When a new pair of sneakers drops, it’s very likely they’ll never make it to your feet. Or closet. Or even line of sight.
Since the world’s most coveted kicks are typically distibuted through “backdoor” channels — basically, they’re exclusive to friends, family and resellers — the common sneakerhead is usually left to the whims of the overpriced secondary market at best.
Frenzy hopes to change that.
A new app created by Shopify to “level the playing field,” Frenzy allows you to fill out credit card info in advance and buy limited-edition sneakers during flash sales in just two taps.
“It was about taking all of the excitement that you often see in a retail space for these releases — thousands of people lining up for sneakers or hundreds of thousands of people, to get the latest iPhone — and figuring out how we can replicate that experience in a mobile app,” said Tucker Schreiber, a product manager at Shopify, told Complex.
It’s similar to Adidas’s Confirmed and Nike’s SNKR apps, both released last year, but not necessarily limited to one brand. The first test run of this app involved the release of the Adidas YEEZY Boost 750, which the lifestyle brand KITH announced on Instagram with a link to Frenzy.
Reviews for the app are decidedly mixed: in particular, a $0.50 charge for credit card verification is causing several one-star reviews in app store (Schreiber said the charge will be refunded).
That said, 50 pennies might be a small price to pay for a piece of the sneaker world’s estimated $1 billion aftermarket.
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