Drum – 22 August 2019

(Jacob Rumans) #1

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turned down five days earlier.”
Miles bagged the shoes for a record-
breaking $437 500 (R6,5m).
“I’ve always been an admirer of sneak-
ers but I didn’t know much about it,” he
told The Guardian.
“I thought this was, in one fell swoop,
the opportunity to have a world-class
collection that I could build upon over
the next 25 years.”
“I am what I would call a S**t – a
sneakerhead in training.”

A


MONG the shoes in his new
collection are Nike Air
Mags, made famous in the
movie Back to the Future
Part II; the Cactus Jack Air
Jordan for Nike by rapper
Travis Scott; one-off custom sneakers by
rapper Pharrell Williams for Adidas; 15
pairs of Kanye West’s Yeezy
Boosts; Nike Dunk Low SB
Paris sneakers featuring
the art of French paint-
er Bernard Buffet and
many other rarities
designed by hip-hop
stars or for athletes.
Miles’ winning bid
broke the previous
world auction re-
cord for sneakers –
in 2017, $190 373
(R2,6m) was paid for a
Converse pair worn and
signed by Michael Jordan in
the 1984 Olympic basketball
final.
Jordan says he intends to
apply to be included in the Guinness
World Records for a second time for the
Moon Shoes sale.
Notbadfor a pair of grungy old takkies.

NEAKERS are big business
aroundtheworld.Theindus-
tryisworthanestimated

Sneaker culture and collecting, Miles
says, “is on the verge of a break-out
moment”. And Sotheby’s, best known for
its auctions of fine art, agrees.
Noah Wunsch, global head of e-com-
merce at Sotheby’s, says the sneaker auc-
tion brought together art, culture and
fashion.
“We’re eager to see where this sale
takes us, not only in future sneaker
offerings but also in other new luxury
lifestyle areas.”
Miles plans to expand his kick collec-
tion to 500 pairs over the next 25 years.
“I’ve always been a collector and an
appreciator of beautiful antiques and
art and design.
“We have a private museum with cars,
motorcycles, antiques, a library and a
whole apparel section of hats and jackets
and helmets. I thought this would fit
in well with the apparel sec-
tion of our museum.”
Jordan, who earned
his spot in the
Guinness World

Records in 2012 with 2 504 pairs of
sneakers, started collecting shoes in the
mid-1990s. “I was just buying the shoes I
loved,” he says.
His hobby turned into a collection
large enough to be housed in the now-
defunct Shoezeum in Las Vegas, which
boasted the most comprehensive collec-
tion of Nikes in the world, and was the
world’s f irst sneaker museum.
Jordan shut the museum down not
long after getting into the record book.
He says having a sneaker museum just
isn’t sustainable.
He’s still collecting sneakers though,
and currently has around 300 pairs.
“At one point I had 600 pairs of brand
new Air Jordans in my size,” he says. “I’ve
spent millions of dollars on Nikes over
theyears.”
Well,theydosayyoucanneverhave
enoughshoes.

SOURCES: ADWEEK.COM, BUSINESSINSIDER.COM, DAILYMO-
TION.COM, FOOTWEARNEWS.COM, FORBES.COM, REUTERS.
COM, RUNNERSWORLD.COM, SHOEZEUM.COM, SNEAKERNEWS.
COM, SOTHEBYS.COM, STANDARD.CO.UK, THEGUARDIAN.COM,
THEUNDEFEATED.COM, WEEK.COM,VOX.COM,YAHOO.COM

Sneaker collector
and trader Jordan
Geller held the
world record for
his collection of
2 504 pairs of
takkies, but has
since cut it down
to about 300 pairs.

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Y y
$55billion(R825bn)andthe
second-handmarket for
rareandlimitededitionkicks
is estimated at around $1bn(R15bn).

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