Out Of The Blue Nike Releases The Red Octobers
In a move that no one saw coming, today (2/9/14) Nike released Kanye West‘s much talked about and sought after Nike Air Yeezy II Red October Colorway for sale on Nike.com. The shoes were released today on Nike’s website Nike.com at 1 pm. By 1:11 Nike’s official twitter announced that they were sold out.
The shoes were available for $245 and free shipping. Considering the shoes had previously been selling on eBay for upwards of $10,000s and even once purportedly sold for $90k, the $245 was a steal. Today new listings have popped up all over Ebay, already hitting four thousand plus dollars.
The release is both surprising and yet also makes a lot of sense in todays climate. Among the myriad of topics Kanye West vehemently spoke about this past year was his frustration with both high end fashion institutions as well as his “business partners” Nike not giving him the kind of trust he felt he deserves. In Novemeber 2013 Kanye spoke out about Nike and specifically called out CEO Mark Parker on his Yeezus tour for letting him “sip the clean water” only to have it taken back, a similar theme to the ones he spoke of on his album Yeezus, back in June. The day after he spoke to Hot 97’s Angie Martinez to further explain what had happened with Nike, during which the incredible one liner “I’ll go to the garden and play 1 on no one” was born, he eventually explained his new partnership with Adidas. He later apologized, but it seemed obvious nothing was the same. Speaking of Drake, some saw his announcement of a partnership with Brand Jordan (a Nike subsidiary) as an indirect shot at Ye’s rapper sneaker throne, and that it
Then in December Footlocker’s official twitter released a tweet saying “UPDATE: The Red Nike Air Yeezy 2 will be available ONLINE ONLY on December 27th at 8 a.m. EST,” it was later taken down and said to be a mistake. So come 2014 Nike was in an interesting spot, knowing that the hype was still very much in effect why not pull a Beyonce like move and just drop the shoe out of a nowhere. Not only does it make Nike look cool & edgy – something sneaker companies strive to always be, even ones as seemingly bulletproof and dominant as the almight house that Phil Knight built- but it’s also a parting ways type “FU” to Kanye. The real question here is , DID KANYE KNOW? The fact that tomorrow is the 10 year anniversary of West’s debut album, the now classic The College Dropout is an interesting tidbit. Friday the 14th is also the red happy holiday of Valentines Day.
Whether there will be more releases is unclear, the listing you see below is no longer available and any signs the shoe was once on the website are nowhere to be found. Stay tuned for any updates or new information regarding these sneakers , which hype aside and above all other unimportant details really are super stupid dope fresh.
Update: The Listing is back, but says out of stock
Image via Vibe.com
