Plenty of musicians have sneaker collaborations. How did Travis Scott become so prominent?
Travis Scott’s Nike collaborations have become so enormously popular that selling them is hazardous to stores. I’m not kidding! For his latest sneaker, a take on the iconic Nike Dunk, Scott gave local skate shops first dibs on sales. This would seem to be a golden opportunity: all of Scott’s collaborative shoes attract a massive amount of attention and sell out instantly. And yet some retailers literally won’t bring the shoes into their stores. Labor, a New York City skate shop the size of a well-to-do Upper Westsider’s walk-in closet, was so overcome with interest it announced the shoes would never be in the store. “PLEASE stop the calls, dm’s, emails, etc., we are not going to respond,” the shop’s Instagram pleaded. The owner of Crushed Skateshop in D.C. told Mic that it was impossible to get work done in the lead up to the release because so many people were calling about the shoe. With hyped clothing and shoe drops, we’ve grown accustomed to fans lining up in massive numbers, incensed empty-handed buyers, and resale prices in the thousands. Businesses so overwhelmed with interest they beg customers to stop calling? That feels like a new Scott-created phenomenon. Somehow, he has become one of the most powerful collaborators in sneakers.
“I’ve been privy to quite a few drops in my time where you think, ‘Yo, is the fever at the maximum level?’” says sneaker influencer, DJ, and consultant Kish Kash. “This one is beyond anything I’ve seen.” Even if you’re not a fan of Scott or his shoes, you’re probably going to try to buy them—they sell for many, many multiples of their retail price on the secondary market. The collaborative Jordan 1s with the reversed Nike Swoosh, for example, are reselling for nearly $1,500, a 748% premium compared to the shoe’s original price, according to StockX.
“I’ve been privy to quite a few drops in my time where you think, ‘Yo, is the fever at the maximum level?.”
Kish Kash
Scott, of course, is only a single name on a long list of musicians and entertainers who have teamed up with the world’s biggest sneaker brands. What differentiates Scott’s shoes from ones designed by Pharrell? Or from those bearing names like Kendrick Lamar, Pusha T, Tyler, the Creator, or Beyoncé, names who are arguably just as, if not more, well known? Pharrell is better known as a fashion icon, Beyoncé is the more beloved global icon, Kendrick Lamar is likely the more-respected rapper. (Kanye West, who has cultivated his Yeezy sneakers into a humming sub-brand is, obviously, the exception.) Scott’s shoes, though, are the ones driving unequaled levels of hysteria. So what makes the difference?
“Travis Scott is arguably the biggest sneaker collaborator,” says Yu-Ming Wu, Stadium Goods’ chief marketing officer. “The only other name that is driving the same level of hype and sales is Virgil Abloh and the Off-White Nike collection.” Scott’s shoes and merch have done so well that Stadium Goods brought a pop-up dedicated to the rapper to Fred Segal in Los Angeles. But the qualities that separate Scott from other collaborators are often described in vague terms. “There’s been a vibe around Travis the last few years,” says Wu, “and people really gravitate towards his music and anything about him.”
Scott’s growing influence in the world of sneakers is usually described with words reserved for inevitable, unstoppable acts of nature: the gravity he commands or, as Kash puts it, the “perfect storm” that explains his huge success.
