The Most Expensive Sneakers of 2022

Image via Complex Original

Resale Price: $1, 198

Retail Price: $150

Release Date: July 21

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It’s nice to see an actual “sneaker” on this list. It feels like most sneakers made in mass quantities rarely pass the $1,000 threshold. We saw it much more often earlier in the pandemic, with nearly every big shoe costing that much on the secondary market. Things have slowed down as of late, but a good Travis Scott x Air Jordan is gonna rake in the big bucks. That can be said for his “Reverse Mocha” Air Jordan 1 Lows, which broke the record for submissions on Nike’s SNKRS app. It’s also one of Travis’s best shoes to date, so the hype is understandable, even if it’s not an Air Jordan 1 High. If you want them, you’re going to have to break out the coin. —Matt Welty

Resale Price: $1,293

Retail Price: $1,450

Release Date: July 13

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The Travis Scott x Dior collaboration was one that almost didn’t come to market. Following his successful Nike collaborations, the rapper was tapped by the French fashion house for a full capsule of ready-to-wear apparel, footwear, and accessories. The launch was planned for January, but Complex was told by a Dior rep in December 2021 that “Out of respect for everyone affected by the tragic events at Astroworld, Dior has decided to postpone indefinitely the launch of products from the Cactus Jack collaboration originally intended to be included in its summer 2022 collection.” By summer though, the tone around Travis Scott had softened, and the collection hit retail in July. The sneaker highlight was a luxury take on a skate silhouette called the B713, its name a play on Dior’s typical sneaker naming convention utilizing the Houston area code. With a retail price of $1,450, it’s not hard to see how the sneaker landed here, even if it’s selling for under retail. —Zac Dubasik

Resale Price: $1,425

Retail Price: $1,100

Release Date: May 29

The Adidas x Balenciaga Triple S is one of those shoes that feels like it would’ve had an even bigger impact had it dropped a few years earlier, but that hasn’t stopped people from spending big money on it. The white and black Superstar-looking colorway is the most popular, with a number of sales over the $1,500 mark, although it looks like it’s cooled off some since its May release. The collaboration’s high retail price ($1,000) is an obvious factor in its resale value, but the fact that it’s regularly selling for even more than that is proof there’s plenty of demand—as surprising as it may be. I think we can all agree this isn’t a great sneaker, but there’s always a market for these sorts of expensive designer collabs. For my money, the Gucci x Adidas (also on this list) fills that need a lot better. You might be hard pressed to find someone who wants to support Balenciaga these days, though, given the brand’s recent controversy.  —Riley Jones

Resale Price: $1,512

Retail Price: $850

Release Date: June 7

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The Gucci x Adidas Gazelle collection seems to be controversial amongst sneaker collectors, but I don’t see it. Love the Gazelle. Love Gucci. Think that they came together and did exactly what Adidas needed at the moment. They were able to create a whole collection that caught the attention of the public, including a sneaker capsule that took the Gazelle Indoor and produced them so they were essentially a Gucci sneaker with Adidas stripes on it, not the other way around. The retail price was hefty on them, going for $850. Some colors seem to be more limited than others, causing the resale prices to skyrocket to around $1,500. My personal favorite, however, is the pair with the Gucci monogram print on it. Nice, simple, and ostentatious. —Matt Welty

Resale Price: $1,692

Retail Price: $160

Release Date: September 13

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A shoe being difficult to attain is certainly one of the criteria that can lead to high resale prices, and the “Brooklyn” Off-White x Nike Air Force 1 Low qualifies as that. But in addition to the typical supply-vs-demand issue was its extra significance in being one of the first posthumous Virgil Abloh releases. Further enhancing the hype was the element of uncertainty that revolved around how (and if) they would even release. Pairs were first spotted being worn by staff from the Brooklyn Museum for the July opening of Abloh’s Figures of Speech exhibit, leading many to believe that a shock drop was imminent—similar to the SNKRS Stash release of the “Lemonade” Off-White x Nike Air Force 1 that preceded this in Boston. But despite the rumors, that never came. Instead, the shoes eventually popped up on SNKRS in September on short notice. While all hope of an additional release isn’t lost—the exhibition runs through Jan. 29, 2023—its scarcity thus far has led it to landing a well-deserved spot on this list. —Zac Dubasik

Resale Price: $1,793

Retail Price: $1,220

Release Date: April 1

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Louis Vuitton didn’t need Nike to make a pair of coveted luxury sneakers in 2022. Its in-house designs also had some individuals breaking the bank. The Louis Vuitton Trainer was introduced as part of the fashion house’s Men’s Spring/Summer 2019 collection, the first season under the artistic direction of Virgil Abloh. The design took cues from retro basketball silhouettes from the ‘80s and ‘90s and instantly became one of the signature items that represented Abloh’s commitment to injecting streetwear sensibilities into the luxury world. The LV Trainer became a constant in subsequent collections that was always guaranteed to release in a handful of brand new colorways. This particular pair features a white leather upper accented by green denim panels covered in LV’s monogram. Considering you would have had to shell out $1,340 to score a pair for retail, paying $1,793 doesn’t seem too bad. Items tied to Abloh’s tenure at Louis Vuitton will only continue to soar in value over time. If you’re someone interested in adding a piece of Abloh’s non-Nike footwear catalog to your collection, this may be your best chance. —Mike DeStefano

Resale Price: $7,871

Retail Price: $2,750

Release Date: July 19

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You can’t do an all-time great Nike Air Force 1 collaboration without involving the white-on-white colorway somehow. It’s the most classic Air Force 1 there is, and a shoe that makes sense as a tribute here given how much the Louis Vuitton project with Nike is indebted to hip-hop culture. The white-on-white Air Force 1s were made great by that same culture, where it was adopted as a pinnacle signifier of fresh.

It signifies a different pinnacle here, starting out as one of the most expensive Nike products ever at retail and only going up from there. It was a foregone conclusion that the Louis Vuitton x Nike range would be extremely sought after and then extremely resold, but what was unknown was just how much people were willing to pay given the Air Force 1’s relative status compared to other Nike retro classics like the Dunk and the Jordan 1 right now. But now, fetching $7,000 on the regular, we have our answer. — Brendan Dunne

Resale Price: $9,833

Retail Price: $2,750

Release Date: July 19

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It’s anything but shocking to see that a pair from the Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 collection is one of the most expensive sneakers of the year. The combination of the Louis Vuitton monogram and arguably Nike’s most timeless sneaker, the Air Force 1, is something that was once relegated to bootlegs at flea markets and swap meets. Nobody could have ever expected this collaboration to be anything besides pipe dream. But the late visionary Virgil Abloh changed that. 

Unlike other pairs on this list, this particular colorway received an official release back in July. It’s certainly one of the more striking designs that became available complete with its mismatched heel paneling and a chrome monogram covering the toe box. While it may not be as clean as some of the other pairs that hit the market, that hasn’t stopped people from spending money on it. The already expensive sneaker that retailed for $2,750 is flipping for an average of almost $7,000 over retail. Some people could never fathom spending that type of coin on a pair of sneakers. For others, it’s a small price to pay to possess a piece of history. —Mike DeStefano

Resale Price: $13,470

Retail Price: $3,450

Release Date: April 1

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Who would have thought that one day a Nike Air Force 1 Mid would end up on any sort of year-end list involving the most significant things happening in sneakers? The closest the model has ever been is via the Ricciardo Tisci versions, which stretched upward in all sorts of strange heights. Here the shape is more standard but the collaboration is anything but.

The graffiti colorway of the monumental Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 collection is said to have been one of the rarer pairs, which explains its asking price on the secondary market being higher than its siblings in the pack. It’s definitely not the most celebrated pair in the group—it seems like most people were more keen on the two-tone colored versions or even the solid pairs over this one—but, as usual, rarity is dictating the price on this one. That’s not to say it’s not an interesting shoe, it’s just far from the best of what Louis Vuitton x Nike had to offer. —Brendan Dunne

Resale Price: $126,500 (average auction price)

Retail Price: $2,000 (auction starting price)

Release Date: February 9

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The most expensive sneaker of 2022 was far and away the Sotheby’s-exclusive version of the Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 Low. 

Two-hundred pairs of the Virgil Abloh-designed sneakers were put up for auction from late January to early February. In the initial auctions, almost every pair of the shoes sold for over $100,000, with the highest, a men’s size 5, bringing in $352,800. Altogether, the final prices of the Sotheby’s sales combined for $25.3 million, 100 percent of which went to the Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund benefiting Black fashion students. Now that the sneaker is on the aftermarket, it’s still selling for five figures, although it’s worth noting there are less sales of this iteration than of the colorful versions that hit Louis Vuitton stores and thus less data to pull from. 

These brown low-top Air Force 1s combine two of Louis Vuitton’s most iconic prints, Damier and Monogram, and come housed in a special co-branded pilot case which was also exclusive to the Sotheby’s auctions. Are they the best Louis Vuitton x Air Force 1? That depends who you ask, but they’re the rarest and in turn, most expensive. —Riley Jones