Could Nike really release the Air Yeezy again? In his last interview on GQ, Kanye gave his blessing

Few sneaker collaborations have been as iconic and stormy as the one between Kanye West and Nike. Before the rapper jumped the ditch and began his collaboration with adidas, which produced the Yeezy we know now, the two editions of Air Yeezy and Air Yeezy II released between 2009 and 2014 marked the first collaboration between the Beaverton brand and a rapper – in fact inaugurating a trend that continues to the present day and giving light to some of the most sought after and expensive sneakers on the resell market. Until a few days ago, there was a belief that, based on his past, Kanye and Nike did not run good blood, but the rapper showed some kind of indifference toward the brand in his last interview with GQ:

Can Nike retro the original Air Yeezy 1 and Air Yeezy 2 sneakers? And if they made a move toward rereleasing them, what would you do?

Man, I’m with everything.

What do you mean? You could be okay with that?

Man, anything that the kids want and the people want. People should be able to have what they want.

Perhaps a re-release would also mean for Nike to dilute the myth of the Air Yeezy:  a possible re-release too widespread would risk diminishing the value of the original models or, even worse, to incur criticism both if the sneakers were recreated identically, becoming a kind of "reprint" of little value of a much more valuable original, and if they were modified , ruining the aura of myth. Not to mention the testimonials, who would find themselves crushed by the shadow of the original designer. A marketing and PR nightmare from which Nike will surely keep away, especially since the profit margins would be negligible considered as the Swoosh already cultivates hugely successful collaborations, much more in step with the times in terms of design and cultural zeitgeist, such as the one with Travis Scott or the capsule "Air Dior", which even before being released is already something legendary. It would also be difficult, with a start-up and successful brand like Yeezy, to make a re-issue of Kanye's sneakers look like something other than economic speculation. But whatever strategy Nike decides to implement, at least now they have Kanye's permission.