In previous years, the owners of Vice Iowa City would celebrate the anniversary of its opening with a cake.

To commemorate the vintage consignment shop’s fifth birthday, owners Tony Casella, Demetrius Perry, and Peter Krogullare are celebrating differently. The trio is auctioning off five custom pairs with illustrations of the store’s logo on the classic Nike Air Force 1 all-white model.

Vice, which stands for vintage Iowa City exchange, consigns trendy sneakers, streetwear, and vintage clothing for brands such as Nike, Off-White, and Supreme, and is located at 312 E. Prentiss St.

The three owners met in 2017 at Perry’s sneaker exhibition “Kick-it Iowa City,” which is also celebrating its five-year anniversary. The three quickly hit it off from there and started bouncing ideas off each other for potentially opening a shop.

Perry said he’s had a passion for fashion and sneakers since they were young, but it wasn’t until they were older that they realized their clothes would resell much higher than the retail price.

“I just collected shoes for the longest, but once the resale market came, and some of my personal shoes became worth a lot, I started selling them off,” Perry said. “I guess the business side came into it, but I never really wanted to make money off of this. It was more so just bringing cool sneakers to the community.”

Casella, who graduated from the University of Iowa in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in sport and recreation management, said he wrote a business plan while he was a student at the UI for a store similar to Vice.

“The buy, sell, trade model wasn’t really a thing back then,” Casella said. “But I wrote a whole business plan on that in college in the entrepreneurship class, so it’s kind of a full circle moment.”

Former Hawkeye athletes, such as NBA Center Luka Garza and NFL Safety Armani Hooker, have been seen shopping in the store on their trips back to Iowa City.

“Garza is definitely a superstar. But when he comes in here, he can just be himself, and we love the connections that we’ve gotten. It is like, surreal,” Perry said. “We see them on TV balling out, and that’s crazy. They were just coming through our door not too long ago.”

The sneaker drop was a partnership with the Multicultural Development Center of Iowa, which provided the laser engraving on the shoes. The shoe sizes run from 10-12, and the winners will be announced on Feb. 26.

“It’s always been a dream to design our own sneakers, so, we’re calling this our first, unofficial Vice sneaker collab,” Perry said.

The pair will be auctioned off in a “blind bid,” meaning customers can bid whatever amount they want, and the highest bidder for each size will receive the shoe.

“It’s cool to see your name on something and also that people appreciate it, and like they think it’s cool too,” Krogull said. “That’s the most rewarding thing.”

Perry said Vice has remained relevant in Iowa City since its opening because of its strong relationships with customers. He said he and his team appreciate watching customers’ style change and adapt and staying connected with them over the years.

“It’s cool that we influenced entrepreneurship into some kids, and now they have an idea of how to make money,” Perrysaid. “Our interns at the beginning of Vice, now they’re about to start getting married and stuff, so though developing relationships, we like to say we got our fingers on the pulse.”