Anthony Davis & eBay Partner for ‘Santa Sneaker Drop’

This holiday season, eBay partnered with NBA champion and sneakerhead Anthony Davis for a Christmas surprise consisting of kicking off a virtual holiday drop. This drop, also known as eBay’s ‘Santa Sneaker Drop,’ began with a digital video-oriented where Santa asked Davis to assist him in delivering sneakers for Christmas.

In this video, Anthony Davis dropped over 500 pairs of sneakers off of the sleigh, leaving an unhappy Santa Clause, and sneakers scattered across the United States which was meant to literally illustrate the sneaker drop.

The holiday sneaker drop is taking place across AR (augmented reality) for sneakerheads to partake in beginning at 12 p.m. ET Dec. 22 until 11:59 pm ET Dec. 24. Participants can enter by visiting the Santa Sneaker Drop website on an iOS or Android device.

Participants will be given five chances to enter per day for each of the three days of the drop. Since the event is occurring via AR technology, people can participate anywhere by using their camera to open a virtual sneaker box that comes down a chimney to see if they’ve won.

The shoes that are up for grabs are those of sneakerhead’s dreams, including popular kicks such as Air Jordan 1 Travis Scotts, the Nike Air Max 97 Sean Wotherspoons, and the Jordan 1 Off-White Chicago.

The Santa Sneaker Drop is happening just as eBay is expanding their Authenticity Guarantee for sneakers. This service ensures that all new and pre-owned sneakers sold on eBay over $100 in the United States will be vetted and verified by teams of industry experts.

Besides this holiday drop, eBay teamed up with Soles4Souls, to distribute athletic sneakers to children in need across the United States. Soles4Souls is a non-profit organization that was founded with the primary goal of turning unwanted clothing and shoes into opportunities, by keeping them from going to waste and by putting them to good use. 

Because of eBay’s partnership with the non-profit, 40,000 pairs of new sneakers will be distributed to kids experiencing homelessness, in efforts to positively impact how they see themselves. Many of the shoes donated by eBay go to children in Davis’ hometown of Chicago, and those in his current city of Los Angeles. 

Article by Mia Perlman