Nike Air Yeezy

About

The Nike Air Yeezy was a collaborative sneaker designed by rapper Kanye West alongside Nike Creative Director Mark Smith and Nathan Van Hook. Development began in 2007 and Kanye West made an early public appearance wearing an all black suede pair during his 2008 Grammy Awards performance. The shoe officially launched in 2009 with three colorways: Zen Grey on April 4, Black/Pink, and Net, with each pair sold out almost immediately. The Air Yeezy II followed in 2012, borrowing its sole unit from the popular Nike Air Tech Challenge II tennis model, and incorporated animalistic design inspiration alongside Egyptian culture references. The final colorway, Red October, released on February 9, 2014. In April 2021, original prototypes worn by West at the 2008 Grammys sold for a record 1.8 million dollars, becoming the first pair of sneakers to top 1 million dollars in a sale, surpassing the previous record held by Nike Air Jordan 1s at 615,000 dollars. The collaboration ended after West departed to partner with Adidas.