Would you pay $4,000 for a pair of sneakers?
Brooklyn-based creative arts company MSCHF took some Nike Air Max 97 athletic shoes, which sell for about $160, and gave them an upgrade. These shoes now have a much higher price tag.
The “Jesus Shoes” come with holy water in the soles as well as a golden Jesus on a crucifix as a shoelace charm. They also feature a nod to the Bible verse Matthew 14:25, which refers to Jesus walking on water, on the side of the shoe and a drop of red ink on the tongue, meant to symbolize the blood of Christ. They are said to have red soles as well.
The religious twist on the Nike sneakers was originally priced at $1,425, and the shoes sold out within a minute. They’ve since been listed on the resale shoe speculation site StockX, where they were at one point available for $4,000. The price has dropped since then and currently stands a bit above $2,500.
A representative from MSCHF told Fox News they made fewer than two dozen pairs.
The company’s goal with the creation of the shoes was to play on what they see as “ridiculous” corporate collaborations, such as the one between Arizona Iced Tea and Adidas.
“We set out to take that to the next level,” Daniel Greenberg, MSCHF’s head of commerce, told CBS. “We asked ourselves, ‘What would a shoe collab with Jesus look like?’ Obviously, it should let you walk on water. ‘Well, how can we do that?’ You pump holy water into a pair of Air Max 97’s and with that, you get Jesus Shoes — the holiest collab ever.”
The holy water in the shoes was sourced from the Jordan River and blessed by a priest in Brooklyn. Nike has no affiliation with the customized kicks.
If you’re interested in more projects from MSCHF, they plan to make biweekly drops of their latest creations at 11 a.m. on every second and fourth Tuesday of each month.
Past projects have included two ways for students to scam the academic system — Times Newer Roma, a wider version of the popular font, and M-journal, which transforms Wikipedia articles into citable “academic papers.”
Do you think these “Jesus Shoes” are worth the price?
Kate Streit lives in Chicago. She enjoys stand-up comedy, mystery novels, memoirs, summer and pumpkin spice anything. More.
