People in tents queued for 15 hours in Leeds Briggate for new Adidas Yeezy trainers

Camping chairs, tents and flasks were lined up in Briggate on Friday night - all so a few lucky customers could get their hands on the latest pair of trainers.
The queue outside Foot Locker in Briggate.The queue outside Foot Locker in Briggate.
The queue outside Foot Locker in Briggate.

Two queues began forming on Friday afternoon as trainer mad fans jostled to be first in the line for the Adidas Originals Yeezy Boost 250 V2 ‘Trfrm’ - costing £180 - and the the Nike Air Max 90 ‘Mars Landing’ - costing £140.

Around six University of Leeds postgraduates were first in the queue outside Foot Locker, armed with camping chairs, coffee, waterproofs and food.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

One man named Chen said: “In China most of the teenagers and young people are fashion mad.

“We have a lot of shoes. We liked to collect them. I already have 50-70 pairs of trainers.”

A tent was also camped outside Size? further up Briggate. Two men at the front of the queue were keen to get their hands one of just six pairs of Air Max in the store.

They had been in front of the store since 2pm, with the shop due to open at 7am the following morning. Neither wanted to be named.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“They are all limited edition,” one said. “So if you’re not here on the morning of release, they sell out instantly and then you would have to pay resale - a few hundred quid more

The queue outside Size? in Briggate.The queue outside Size? in Briggate.
The queue outside Size? in Briggate.

“Some people bring tents and chill in there. We’ve just got chairs. There’s a tent in my car but we’ll see how it goes.

Another added: “We want them to wear, but a lot of people get them for to sell on - this is some people’s bread and butter, they make a living out of this.

“Most exclusive shoes don’t come out in Leeds and when they do we don’t get a lot of them.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As for the etiquette of queuing, one said: “You agree your numbers as you get in the queue. By the time the shop opens everybody knows where they are in the queue. If anyone tries anything they are pushed out.”

It seems though their efforts were necessary, as Size? said on their Facebook page the following morning that both pairs had sold out.