Arizona Iced Tea and Adidas Originals announced a sneaker collaboration called “Great Buy 99¢,” featuring the iced tea brand’s vivid teal and pink color scheme. The sneakers, which the brand announced would be available at a pop-up store in New York City for two days, starting July 18, only got into the hands of a few diehards who lined up in the early morning hours, as the pop-up was shut down early.
The partnership features Adidas’ Yung 1 and Continental sneaker styles in two colorways inspired by the beverage brand’s cherry blossom imagery and bright colors reminiscent of the ‘80s. The tongue of each shoe also features its price of 99¢, the price of a can of iced tea, in bold letters.
However, due to the popularity of the partnership and madness that apparently unfolded, the pop-up was forced to close early. Arizona Iced Tea took to Twitter to tell its fans the following before announcing that the pop-up shop closed permanently:
“Thanks to our loyal fans that came out to support our partnership with Adidas. Due to overwhelming demand and safety concerns, the NYPD our pop-up. We sincerely apologize to all our fans that waited in line. We are actively working to remedy the situation.”
Arizona Iced Tea dropped hints about the collaboration on Instagram in the days leading up to the surprise pop-up and used a social media contest to kickstart it. The brand asked US users to screenshot and share any image of the limited-edition sneakers using the hashtag #adiZona99 for a chance to win a pair of .
Arizona Iced Tea already sells a number of branded merchandise products online including skateboards, sandals and swimsuits. While Arizona Iced Tea also carries its own sneakers, a fresh Adidas tie-in puts the beverage top of mind for loyal fans of the kicks brand.
Adidas itself has a substantial number of brand collaborations under its belt and counting. Previous partnerships include those with Stella McCartney, Marvel and Kanye West. Recently, Adidas launched sneakers in futuristic designs with contemporary artist Daniel Arsham.