Kanye West's Yeezy Sneakers Fetch A World Record $1.8 Million In Private Sale

Sure you might be into expensive sneakers.

But probably nothing like this.

The Nike Air Yeezy 1 prototypes, which were worn by Kanye West during the 2008 Grammy Awards, sold for a whopping $1.8 million at Sotheby's.

It's the most expensive shoes ever on the open market. Just last August, a pair of Air Jordan 1s sold for $615,000.

The shoes had an interesting story attached, as West released the shoes after he and Nike couldn't see eye to eye anymore.

West went on to begin a relationship with Adidas in 2013, five years after the fall out with Nike. West retains 100% ownership of the Yeezy brand and earns 15% in royalties on sales.

Yeezy revenue grew 31% last year to nearly $1.7 billion.

The shoes were purchased by Rares, a platform which lets users buy and trade shares of rare sneakers.

The company purchased the sneakers from collector Ryan Chang.

There has been a lot of chatter about West's shoes, which back in March were valued as much as $6.6 BILLION.

The very next day, Forbes came out that the shoes are worth somewhere around $1.8 billion.

No matter, the price tag was something no one truthfully expected.





















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Matt has been a part of the Cleveland Sports landscape working in the media since 1994 when he graduated from broadcasting school. His coverage beats include the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Cavaliers. He's written three books, and won the "2020 AP Sports Stringer Lifetime Service Award."