SELECT Exclusive: The Red Air Yeezy 2

The month of October has come and gone, and unfortunately things didn’t get anywhere near as “Red” as many were hoping. Since the “Red October” nickname first surfaced, the safe assumption seemed to be that the mysterious and long-awaited red Air Yeezy 2s would finally see a release or at least make some sort of appearance during the month of October. But as we’ve learned with all things Yeezy, there are no safe assumptions and we all remain stuck in a perpetual wait-and-see state until official information is revealed by Nike or Kanye West – an occurrence that has proven to be few and far between to say the least.

But isn’t it that air of enigmatic mystique and elusiveness that has people so interested in the first place? There have been plenty of rumors floating around at any given moment ever since we first learned of the possible existence of a third Air Yeezy 2 colorway, but there have been few actual concrete moments along the way to offer any kind of substantial insight into Nike’s eventual endgame plans. Continue on as we bring you an exclusive first detailed look at the Nike Air Yeezy 2 “Red October” in all their glory along with a recap of the timeline of events that have led us up to present day and the arrivals of the first seeded pairs.

A huge thanks to S. Sami for sharing with us and all of you!

THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBERS

Many thought that the alleged third Yeezy 2 colorway was nothing more than wishful thinking, but things started getting real in October of 2012. It was just a few months after the first two Yeezy 2 colorways dropped when Nike Sportswear’s Gentry Humphrey replied to a Twitter inquiry about a third colorway by stating that “things are still in the works”. This provided the much-desired

seed of hope that so many were praying for and the theories began to fly with reckless abandon after that, but it was almost six months later before the next piece of the puzzle arrived. In early April, the first images of a tonal red Yeezy 2 popped up to reignite the discussion, but at the time it was still unclear if this would actually be the third colorway to release.

Kanye finally put a lot of those questions to rest a month later when he debuted the red Air Yeezy 2 during his May 18th Saturday Night Live performance with Kim Kardashian showing off a sneak peek of the shoe alongside Kanye’s then upcoming album on her

Instagram that same night. Now with some tangible evidence of their existence and validity, it was only a matter of time before the shenanigans were afoot and some well-executed trolling wound up uncovering the next layer in the story.

When a bogus release date of June 18th began circulating in late May, the rumor grew so rampant across the internet that Nike’s Heidi Burgett was prompted to get on Twitter to quell the hysteria by stating that the date in question was a farce, but also revealing that Nike was “planning to release it later this year”.

Now with confirmation of a release from inside Beaverton, red Yeezy mania was officially in full-effect. The shoes showed up again on Kanye’s feet a few times in the weeks that followed, including his show at Governors Ball on June 9th.

A few days later, inner circle mainstay Don C offered up the next step by Instagram-ing a blank white image with the hashtags, #airyeezy2 and #redoctobers. With the nickname coming from such a reputable source, it instantly stuck and has remained the widely-preferred designation ever since, especially with Kanye making reference to them in his song, “Hold My Liquor” claiming in the song, “These the Red Octobers!”.

One of the most unexpected twists sprung up later that month around the release of Kanye’s Yeezus album when it was announced through his website that 50 pairs of the red Yeezy 2s would be given away accompanied by the image of a red Nike label placed over his clear jewel case album cover with the style info reading “AIR YEEZY 2 SP” along with the lone color call-out of “RED” and a style code made up of all zeros.

Winners were announced in mid-August, but it doesn’t appear that any of the lucky giveaway participants have received the shoes yet. Kanye wore the shoes onstage frequently for most of the summer’s Yeezus tour, but aside from his pair, there was still little to no word on when there would be others spreading out into the world. Although all kinds of release rumors were still swirling about, things seemed to quiet down for a bit after that as most of us who have

been following the saga awaited some sort of announcement to be made in October going back to the “Red October” reference that was given obvious credibility by the Kanye co-sign. Despite another wave of occasionally believable rumors, the month yielded nothing solid on the Yeezy front other than an October 14th Instagram pic by Kim that once again made reference to #RedOctobers and fueled the fires for some magic to happen in the remaining weeks.

Obviously October has slipped away and the details surrounding the impending future release of the Red Yeezy 2 are still as unknown as ever, but some new developments have surfaced to bring us one step closer. Apparently, this week will see the beginning of deliveries to the friends and family seeding list as the first pairs have already made their way to some of the fortunate recipients. One of the first to receive his pair, our friend S. Sami (pictured below with Kanye) was kind enough to provide us with an exclusive look to share with all of you.

We’d love to be able to fill you in on all the details on when you’ll get a chance at grabbing your own, but we’re still in the dark along with you as Nike continues to keep their plans well-guarded. For now, enjoy the Sneaker News Select exclusive first detailed look at the “Red October” Air Yeezy 2 and best believe that we’ll be keeping you up to the minute on the release information as soon as something official is confirmed.

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Stay tuned next week for more with Sami as we take a look inside his incredible Kobe collection.