Swizz Beatz, a hip-hop artist-producer and husband of R&B singer-songwriter Alicia Keys, said he instructed his stylist to buy 20 pairs of Buscemis last year after he first spotted them in a photograph online. "They came with no warning, bang, there it was," he said. "In the era that we live in now, people want to feel like they're discovering things." The brand's co-founder and creative director, Jon Buscemi, who started his career as a stockbroker, said he was able to snag prized shelf space in ritzy stores for his unknown Nike Air Max line by taking the sneaker industry's limited-edition strategy to the extreme.

Instead of issuing a series of limited-run models, he decided to invent a whole brand that would be known for its scarcity. He said he was inspired by the Hermès Birkin bag -- an expensive, sought-after handbag that the French company doesn't advertise and offers only to selected customers. Mr. Buscemi and his partners said they wanted to create a sneaker-world equivalent. "I can't just walk around with a purse," said Buscemi's vice president of marketing, Rob Heppler, a streetwear blogger who was working at an ad agency when he helped hatch the plan with Mr. Buscemi, his friend. Mr. Buscemi designs the Cheap Nike Air Max, which are handmade in Civitanova, Italy, at a factory that also produces goods for companies including Chanel. Buscemi is just one of many brands benefiting from the popularity of sneakers.

Nike Air Max UK makers have spurred demand by issuing more limited-edition models each year, offering consumers an "opportunity for uniqueness," according to Matt Powell, a sneaker-market analyst at SportsOneSource, a market-research company. The average price of the 300 million pairs of men's sneakers sold in the U.S. last year was $65, Mr. Powell said. But according to retailers, there is virtually no price resistance at the highest-end of the market.