Collectors camping out for limited sneaker release

A dedicated group of shoe lovers are camping out for up to three nights to get their hands on a pair of limited edition sneakers.

Despite the winter elements, the Adidas NMD shoe release has attracted 15 sneaker collectors who are braving the wet weather, desperate to get their hands on them.

The shoes people are desperate to acquire. Photo: Maddison Molenaar

The sneaker enthusiasts have so far spent one night outside Loaded street wear store in Auckland’s High Street in fold-up chairs in order to be the first to get their hands on the limited release Adidas sneakers.

They will be the first to enter the store on Saturday morning to purchase the new shoes, but will have to endure two more restless nights on the street until then.

The trend of camping for sneakers is a relatively new one for New Zealanders which has steadily increased in the last year.

Shoe enthusiasts queued for the coveted Adidas sneakers. Video: Maddison Molenaar

Currently first in line is hospitality student Pan Jiang, who said he had been in line for “more than two days”. For the sneaker collector of seven years, this is not his first campout for shoes, having been involved in a number of previous releases.

“My last campout was for the last NMD’s and Yeezy release,” he said.

Also camping in the line was Max Hoonhout, who had been the queue since 8pm on Wednesday night.

He identified himself as a “veteran of some sorts” in collecting sneakers, despite only being a high school student.

“Shoes are just like a passion for me, so I just do whatever I can to get them without paying extreme amounts of money,” said Hoonhout.

Loaded store manager Cale Baker said this was the fifth camp-out for sneakers this year, and each one typically attracts between 10 and 25 people. He added the threat of sneaker resellers was the reason for the regular campouts.

“This shoe retails at $270. The resell on that would generally be anywhere between $800 to $1000, so the people camping are just wanting to get it at a bargain price,” explained Mr Baker.

Sneaker campouts are a common occurrence overseas, with people typically waiting over a week in places like China, which attracted thousands of people for their last NMD release.

Mr Jiang cited the shoes’ popularity overseas as a contributing factor towards his decision to wait on the street for their release.

“They’re very popular in China now and everyone wants to get them,” he said.