Ladies may love their Manolos, but guys will spend a week sleeping in the street for a pair of Air Yeezy 2s.
Between 3,000 and 5,000 pairs of the rare $245 sneaker, designed by rap star Kanye West, went on sale today around the US and with only a handful available in New York, buyers took their footwear fetish to extremes.
“It’s been an experience,” said Francisco Torres, 33 of Harlem who was first in line at Jimmy Jazz on 125th Street – because he started camping out there last Sunday. “I waited for a whole week, It was real intense. There was a lot of uncertainty. It was hard for them to keep the line in order. I actually got passes to NY Sports Club up the street and I would go and take showers every morning and then come back to the line.”
Torres said he planned to resell the sneakers online – where they were fetching up to $6,000 today on eBay.
“When I get home I’ll be relaxing. It’s been a very long week. I’ve never done a camp out. This was extreme but it was worth it,” he said.
The Yeezy 2’s feature anaconda-textured leather, a spiked back end, and glow-in-the-dark soles with a signature front strap. Nike officials have said West was very thoughtful about the sneakers, choosing to focus on a more ergonomic form based on his own foot.
Other lucky Yeezy 2 buyers warned that the sneakers are so sought after, they feared getting killed if they wore them today.
“I’m going to wait until some of the heat dies down before I put them on,” said Jimmy Works, 23, who drove all way from Baltimore to the Nike store in SoHo when he won an opportunity to buy the kicks through a raffle the store held on Twitter last week.
”I’d be a little stressed wearing them out today. People want these shoes to the point where they’ll shoot someone for them.”
Another Nike buyer wished to remain anonymous for fear someone in his neighborhood would find out he owned a pair of Yeezy 2’s and rob him.
“I don’t want anybody knowing that I’ve got these kicks right now,” he said, warily eyeballing a black Cadillac SUV that had pulled up to curb in front of the Nike store blasting Hip Hop music.
“You selling?” its driver was asking people leaving the store with the tell-tale brown Nike bags containing the kicks.
“You can’t walk around in the ‘hood with a rare item like these Yeezys and not expect trouble,” the buyer said. “There’s controversy because people can’t just walk into a store and buy them. You have to win them, that makes it extra exclusive.”