Australia loves a queue. We queue at restaurants. We queue for footy tickets. And now, seemingly, we queue for sneakers.
On Thursday morning, luxury retailer Harrolds, which has stores in Melbourne and Sydney, held a lottery for a limited-edition Vapormax sneaker designed by Nike and Comme des Garcons, which sells for $590.
Would you buy $590 sneakers?
Thousands of sneaker fans have entered a lottery at luxury retailer Harrolds' Sydney and Melbourne stores to win the chance to purchase a pair of limited-edition Nike Air VaporMax.
To the casual observer, they are white sneakers. Some may even scoff and say they have a pair just like them that cost less than $100.
But to the hundreds of people – mainly young men – who registered for the ballot, owning a pair is a chance to become part of fashion history. Or make a quick profit on eBay.
![Pierre Renga was one of 40 shoppers whose name was drawn in a ballot to buy the $590 Nike Vapormax sneakers on Thursday.](/web/20170512033148im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/2/f/i/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw2f9i.png/1494495135010.jpg)
Thanks to the booming "athleisure" trend, which has seen the integration of sportswear into high fashion, women's sneakers outsold high heels in the UK for the first time in 2015-2016, according to market research firm Mintel.
Mary Poulakis, of Harrolds, said about 1000 people had registered to buy just 40 pairs of Vapormax sneakers that were available in Australia.
About 500 were sent an SMS allowing them access to the stores, where the 20 shoppers, who had each nominated their size, were drawn out of a silver punch bowl on Thursday morning.
Pierre Renga, of Oak Park in Melbourne's north-west, was one of the first names drawn.
![The $590 Comme des Garcons x Nike trainers, which went on sale on Thursday to a lucky 20 people who had to enter via a ...](/web/20170512033148im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/2/9/4/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw2f9i.png/1494495135010.jpg)
The commerce student at Melbourne University said he learned about the sneakers through Instagram and Facebook.
He said he owns 21 pairs of sneakers, ranging from Adidas and Nike to high-end brands such as Raf Simons, the creative director of Calvin Klein.
![Shoppers lining up outside Harrolds Melbourne to buy the Nike Vapormax sneakers on Thursday.](/web/20170512033148im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/2/9/4/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw2f9i.png/1494495135010.jpg)
"If you have quite a few shoes you don't get to wear them that much," he said. "If I have too many sneakers the rest of the outfit isn't that great."
Mr Renga said when he has too many pairs or needs to raise funds, he sells his shoes on Facebook or other pre-loved fashion websites.
He said the most he would pay for a pair of shoes is about $600.
Simon Wood, editor of Sneaker Freaker magazine, said the futuristic Vapormax was fast becoming a cult shoe for Nike.
Wood said it wasn't uncommon to see teenagers as young as 14 with 100 pairs of sneakers, some of them worth hundreds of dollars.
"We have swap meets and young kids will drop $5000 in a day. It's staggering," he said.
He said people who bought limited-edition sneakers could easily double their money by selling them while demand is hot.
Last August, Mr Renga joined a throng of Kanye West disciples in the pouring rain to queue for eight hours to buy some of the rapper's Life of Pablo merchandise, only to sell it a couple of months later.
"I shouldn't have gone to that one ... I didn't really like it when I got it. I got rid of it, I sold it. I had it for a few months and it wasn't me."
At least at Harrolds, the staff let the sneaker freaks wait inside on the six-degree morning.