By Manan Vaid
Remember when Nike use to dominate the sneaker scene in India with kids begging their parents for a pair of Jordans? Regardless of the model, whether it was a training shoe, or the classic Jordan 1 for flexing in parties, kids were practically throwing their wallets (and purses for hypebæ) on Nike store cashier, to wear and tear the Jumpman logo. Adidas back then meant only Superstars for those ‘typical blogger’ girls and Stansmiths for those ‘Skinny Delhi Boys’. Well, things changed after Kanye left Nike.
The Yeezy brand joined Adidas on the "Yeezy Season 1" collection, which first officially released on October 29, 2015. After that, we saw hypebeast and surprisingly Indian celebrities like Ranveer Singh. I’ve even seen drivers with foogazi yeezys with baggy pants. The point is, that Yeezy changed it all. But it’s never been practical to own a pair of Yeezys, especially in India, due to the super limited size runs in the model and the fact that you have to pay ridiculous shipping and tax on the kicks if you are daring enough to order it from the States. The sneaker game was changed then, rich kids got those holy grails, while the others hung posters of the shoes on top of their beds. But Kanye had another trick up his sleeves. On his Saint Pablo tour, he wore a basic training shoe from Adidas called the “Ultraboost”. People didn’t really care about it at first, “Some training shoe" they said. Then on his next show, he wore the same shoe, people started to notice it. On his Inglewood show, he wore it again. Let me remind you, this is Kanye West we are talking about, an idol in the fashion industry, a man who probably walks about with a thick wad of cash in this LV duffle bag, yet he still wore the same damn training shoe. Well, within the next 24 hours, all Ultraboost models were sold out on the Adidas website. Kanye is indeed a prodigy, and he somehow found a way to satisfy those ‘rich’ clients that are loyal to his work, and those kids who idolized him and drew Yeezus logos at the back of their maths workbook.
Luckily, as I’m writing this article, Adidas is re-releasing the Ultraboost in its OG colourway! For a spare 16K and lying dormant on your parents’ feet while throwing a tantrum as if your EE question got rejected for the 17th time, you can own the shoe that started it all!
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