2022's Most Expensive Sneakers
If a sneaker doesn’t resell for a ton of money, does it even matter? That’s a really dumb question, but sadly that’s the way a lot of people think these days. If a shoe is a brick or lacking resale value, then it will get derided. If it goes for over $1,000, it’s instantly a grail. Neither of those statements are absolute, but it’s common thinking for today’s sneaker consumers.
Expensive items have fascinated people since the dawn of time, and sneakers are no different. People will wear something and people will ask, “How much do those go for?” We’re guilty of that, too. And often, some of the best sneakers resell for the most, so it’s interesting to look at.
To tabulate the most expensive sneakers this year, we went to StockX and ranked shoes by their highest average sale. We threw out things that didn’t really feel like sneakers or shoes that had multiple colorways, a la the Louis Vuitton Air Force 1s. We also didn’t count the one-offs that had one or two sales that seemed like outliers.
As with any market, prices fluctuate. All these numbers were taken a week ago, so don’t hold it against us if they’ve gone up or down slightly since then. With that being said, here are the most expensive shoes of the year so far.
10. Sneaker Room x Nike Kyrie 7
Resale Price: $627
Retail Price: $250
Release Date: January 20
There was an era when a lot of the most sought-after and expensive sneakers on the secondary market were from Nike Basketball. That was roughly a decade ago. But there’s still a basketball sneaker this year that has cracked the top 10 of our list. Jersey City’s Sneaker Room has an ongoing collaboration with New Jersey’s own Kyrie Irving, which has resulted in a handful of sneakers dedicated to the idea of “Mom” that connects the shop’s owner, Suraj Kaufman, with the basketball star. This year’s project on the Kyrie 7 was two different pairs that came with mismatched sneakers, giving you a few opportunities to mismatch the sneakers. Irving’s deal with Nike is very much in the air, but it’s for certain that there’s still a fervor around his footwear.
9. Bad Bunny x Adidas Forum Low “Blue Tint”
Resale Price: $640
Retail Price: $160
Release Date: April 29
Adidas may not have quite the same hype behind it that it did five or so years ago, but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t completely stopped putting out desirable products. One of the major things that has kept Adidas in the conversation has been its impressive roster of collaborators. There are the obvious names like Kanye West and major fashion houses like Prada, but Bad Bunny’s ties to the brand, which go back to March 2021, should not be overlooked. The Puerto Rican musician is nothing short of a global superstar. And it isn’t just his impressive streaming numbers or sold-out arena tours that prove that. His fans are also responding to his collaborative projects. The most recent example is the “Blue Tint” colorway of the Forum Buckle, a remix of the retro sneaker complete with skate-inspired elements like a puffy tongue and industrial strap. The sneaker released earlier this year as a Puerto Rico exclusive but is now slated for a retail release in July. Fans just can’t seem to wait. Even Bad Bunny’s Crocs collab flips for an average of $326 on StockX, so this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. His name sells.
8. Nike Kobe 6 Protro “Mambacita”
Resale Price: $708
Retail Price: $180
Release Date: April 29
It’d be easy to take the negative route and chide those profiting off the “Mambacita” Nike Kobe 6, a tribute to Gianna Bryant that was released on what would have been her 16th birthday. In the wake of the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, much criticism was directed toward those who were said to be profiting from the tragedy. Instead, though, let’s look at the high resale prices as a celebration of Gigi’s life and how much Kobe meant to his fans. After news broke that Bryant’s deal with Nike had ended in 2021, there was doubt if we would ever see new Nike Kobe sneakers. Things looked even worse when this exact sneaker leaked shortly after word of the split, drawing criticism from Kobe’s widow, Vanessa. It meant that much more when this was the first sneaker to release when a new partnership was reached in 2022. Sure, it’d be great if the resellers were putting the profits toward the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, to which proceeds of the original sale of the shoes went. But the high price also serves as a reminder of how much demand still exists for a line of sneakers that became a go-to for basketball players at all levels of play.
7. Nike Dunk Low “Jackie Robinson”
Resale Price: $876
Retail Price: $110
Release Date: April 15 (delayed)
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the MLB color barrier, Nike created a special colorway of the ever-so-popular Dunk Low inspired by number 42. The pair maintains OG color blocking with a cream tumbled leather upper and blue overlays to match the uniforms of Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers, but has been spruced up with some special details to help set them apart from the average Dunks that everyone seems to be rocking right now. White laces with blue baseball stitching, 75th anniversary tongue tags, and “42” lasered into each heel are all welcome additions. The quote, “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being,” has also been etched into the blue panels.
Despite word of an April 15 release, to mark the day that Robinson made his major league debut, the pair seems to have suffered the same fate as so many other sneakers and has been pushed back with no updated release details having been announced. It’s no surprise to see this one flipping for over $1,000 considering how trendy Dunks are at the moment. But hopefully, the prices calm down a bit once these hit stores, so that as many baseball fans as possible can appreciate them
6. Gucci x Adidas Gazelle
Resale Price: $1.085
Retail Price: $850
Release Date: June 7
One need look no further than the other sneakers on this list to realize just how much designer and sneaker brands are in cahoots these days. One might even say that they are at this point in cahoots all too often and that each successive Euro Fashion House x “sneaker brand you’ve loved since you were a child” project is less interesting. Despite that, the Gucci x Adidas project manages to be good, pushing tracksuits and Gazelles just to the edge of tastefulness
The project also pushes the prices way up, which is to be expected with anything involving Gucci. These didn’t start out nearly as expensive as Nike’s designer projects but hovered near the thousand-dollar mark at retail and have been pushed just above that on secondary markets.
5. Adidas x Balenciaga Speed Trainer
Resale Price: $1,372
Retail Price: $995
Release Date: May 29
I wish this shoe wasn’t on the list, but here it is. The Balenciaga Speed Trainer is a “love it or hate it” sneaker. A high-fashion sock with a sole that feels drastically outdated in 2022. The sock shoe style itself was popularized, for the most part, by Adidas with the advent of its NMD sneaker in late 2014 and has been run into the ground ever since. The Speed Trainer released a few years later in 2016 and became a staple with consumers of high-fashion sneakers. Now, the two have become one. We now have a Speed Trainer with an Adidas Trefoil logo on it. This isn’t a sneaker that has a broad appeal to the average “sneakerhead” consumer, but it’s not surprising that it’s popular. It was a surefire home run; although, it would have been nice to see something more creative.
4. Louis Vuitton LV Trainer “Black/White”
Resale Price: $1,695
Retail Price: $1,220
Release Date: March 3
Virgil Abloh’s Louis Vuitton LV Trainer has been hovering on the fringe of the sneaker world since an Air Jordan 3–style colorway first made waves in 2019. The model, also seen in high-cut form, borrowed heavily from ’80s styles—particularly the Avia 880. It’s maintained a presence ever since, weathering the storm of cozy pandemic trends and picking up steam following Abloh’s passing in late 2021. The shoe is seemingly as popular as ever now and continues to drop in a multitude of colors, materials, and variations, at a wide range of price points. Unlike many of the shoes on this list, it’s the starting price rather than the resale price that contributed the most to its inclusion. It’s a refreshing change of pace to know the money is going toward elite-quality materials and handmade Italian craftsmanship (said to take seven hours’ worth of stitching per pair), rather than lining the pockets of kids with bots.
3. Adidas x Balenciaga Triple S
Resale Price: $2,023
Retail Price: $1,100
Release Date: May 29
The Balenciaga Triple S has been near the top of the price hierarchy for designer sneakers for some time now, its worth apparently directly correlated to the number of soles the shoe has. It’s no surprise, then, that this collaboration version involving Adidas is an expensive one. High fashion sneakers in rankings like these have a natural advantage due to their original retail price being so high. Still, it’s a sneaker that people want and want to pay big money for
We don’t totally understand that as the whole Triple S wave felt like it had crashed by now, but here we are in 2022 with the shoe being officially welcomed into more traditional sportswear spaces with the co-sign of adidas. At least it’s not as offensive as that obliterated pair of Balenciaga sneakers that had the internet up in arms.
2. Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 “Green”
Resale Price: $11,264
Retail Price: $2,000
Release Date: June
Virgil Abloh’s collaboration with Louis Vuitton and Nike can be viewed, by some, as the pinnacle of his work in sneakers. The shoes have been rolled out in multiple tiers. There were friends-and-family versions that were given to Abloh’s close friends and others and a version that was auctioned off at Sotheby’s, but there are also a multitude of different pairs that will be released to the public through Louis Vuitton stores. It’s not easy to buy the shoes. You have to be personally selected by Louis Vuitton, and the people who spend the most with the brand get preferential treatment. It’s also been said that they tried to choose people who wanted the shoes and weren’t going to resell them. But here we are. A few colors have been released so far, but the white/green is going for the most at the moment. It’s a beautiful shoe. A piece of art, really. A one-in-a-lifetime project. And something that holds value and will only increase with time.
1. Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 (Sotheby’s)
Resale Price: $126,500 (average auction price)
Retail Price: $2,000 (auction starting price)
Release Date: February 9
There’s an ongoing trend in recent years of auction houses dipping their toes into the world of selling limited-edition and expensive sneakers. It’s set a new bar for what constitutes a pricey shoe and has stretched the market of sneaker resale. A Scarr’s Air Force 1 can fetch six figures. Kanye West’s worn Yeezys can go for a million dollars. The opportunity for sneakers to go for big bucks keeps growing and growing. Perhaps the most mainstream sneaker auction we’ve ever seen was when Virgil Abloh’s Louis Vuitton Air Force 1s, done up in a Damier and monogram print, were sold exclusively at Sotheby’s. The sneakers fetched a total of $25.3 million, with one pair going for over $350,000. It’s no surprise that these are the most expensive sneakers this year so far, and they’ll likely be the most expensive sneakers at the end of the year, too.
