Christie's auction house and leading sneaker resale platform Stadium Goods have teamed up to sell online, from July 30 to August 13, eleven pairs worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan. An exceptional sale which should easily generate more than a million euros.
For several years now, sneakers have left the sports fields to impose themselves in everyday life with young people, artists or even in fashion shows ... To such an extent that sneakers, whose market weighs nearly of three billion euros in France, have also become a marketing tool for brands. And real collectibles that are snapped up at prices that some may consider completely exorbitant.
If, in May, a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1 from 1985 was sold at Sotheby's for 476,000 euros, this new sale will offer as a flagship lot a pair of Air Jordan 1, worn by the athlete in Trieste in 1985. At the time, during the match, Michael Jordan smashed the glass panel behind the basket after a shot. A piece of glass was then embedded in the sole of the champion's basketball. A legendary pair estimated today between 553,000 and 723,000 euros.
There is also a pair of Nike Air Ship Jordan worn at the start of his career - estimated in a price range between 297,000 and 468,000 euros - and those of the final of the 1992 Olympics - between 42,000 and 60,000 euros.
More accessible, there are pairs used during player training, estimated between 5,000 and 6,800 euros ... And note that for the price, the two shoes are not the same size. Michael Jordan always took a half size larger in the left shoe!
"The Picasso of sport"
“For a long time there have been sales of cult objects that belonged to great sportsmen. But Michael Jordan is the Picasso of sport, the living legend of basketball, ”says Aline Sylla-Walbaum, global executive director of luxury at Christie's dans les Echos. “These unique pieces will resonate deeply with Jordan fans, sneaker connoisseurs and pop culture collectors,” adds John McPheters, co-founder and co-CEO of Stadium Goods, in the daily.
As early as 1984, the brand, which partnered with the champion, strove to bring sneakers out of stadiums to make them real fashion objects. Today, all brands, including the most luxurious, have made sneakers into marketing and promotional items. Just like what happens in watchmaking, brands often make hits.
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They sell exclusive products, often associated with the names of athletes or rappers in small quantities, almost without advertising and in localized points of sale. This "drop culture" allowed Lidl, at the beginning of July, to sell sneakers at a price of 12.99 euros that we found a few hours later on sites selling over 1,255 euros, ten times the price. price ... And the key, an avalanche of media coverage.
Earlier in June, five million people signed up to buy Dior Jordan, Nike Air Jordan revisited by the luxury brand, but produced only 13,000 copies!
In total, this second-hand market for sneakers - and in particular collector's items - is already in the order of 1.7 billion euros. And that's just the beginning. According to a report by Cowen and Co, this market could reach 5.1 billion in 2025. Unless this speculative bubble stumbles one day or another number of amateurs.
