A design company has created a pair of Nike trainers filled with holy water and adorned with a steel crucifix.
They were listed online for $1,425 (£1,142) on Tuesday morning and sold within a minute.
The one-of-a-kind trainers have since been re-listed on buying and selling website Stock X, and the current highest bid is $4,000 (£3,209).
MSCHF, a Brooklyn-based creative arts company, customised a pair of Nike Air Max 97 trainers to create the so-called ‘Jesus Shoes’.
The water was sourced from the River Jordan (where, per Christian tradition, Jesus was baptised) and blessed by a priest in Brooklyn, Daniel Greenberg, the company’s head of commerce, told CBS News.
Explaining the vision behind the shoe, Greenberg explained that the trainer was designed in response to “ridiculous brand collaborations” such as Arizona Iced Tea and Adidas.
“We set out to take that to the next level,” he added.
“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 the pocket of a pair of Air Max 97’s and with that, you get Jesus Shoes — the holiest collab ever,” said Greenberg.
While the trainer is intended to be satirical, it has received a mixed response on social media.
Some Twitter users have mocked the sky-high price tag while others have called the footwear “blasphemy”.
This isn’t the first shoe collaboration that’s inspired something of a cult following.
Earlier this year, a line of special edition Crocs shoes designed in collaboration with American rapper Post Malone sold out in less than 10 minutes.
_____
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2019 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant source.
