New York (AFP)

A pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1 sneakers worn by their inspirer, rapper Kanye West, was sold to a specialist investment platform for $ 1.8 million, Sotheby's, which organized the sale, announced on Monday, a record that shatters previous.

The record had been held since mid-August 2020 by Nike Air Jordan 1s, which sold for $ 615,000 in a sale organized by Christie's.

These black high top sneakers, unique model, represent the very first pair of Yeezy presented publicly at the feet of Kanye West, during the Grammy Awards in 2008. It was at the time a prototype.

The resulting model did not go on sale until April 2009.

This is a new sign of the vitality of this market, which was only a niche ten years ago, and is now of interest to the general public as leading collectors.

According to analysts at the financial firm Cowen, the global collectible sneaker resale market could be worth $ 30 billion by 2030.

The precious shoes were acquired by Rares, a platform launched at the end of March by 40-year-old former professional football player Gerome Sapp.

- "The Grail of the Grails" -

Concretely, Rares acquires a collector's pair, then carries out a sort of IPO on the platform.

Any individual can then buy shares of that pair, as they would buy shares of a listed company.

It is then possible to resell these shares on the platform.

The price varies, as for a traditional exchange, depending on supply and demand.

The price offered by Rares exceeds Sotheby's estimate, which was over $ 1 million.

"It's the Grail des Graals", commented to AFP Gerome Saap, co-founder and managing director of Rares.

The pair of Air Yeezy 1 is expected to list on the platform's "Stock Exchange" at a price "around $ 15 to $ 20" per share on June 16, he explained.

He predicts that by then Rares will have already made “three to four” introductions, the first being a pair of Nike Air Force 1s, which came out of a collaboration with rapper Jay-Z.

"The idea behind it all," according to Gerome Sapp, "is to offer access (to rare shoes) to (those) who have made these sneakers a valuable object, a popular object, but who do not could no longer afford to buy them. "

The pair of Air Yeezy 1 were acquired through a private sale: the auction house, here Sotheby's, puts the potential buyer and the seller directly in contact, in this case the New York collector Ryan Chang .

For Brahm Wachter, head of streetwear and new collectibles at Sotheby's, the price reached "is a testament to the fact that Kanye (West) is one of the most influential designers of our time".

Before collaborating with the rapper, producer, and designer, only famous athletes had seen shoes named after them by Nike.

The Air Yeezy 1 was finally released, in a limited series, in 2009, followed by the Air Yeezy 2 in 2012. The Air Yeezy 1 is now trading between $ 2,000 and $ 4,000 for most pairs.

The following year, Kanye West ended his partnership with Nike, considering his share of the revenue insufficient.

He then partnered with Adidas in 2014 to create a dedicated brand called Yeezy.

Huge popular success, it generated nearly $ 1.7 billion in revenue in 2020, according to an internal note from UBS bank, cited by Bloomberg.

If he is not the designer of the Air Yeezy 1, Kanye West has had a lot of influence on the design of the shoe.

Also on Monday, Sotheby's announced, in Geneva, a new sale of sneakers, online, with as flagship lot a pair of Air Jordan 1 worn by Michael Jordan during his first season (1984-85) in the NBA.

It is estimated between 100,000 and 150,000 Swiss francs (from 90,000 to 136,000 euros and from 109,000 to 164,000 dollars).

© 2021 AFP