Yeezy enthusiasts brave the coldest day of the year outside JD Sports ahead of the launch of a new COLOUR of Kanye West’s sneakers
- Hundreds of ‘sneakerheads’ camping since Wednesday for Yeezy shoes
- Sydney and Melbourne fans experienced the coldest day of the year on Thursday
- Fans are eager to buy $340 Kanye West sneakers launching in a new pink colour
- Deckchair campsites have formed outside of shoe shops across the country
Kanye West sneaker fans have braved the coldest Sydney day of the year to line up for a new colour of the popular Yeezy shoe line.
More than 100 shoe fanatics, who call themselves ‘sneakerheads’, formed a deckchair campsite outside JD Sports on Sydney’s Pitt Street and have been camping out since Wednesday morning.
They are waiting for a new pink version of the $340 Yeezy Boost 350 V2 to be released at 7am on Saturday.
Sydney fans shivered through 6C temperatures when polar air from the Southern Ocean brought the coldest day of the year on Thursday.
At the front of the line was Ross Rossi, 58, who has been collecting sneakers for 23 years – since Nike’s Air Jordans became popular.
‘It’s not a waste of time, it’s a passion,’ Mr Rossi said.
There have been 100 ‘sneakerheads’ camping out in deckchairs (pictured) outside JD Sports on Sydney’s Pitt Street since Wednesday morning
At the front of the line was Ross Rossi (pictured), 58, who has been collecting sneakers for 23 years since Nike’s Air Jordans became popular
Sneaker fans were waiting for a new pink version of the $340 Yeezy Boost 350 V2 (pictured) to be released at 7am on Saturday
Yeezy fans in line use their deckchairs (pictured) as markers for their spot in line and leave to go to the toilet and buy food and drink
Mr Rossi said the sense of community among sneaker fans makes the long, cold wait bearable.
‘You’ve got to be determined, like you’ve got to psych yourself that it’s worthwhile to stay out in the cold,’ he said.
‘You don’t feel the cold but you feel the excitement of all the other people around you collecting the shoes.
‘You talk to other people and it makes the cold hot.’
The 58-year-old sneaker collector said the popularity of limited edition trainers has blown up in recent years.
‘It never used to happen in the city of Sydney but now it’s just grown. You got a lot of limited shoes coming out,’ Mr Rossi said.
‘You see people wearing Gucci, Balenciagas, all the different brands.
‘They show off the limited edition items on their feet. So it’s just wonderful to see that.’
Yeezy fans in line use their deckchairs as markers for their spot in line and leave to go to the toilet and buy food and drink.
A spot in the line, especially at the start, guarantees they can buy a pair of shoes before they quickly sell out.
Adidas stores are also running raffles that give winners the ‘opportunity to buy the shoe’.
Mr Rossi said the sense of community among sneaker fans makes the long, cold wait bearable. He is pictured wearing grey Yeezys on the left
Keen Yeezy fans set up a deckchair campsite (pictured) and have been waiting in line since Wednesday morning
Kanye West is pictured wearing his own Yeezy 750 Boost with his wife Kim Kardashian
Yeezy fans in deckchairs lined up along Albert Street outside JD Sports in the Brisbane CBD
Melbourne and Brisbane fans were also waiting in lines outside of JD Sports.
Hundreds of deckchairs line La Trobe Street outside of Melbourne Central shopping mall and along Albert Street in Brisbane’s CBD.
Melburnians shivered through 5C on Thursday – the coldest day of the year.
The new pink Yeezy release comes two weeks after a black Yeezy ‘drop’ wreaked havoc in state capitals on June 14.
One person camped out for four days outside of the Adidas Originals store in Emporium in Melbourne’s CBD to get his hands on the black sneakers.
A crowd of 250 people gathered outside of Footlocker on George Street in Sydney with police watching on.
The Yeezy sneaker craze began in February 2015 when rapper Kanye West launched his first shoe with Adidas.
The release of new models and different colours continue to draw huge crowds of ‘sneakerheads’ across the world.
Yeezys are popular with American celebrities. Model Emily Ratajowski is pictured wearing Yeezy 500 sneakers in New York
WHY IS THE YEEZY SO POPULAR?
- Rapper turned fashion designer Kanye West’s nickname is Yeezy and has a cult following in hip hop
- The first Adidas Yeezy Boost sold out in 10 minutes in February 2015
- He launched a Yeezy clothing line alongside the sneakers but the apparel has never been as popular as the shoes
- The shoes retail for $340 but the limited number means resell prices are much higher
- Yeezy’s can fetch for as much as $4,000 on the resell market depending on the popularity of the model and colour
- Not all Yeezy’s are born equal. The cream colour of the shoe struggled to sell out for months at some locations in 2018
- Black, dark and bright neon colours tend to be the more popular versions of the shoe
The all-black Yeezy 350 V2 was released earlier in June to a huge response from fans