WE (still) WANT YEEZYS.
That’s what sneakerheads are saying on eBay, anyhow.
Highsnobiety has broken down (using data from sneaker data company Campless) the most valuable sneakers on eBay in 2015, and a pair of Kanye West’s kicks not only emerged as the MVP — with the Yeezy 750 Boost Triple Black fetching an average price of $1,876 — Yeezys accounted for six of the top 10 spots on the list, with their sales on eBay accounting for more than $12 million on the year.
An interesting factoid sussed out by the Highsnobiety/Campless analysis is that the aforementioned Yeezy Boost 750 Triple Back, although the number one seller on the sneaker resale market, was the lowest grossing of all Yeezy shoes. A contributing factor to the latter outcome — that the style was produced in lower quantities than other Kanye-branded shoes — is precisely what led to it being the champion on eBay, where limited availability (among generally in-demand items) equates to higher prices.
Meanwhile, the Yeezy Boost 350 Turtledove, according to the data — although it did not fetch as high of an average price as the Boost 750 Triple Black — was the top-grossing of the Kanye shoes for resellers in 2015, bringing in $4,343,101 overall.
Looking at some of the other sneakers in the two lists (average resale value and total gross), Highsnobiety notes that Air Jordans — although accounting for five out of the top 10 highest grossers, thereby maintaining its longstanding position as a popular shoe in general — only made one appearance in the top 10 of average resale value (with the blue Air Jordan 2 Just Don claiming the number four spot at $1,038).
GQ wonders if this trend gives credence to Kanye’s claim that “Yeezys [have] jumped over the Jumpman” and concludes that Yeezy himself may be — not at all unsurprisingly — overstating his own case a skoch, given Air Jordans’ several-decades-long dominance of the sneaker market. But — strictly in terms of resales — Kanye may have a point, for the time being.