Inside Lil Nas X’s Satan Shoe, the sneaker that sold out in under a minute: is the limited-edition, US$1,000 MSCHF shoe really a Nike Air Max 97 knock-off?
Brooklyn-based start-up MSCHF released the shoe on March 26, and said each of the individually numbered 666 pairs would contain 60cc ink and one drop of human blood. The company released the 666 shoes for US$1,018 each, as a nod to the Bible verse Luke 10:18: “So He told them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.’”
The shoe’s launch coincided with the release of Lil Nas X’s new single Montero (Call Me By Your Name), which also features biblical imagery – including a fall from heaven.
MSCHF co-founder Daniel Greenberg confirmed the shoe sold out in under a minute, but did not reveal whether the release was the company’s most profitable. At the listed price, the release adds up to nearly US$700,000 in sales.
The shoe knocks off the Nike Air Max 97, but Nike had no involvement in the shoe.
“We do not have a relationship with Little Nas X or MSCHF. Nike did not design or release these shoes, and we do not endorse them,” Nike said in a statement to The New York Times. According to a later BBC report, Nike is suing the Brooklyn art collective for copyright infringement.
Greenberg told the Times six team members gave up blood to go into the collaboration with Lil Nas X.
MSCHF, co-founded in 2016 by former BuzzFeed employee Gabriel Whaley, received US$11.5 million in funding as of January 2020. The company’s Push Party app said it has a valuation of US$200 million following an undisclosed deal with the venture capital firm Founders Fund.
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This article originally appeared on Business Insider
- Lil Nas X followed up his 2018 viral hit Old Town Road with the devilish single Montero – and 666 pairs of Satan Shoes, each made with one drop of human blood
- Radical Brooklyn based start-up MSCHF is also behind quirky, meme-worthy products like Kylie Jenner’s beloved Birkinstocks – sandals made from Hermès Birkins