The Most Expensive Sneakers of 2020

Image via Complex Original

Resale price: $1,292

Retail price: $120

Release date: September 18

Nike has made it abundantly clear that the Dunk is the shoe of 2020. Dozens of hard-to-get pairs released. Some were inspired by ice cream. Some were inspired by trippy bear mascots. More on those later. But one of the hardest to obtain was a collaboration with South Korea’s Kasina that was released exclusively in the skate shop’s home country. Two colorways released, but the Kasina-exclusive “Neptune Green” option is the more valuable. It’s dressed in a white leather upper with Neptune Green suede overlays, and a light gray Swoosh inspired by the signs seen across the Gyeongbu Expressway. “Busan” and “Seoul” are written on the respective heel tabs, a nod to Kasina’s home cities. The highway is the main path of travel between each. Kasina logos are stitched on the lateral heel and printed on the tongue tag, too. Unfortunately, unless you have a connect in South Korea, you probably couldn’t get your hands on this clean colorway for retail. But given the story, it’s cool that it was kept so exclusive. By this list’s standards, these are cheap, if you want to cop a Dunk Low that stands out from the pack with a bit of the money coming your way from the holidays. —Mike DeStefano

Resale price: $1,357

Retail price: $110

Release date: July 24

Nike SB saw a resurgence unlike any other in 2020. Thanks to co-signs from the likes of Travis Scott and collaborations that mattered once again, the brand caught headway in mainstream culture and was able to revive the fervor around Nike’s skateboarding sub-label that hasn’t been seen since the mid-2000s. One of these projects was a three-shoe collection with seminal rock band the Grateful Dead. Two of the shoes released through skate shops and the band’s website (in yellow and green) with a third orange pair being sold exclusively at FTC in San Francisco. While the orange is the rarest of the bunch, the green pair still was wildly popular on the resale market. The design was reminiscent of the Three Bears pack from Nike SB from 2006, which featured furry uppers. Those shoes were hit or miss with die-hards, but the Grateful Deads, molded after the band’s dancing bear logo, were received more positively to a new generation of SB fans. —Matt Welty

Resale price: $1,371

Retail price: $175

Release date: February 12

2020 was a big year for the Air Jordan 1. Not only did it become the ubiquitous sneaker of Instagram and r/sneakers, but Jordan Brand also brought it back to its origins. In a “New Beginnings” pack that released in Chicago during All-Star Weekend—an Air Jordan 1 released alongside the Nike Air Ship—Jordan Brand went back to the drawing board and dropped an Air Jordan 1 that mimicked the shape and design of the 1985 silhouette. The sneaker, though, came in a non-original colorway: white and red. It was an odd choice to some, as many would have preferred to see a true redesign of an original color scheme from when the sneaker first launched during Jordan’s rookie season. But beggars can’t be choosers, and the 1s from the pack alone go for a pretty penny. —Matt Welty

Resale price: $1,614

Retail price: $100

Release date: May 26

The Ben & Jerry’s x Nike SB Dunk brought back the feeling of excitement that was so familiar to those of us who experienced the line’s mid-2000s heyday, only this time it included the addition of social media clout chasing. That made for a volatile combination when it came to resale prices, unsurprisingly earning it a spot on the list of the year’s most expensive sneakers. From the feet of celebrities, to the picnic table of sneaker OGs, the style was everywhere—Russell Westbrook even managed to find the perfect mask to match the dripping yellow Swoosh from inside the NBA Bubble. There was a reason for all that hype, though: The sneaker was exceptionally well executed and embodied the essence of the Vermont-based ice cream maker to a tee. An even-more-limited friends and family edition included an ice cream pint-shaped box, and currently averages over $2,557 on the resale market. —Zac Dubasik

Resale price: $1,899

Retail price: $550

Release date: November 18

Cactus Plant Flea Market has become a regular with its Nike collaborations, even if they only began just a year ago. The clothing line has a handful of projects under its belt and the most extravagant (and most hyped) of the bunch is its reworking of the Nike Dunk Low. The sneaker, which released in two colorways, came bedazzled in Swarovski crystals. The dazzling feat wasn’t cheap: The pair retailed for $550. With a buy-in price that high, it was clear there would be a high resale value on these Dunks. CPFM is a brand of the moment, worn by stylish folks and celebrities alike. This sneaker speaks to those looking to gain attention, as it literally shines. The Dunk itself is having a huge moment (you can tell by looking at this list), so making a version of it limited and expensive is an easy recipe for success for Nike and Cactus Plant Flea Market. —Matt Welty

Resale price: $3,094

Retail price: $110

Release date: July 18

The Grateful Dead x Nike SB Dunk Lows released in three colors (two of which made this list), but it’s this orange variation that brings in the most money. That’s because it was the rarest of the three, releasing only at FTC Skateshop in San Francisco, a nod to the Grateful Dead’s roots in the city’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. The fuzzy Dunks were inspired by the band’s dancing bear mascots and reminiscent of Nike SB’s “Three Bears” pack from 2006. Of course, Dead devotees weren’t the only ones vying for this sneaker, and now the aftermarket value puts it far out of the budget of fans who are busy plotting their next (virtual) tour stop. The green and yellow colorways sell for a lot, too, but this exclusive orange version will likely continue to be the most valuable of the three. For further proof of just how rare these are, peruse StockX’s active asks, where many sizes have only one or two pairs available. —Riley Jones

Resale price: $4,500

Retail price: $140

Release date: April 20

The “Reverse Skunk” Dunk High wasn’t just another 4/20 weed shoe—it was Nike SB’s rarest yet. The “holiday” theme was as on the nose as ever, with just 420 pairs produced, each of them individually numbered. As if their scarcity didn’t make them hard enough to get, there was no wide release for this shoe, and it only dropped at Familia Skateshop in Minneapolis. The shoe also released only through the Copdate app, which, as anyone who’s attempted to secure a rare pair of sneakers through their phone can attest, didn’t make things any easier. Combine all of these factors with the fact that the design itself was a flip on an already coveted SB Dunk, and you have one of the year’s priciest pairs. Some versions came with special packaging, but this sneaker is so hard to get that the standard boxes sell for almost just as much. —Riley Jones

Resale price: $4,850

Retail price: $550

Release date: November 18

Drop a Dunk in 2020 and it's probably going to be expensive. The best evidence for that is all over this list. Not all of them have gone for wild prices on the secondary market, but it still feels somewhat shocking that plain $100 colorways of this retro staple are suddenly selling for upward of $400. It feels even more shocking that adding Cactus Plant Flea Market's name and a load of Swarovski crystals brings the price up this high, but maybe that's proof that the silhouette's hype knows no reasonable limit right now. Cactus Plant dropped two crystal-covered Dunks in November, with the green ending up more weighty in resale price. They also came with a high retail price of $550 because of the bedazzled treatment. There aren't many of these moving at the moment—StockX is showing just four sales at the time of writing—but the pairs that are are resulting in a serious payday for their sellers. —Brendan Dunne

Resale price: $6,818

Retail price: $2,000

Release date: July 8

Yup, they made two of ’em. Any shoe that retails for $2,000 is already too expensive for most of us, but I guess it’s to be expected from an official collaboration with Dior. Upon selling out, the low-top counterpart to the Dior x Air Jordan 1 got even harder to acquire. I certainly will never be spending $6,000 on a sneaker, but, hey, this shoe wasn’t made for me, anyway. Anyone who owns these either has a cushy job, a whole lot of credit card debt, or a whole lot of fame. Either way, we all paid attention to the Dior x Air Jordan 1s anyway. There have always been sneakers that have felt unattainable. The rarity adds to the allure. But the Dior x Air Jordan 1 Low feels like a new tier where there is no conceivable chance you may ever even see them. Still, its limited quantity and high fashion connection fascinates the masses. Start a savings fund right now. Maybe by the end of next year you will have enough to cop these in celebration of the amazing 2021 you are about to have. —Mike DeStefano

Resale price: $10,103

Retail price: $2,200

Release date: July 8

It couldn't be any other sneaker, could it? Dior's version of the Air Jordan 1 has every characteristic that creates obnoxious secondary market prices. There was a long runway of hype before its release that included celebrity co-signs from Travis Scott and the Twilight guy. There was an unprecedented retail price of $2,000 that guaranteed the shoe was expensive whether you bought it from a Dior store or some teenage reseller with an army of bots at the ready. There was the scarcity that we love and hate: Only 13,000 pairs were produced, unless you count that shipment of fakes that Homeland Security intercepted this summer. Speaking of fakes, I'm still holding a bit of a grudge against this shoe after someone at Dior threatened us with legal action for posting what they called "fake" leaked images from the Dior x Air Jordan collection. That bias aside, this is footwear for the one percent. It's a sneaker for the rich and famous, or for those who want to look rich and famous on social media. —Brendan Dunne