Sneaker nation tends to have a love-hate relationship with gold kicks. Some can't get enough of them, and some wish the flashy trend would fade into obscurity like Jeffrey Atkins. But in a market where the trends are so finicky, kicks in Au colorways always seem to pop up regardless of what's hot at the moment.
If you think the first time someone cool rocked gold kicks was Jay-Z in the "Umbrella" video, you're dead wrong. Back in 1996, Michael Johnson owned the Olympic games in his gold-dipped track spikes. And in 2009, the style still seems to be going strong'last week Puma released a 24k collabo sneaker with UNDFTD.
We're not sure how long the gold rush will last for, so take a look back at all the gold sneakers that have caught our eye over the years...
NIKE DUNK HIGH PRO SB "LUCKY"
• Year Of Release: 2004
• The Luckies dropped at the pinnacle of Nike SB-dom, and if you got them, it was probably because you were weed-carrying for your local skate shop owner. It was worth the mental scars of getting made fun of by the real skateboarders, since they're now going for $700 right now.
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NIKE AIR MAX 1 PREMIUM "GOLD FOIL OPENING CEREMONY"
• Year Of Release 2008
• High-fashion meets the trend of the moment with these Air Max 1s.
NIKE AIR FORCE ONE LOW PREMIUM "CB GOLD"
• Year Of Release: 2008
• Barkley is a legend in basketball, nevermind his gambling antics and that whole "admitting to the police officer that he was trying to catch some brain." Even the dude's shoes are alright.
NIKE DUNK LOW PRO SB "MONEY CAT"
• Year Of Release: 2008
• Part of a low, mid, and high package release, this Summer 2008 drop went for major paper and then cooled off once they started popping up in more stores around the nation. Gotcha!
NIKE AIR TRAINER 2 SB
• Year Of Release: 2008
• Nike SB have been pushing the Trainers heavy as of recent. Does Bo know skating? No. Well, maybe.
NIKE AIR MAX 1 SUPREME "AUTUMN FESTIVAL"
• Year Of Release: 2008
• The Chinese plant trees at their festivals, which is good considering that their 2 billion people are destroying the atmosphere. These only dropped in China, so you probably don't have a pair, but you can cop at Flight Club if you have a missing slot on your "gold sneaker wall."
UNDEFEATED X PUMA 24k MID
• Year Of Release: 2009
• Puma was the latest brand to strike gold, and getting UNDFTD attached to the sneaker made it hot.
NIKE AIR MAX 95 PREMIUM "KASHIMA ANTLERS"
• Year Of Release: 2006
• What happens when you are the most successful soccer club in Japan? You get your own 95 that Americans cop like crazy without even asking what a Kashima is.
NIKE DUNK LOW PREMIUM SB "TRICKSTAR"
• Year Of Release: 2008
• Last year BMX was introduced to the Olympic games, and Nike pounced on the opportunity to cash in. We're not 100% on what these have to do with BMX, but these star-studded lows are good money.
JACK'S SURFBOARDS 50th NIKE CLASSIC SB
• Year Of Release: 2008
• 50 years deep in the game will get you your own gold-plated SB. 100 went to friends and family and the other sold out quicker than Flo-Rida.
NIKE AIR FORCE ONE LOW SUPREME "CLOSING CEREMONY"
• Year Of Release: 2008
• We're guessing Michael Phelps got a pair of these to go with his 8 gold medals, and his gold-plated bong.
REEBOK INSTA PUMP FURY x UNDFTD
• Year Of Release: 2009
• Undefeated took a chance on these and the hype machine helped them move units. They're cool if you're going gold for the gay parade or down to Rio for Carnival.
CONVERSE CHUCK TAYLOR METALLIC HI
• Year Of Release: 2008
• What a sneaker list a Chuck Taylor isn't on? Fuck outta here, the downtown kids were all over these.
DAVID Z X ASICS GEL LYTE
• Year Of Release: 2008
• It took a collabo with David Z for Asics to hop on board the trend. These even said "Solid Gold" on the heel, in case you couldn't tell by just looking at them.
REEBOK AUDET x PUMP OMNI LITE
• Year Of Release: 2009
• Poor Dee Brown. He never got a chance to rock the better colorways of his signature shoe. If Reebok's marketing team hadn't flubbed this release, these would have been a slam dunk.
BAPE GOLD BAPESTA
• Year Of Release: 2008
• The best part of the whole Bape phenomenon is the 60-year-old record executives that rock them while they wait outside of Balthazar for Sunday Brunch. And these all gold AF1 ripoffs.
BAPE GOLD ROADSTA 
• Year Of Release: 2009
• Contrary to popular streetwear nerd belief, Nigo hops on trends and rarely sets them. These shiny bangers dropped in 2009. We bet he carries an A Bathing Ape late pass in his LV wallet chain.
SUPRA SKYTOPS "14 K"
• Year Of Release 2008
• Hova Hova Hova! Or Mickey Factz? Or Chris Brown? No, Muska you fucks. These introduced the Gold trend to the skinny jeans set.
VANS V224 HOLIDAY PACK
• Year Of Release: 2008
• Who knows if these are even real. Is Japan even a country? We've never been, so there's no real way of knowing.
NIKE DUNK HIGH PREMIUM "NAGOYA"
• Year Of Release: 2008
• Nagoya is a city in this mysterious Japan (land of the gold sneakers), and they say it has the best chicken wings in the world.
NIKE DUNK HIGH OLYMPIC
• Year Of Release: 2004
• Black/gold usually gains you access to the Latin Kings. These will get you in with Dee and Rickey.
Y-3 GOLD HONJA HI
• Year Of Release: 2008
• They look a lot like the Skytops, but attacking Yohji is a no-go. Dude has Yakuza goons on the payroll.
NIKE ZOOM VICTORY SPIKE
• Year of Release: Never
• Believe it or not, these Michael Johnson's special make-ups kicked the whole gold trend off. Not only was MJ nicknamed "The Man With The Golden Shoes" he also bodied everyone in the 200m and 400m taking home two gold medals in the 1996 games.
DID WE FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR FAVORITE GOLD KICKS? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW!
