flooded hue with the Foam Runner Yeezys.

Nike VP Resigns

Nike VP Resigns After Family Tie to Sneaker Reseller Uncovered.

Ann Hebert, a Nike employee of 25 years who most recently served as a VP overseeing its North America business, left the company on Monday, according to an internal email viewed by Complex.

“Ann Hebert, VP/GM, North America geography has decided to step down from Nike, effectively immediately,” the email reads. “We thank Ann for her more than 25 years with Nike and wish her well.”

Nike also put out a press release this afternoon publicly announcing the end of her tenure and confirmed the move in a statement to Complex.

“Ann Hebert made the decision to resign from Nike,” the brand said.

Hebert’s leaving Nike comes days after the publication of a Bloomberg piece focused on her son, a 19-year-old sneaker reseller named Joe. The piece mentions a credit card Joe used for his reselling business, West Coast Streetwear, that was registered in Ann’s name. The reseller insisted to the story’s author that his personal connection to a Nike exec not be written about in the piece and cut off communication after it was brought up.

Joe Hebert, reached via a third party, did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Nike does not permit its employees to participate in sneaker reselling, and the practice of buying shoes at their retail price only to sell them at a higher price is still taboo to many collectors. A Nike spokesperson told Bloomberg that Ann had disclosed information about the business to her employer in 2018 and there was “no violation of company policy.”

The Bloomberg story sparked outrage online, where commenters questioned whether the younger Hebert was gaining unfair access to limited-edition sneakers with the help of his mother. Some brought up the six pairs of rare Nike Mags, which sell for over $12,000 each, that he said he’d randomly discovered in a storage unit in January 2020, speculating they were obtained through more nefarious means. One source claims that Joe would buy pairs in large quantities from Nike outlets using his mother’s discount and resell them later.

Ann Hebert’s purview at Nike included its SNKRS app, a destination for coveted product where shoes regularly sell out immediately, only to be resold on secondary markets. The brand spends a good amount of energy and money trying to protect the platform from bots that can help resellersbuy out stock faster than any human. Bloomberg’s piece on Joe Hebert’s business describes him using bots to compromise online launches, mentioning that he rang up $132,000 in one morning for a launch of Kanye West sneakers on the artist’s Yeezy Supply website. That same card, a corporate American Express, was registered in his mother’s name.

BYBRENDAN DUNNE