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A Closer Look at the $100,000 Air Jordan 12 OVO

Air Jordan 12 OVO

Partnering with a shoe brand is a great marketing move. Many businesses, celebrities, musicians, and athletes partner with brands in order to promote their own brands or to simply establish good relationships and sponsorships. The Nike and Jordan brands are known for setting up partnerships with some pretty big names. The company partnered with one of the music industry’s biggest names—Drake—to release a special pair of shoes: the Air Jordan 10 Retro OVO. These shoes bear the label of Drake’s own clothing line, October’s Very Own. This design is rare to find, as the shoes were created as gifts to Drake and his group. Of course in keeping with the spirit of giving, Drake gifted a basketball fan with a pair during a Toronto Raptors Drake Night event. Those shoes, sold not too long after, easily collected $20,000 for the benefactor.

The History

According to this article from Luxatic.com, a similar story happened at another Drake Night. Drake has become the global spokesperson for anything that has to do with Toronto. But more so, the rapper has become the undeniable voice and face of the Toronto Raptors. The Canadian star never fails to let the world know that he’s the number one fan of the NBA team and recent NBA champions. With his name, his brand, and his personal life so deeply tied to the game of basketball, it’s no doubt that the next move was to create custom basketball shoes.

The shoes in question, The Air Jordan 12 OVO, is similar to the Air Jordan 10. Drake’s Toronto-based OVO brand is fairly simple. Clean lines, clean colors, and clean branding are things that come to mind when looking at October’s Very Own. The Air Jordan 10 clearly fits with the dynamic of the brand, and the Air Jordan 12 is nothing but an elevated version of its predecessor. A quick glance at the shoes will reveal sneakers that are highly elegant and dressy. They’re the kind of basketball shoes that you’ll never wear on the court, and you never should because of how much they cost.

Nike.com has had the Air Jordan 12 OVO listed as “Sold Out” for a while now, and we’re not surprised. The shoes are incredibly attractive. They’re exactly the kind of shoes you could picture a high-profile celebrity such as Drake wearing. The shoes’ upper is made with premium white leather, and the detailing on the shoes is understated and stunning. There are few gold accents on the shoes—on the sides, the lacing parts, and the Jumpman logo on the tongue. Looking on the translucent outsoles, you’ll also see another gold Jumpman on the toe part and an OVO cross label. You’ll also see the OVO Owl branding on the insole—all in gold. Looking at the shoes, you could never doubt that this was the result of the merging of two incredible brands. It’s the reason why the shoes are hard to come by, why they sell so quickly. They’re just a one of a kind pair. If you wanted to wear white shoes and stand out, you’d be wearing the Air Jordan 12 OVO.

What You Should Know

The website, although sold out, sells the Air Jordan 12 OVO for $225. That’s about what you could expect to pay for a higher end pair of Jordans. However, there’s a pair out there of the same exact shoes that sold for $100,000. We list this particular pair as the second most expensive Jordan’s ever sold—short of only $4,000 from the top of the list. To put it into perspective, these pair of sneakers cost more than most of our cars.

So what exactly does this shoe have that made it sell for $100,000 on eBay? As a matter of fact, there isn’t much different with this shoe compared to other releases. No one is even sure, at this point, whether the shoes were signed by Drake or not even at all. We could only guess that it must have had some type of signature or mark to distinguish it from other shoes. But the only thing that makes this shoe special is what it went through. According to this article from LAtimes.com, the shoes were given to an extremely lucky fan attending a Toronto Raptors game night in 2014. That game night happened to have been a Drake Extravaganza Night. The entire interaction must have been documented somehow—personally or otherwise—because the lucky fan was able to sell the shoes rather quickly online. Many of us would probably do the same thing, especially if it would put six figures in the bank so easily. Not even the biggest Raptors or Drake fan would keep such a special pair tucked away in the shoebox.

We will probably never know the small details of the sale, and that’s probably for good reason. The identity of the lucky recipient and seller of the $100,000 Air Jordan 12 OVO is pretty obscure, and we also don’t know the identity of the buyer. We can imagine that the shoes went to an extreme collector or just someone who can afford to shell out that much. But we can imagine that the next time we hear about the $100,000 pair of shoes, it might cost much more.

With the Toronto Raptors winning the 2019 NBA Championships, we might hear more stories of Drake giving out shoes to unsuspecting fans. We might also hear of more design collaborations between Jordan and OVO. If that were the case, we suspect that we might be seeing a Raptors-centric design soon. It might be a good idea to plan to attend a Toronto Raptors Drake Night next basketball season. You never know when you could be handed the next $100,000 pair of shoes.

Dana Hanson

Written by Dana Hanson

Dana has extensive professional writing experience including technical and report writing, informational articles, persuasive articles, contrast and comparison, grant applications, and advertisement. She also enjoys creative writing, content writing on nearly any topic (particularly business and lifestyle), because as a lifelong learner, she loves to do research and possess a high skill level in this area. Her academic degrees include AA social Sci/BA English/MEd Adult Ed & Community & Human Resource Development and ABD in PhD studies in Indust & Org Psychology.

Read more posts by Dana Hanson

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