10 Sneaker Drops with the Most Increase in Resale Value in 2019
Can you make more money investing in sneakers than in the stock market? With these 10 shoes, you definitely could have beat Wall Street in the past 1-5 years.
Every sneaker release date is a potential investment.
Like in every game, some win, some lose.
Most people in the sneaker resale game believe that the only way to win is to catch a limited drop for retail price, and to flip it for resale.
Although you can make great money doing this, especially if you use sneaker bots and have the correct business knowledge, the reason that the sneaker aftermarket is billions of dollars and growing is because of trades happening at all times at different prices.
It̵7;s exciting to know that this billion dollar pie is composed almost entirely of self made resellers who can reach six figures with the correct strategy like this one we’re about to lay out for you, which is how to win in sneaker investing.
Like with all investments, it’s impossible to be right 100% of the time, but you can hedge the odds heavily in your favor with the correct knowledge base.
To give you an idea of how much money there is to be made in trading rare sneakers, here are 10 winners from the past few years that have had a surprising increase in resale value:
1. Adidas Yeezy Boost Light Brown 750 OG
Release Date: February 14th 2015
Retail Price: $350
Initial Resale Value Lows: $900
Current Resale Value: $1750-$2500
Profit Margin: $850-$1600+ per pair / 94%-$178%+ ROI
I remember this release well as these were one of the shoes I moved many pairs of, profiting not only on retail prices but on post release markups as well.
After an initial craze and sales between $1000 all the way up to $5000 per pair, an online re-release announcement put resellers in fear of a massive supply, and prices plummeted below $1000 per pair, especially for larger sizes.
When the online drop happened and was way more limited than people expected, prices rose again
As this was the very first model for Kanye and his Yeezy brand to team up with Adidas in the debut of the Boost technology, these shoes have historic collectible status which is intrinsically valuable in the long run.
Now, in 2019, it’s certainly impossible to find these for under $1000 authentic and new.
The same returns hold true for basically every 2015/2016 Yeezy drop for the same reason these 750’s have increased.
2. Nike Air Jordan 5 x Supreme
Release Date: October 16th 2015
Retail Price: $198
Initial Resale Value Lows: $400
Current Resale Value: $800-$900
Profit Margin: $400-$500 per pair / 100%-125%+ ROI
At the time, people seemed to be bored of Supreme x Nike collabs, and these Retro 5’s were criticized as unoriginal. Some people liked them, especially the camo colorway, but for a moment in time, the resale price was fairly low and these shoes did not sell as quickly as expected even though they were pretty hard to purchase.
In the following years, Supreme x Nike dropped more shoes of varying popularity and criticisms, but these Retro 5’s began to gain popularity on resale platforms and have basically doubled in value since their lows.
3. Supreme x Nike Air More Uptempo Red
Retail Price: $190
Release Date: April 27th 2017
Initial Resale Value Lows: $350
Current Resale Value: $900-$1000
Profit Margin: $550-$650 per pair / 257%-286%+ ROI
Yet another case of the people hating on Preme, the Supreme x Nike Air More Uptempo dropped in Gold, Red and Black.
The people were given many chances to cop this, not only from Supreme’s website, but on another try on Nike’s SNKRS app and other retail sites.
Because of these many chances, it fell into the category of an easier cop, so resellers panicked and lowered prices when their stock wasn’t moving quickly.
If they’d held on to their pairs, they’d have gotten a much better return, particularly for the red pair.
4. Nike Air Force 1 Low x Commes des Garçons “Shirt”
Release Date: $228
Initial Resale Value Lows: $350
Current Resale Value: $900-$1000
Profit Margin: $550-$650 per pair /257%-286%+ ROI
This increase is somewhat of a surprising one.
French brand Commes des Garçons has been known to roll out hype streetwear collabs, most notably its Supreme partnership with $1000+ box logo T shirts.
Their shoes on the other hand, have been hit or miss, with the aftermarket looking confused on how to price these.
The resale value went from decent to super hype worthy in the past 2 years, with a near three fold increase.
A recent late 2018 collab on an Air Force 1 Low silhouette with Supreme is currently going for around $300; there is a chance that this could be a good long term bet.
5. Nike Air Jordan 1: “Not For Resale” Yellow
Release Date: November 14th 2018
Retail Price: $160
Initial Resale Value Lows: $600
Current Resale Value: $1500-$2000
Profit Margin: $900-$1400 per pair /250%-333% ROI
Despite the name and the printed “Not for Resale” across these shoes, Nike of course knew that people would be buying these just to resell them.
Maybe it was this irony or the slew of other insanely hyped releases like the Retro Jordan 1 x Union LA dropping at the time, but resale value has since increased quite a bit as of July 2019.
The yellow “Maize” colorway is currently commanding a higher price, in some cases twice as much as the red.
6. Nike x Sean Wotherspoon Airmax 97/1
Release Date: November 21st 2017
Retail Price: $160
Initial Resale Value Lows: $500
Current Resale Value: $1200-$1500
Profit Margin: $700-$1000 per pair /240%-300% ROI
One fun fact about this pair is that a single early pair of this drop went for $96,000 on eBay to a crazy collector (actually tons of crazy people placed bids close to this level, and just one person won)–the hype was strong with this one.
At one point, the buzz about these unique hybrid cozy patchy kicks died down, and resale value plummeted to around $500.
Fast forward to 2019, and the resale value has shot up to higher than its initial resale highs, meaning that if you scooped it for the low when people were sleeping on these, you would have made a clean double on your money today in mid-late 2019.
7. Nike Air Jordan 1 Retro High x Off White “Chicago”
Release Date: September 9th 2017
Retail Price: $190
Initial Resale Value Lows: $900
Current Resale Value: $3500-$4000
Profit Margin: $2600-$3100 per pair / 389%-444% ROI
In 2017, people were lamenting about the Nike Jordan resale market not being what it used to be.
A lot of models were flopping like bricks on the aftermarket, some of them losing value under the retail price when they’d normally increase.
All of this fear of resale dying changed 180 degrees when the Nike x Off White “The Ten” Collection dropped.
Each pair was going for around 5x its retail price at highs of $1000 per pair during the release time, which was an insane return for any shoe, let alone an entire collection of 10 shoes that dropped at once.
In the past year, it seems the ceiling for Off White x Nike Jordan got even higher, particularly for Abloh’s “Chicago” iteration, which even if you had bought for a high resale value of $1500, you’d be able to comfortably sell today for double your money and a $1500+ profit.
…Insane. That’s why we have a whole guide post on the brand that you can check out here.
8. Nike Air Jordan 1 Retro High x Kawhi Leonard Think 16 (Pass the Torch)
Release Date: April 28th 2018
Retail Price: $145
Initial Resale Value Lows: $450
Current Resale Value: $2000-$2500+
Profit Margin: $1550-$2050 per pair / 344%-456%+ ROI
If someone is to hold a record for switching sides faster than your stripper ex or LeBron James, it’d have to be Kawhi Leonard. In the span of just 1 year’s time, he had signed to 3 different NBA teams and released shoes with 2 different brands.
During each announcement of switching sides, things just got crazier and crazier, topped off with a Raptors win, an unlikely collab with dad shoe brand New Balance, and finally a switch to the LA Clippers.
The resale spiked immensely following each of these crazy announcements, particularly for the “Pass the Torch” pair which dropped when Kawhi was with the Spurs. Leonard is also supposedly suing Nike for his claw logo which is on these shoes, which also helped drive the resale value even higher.
Here’s a whole guide on Kawhi’s shoe collabs for those who want to educate on the hype.
9. Nike Jordan 1 Retro High Spiderman (special box)
Release Date: December 14th 2018
Retail Price: $160
Initial Resale Value Lows: $250
Current Resale Value: $400-$600
Profit Margin: $150-$350 per pair / 60%-140% ROI
A limited Jordan release with a mixed opinion (who really wants to rock crystal laden kicks that look like B Grade Chicago 1’s?), Nike took on Spiderman with this special edition shoe that coincided with the release of Marvel’s film.
Despite the hype and limited quantities, many people overlooked this drop and the resale value at one point was around $250 per pair.
Now, as new pairs have become rarer on the aftermarket, people are paying a premium not even 1 year later, with an increase in up to double the initial resale value lows. Whether or not these will continue to rise or if they’ll fall is up to the market, but these are surely at a noteworthy price right now.
10. Chuck Taylor Converse x Kith x Coca Cola White
Release Date: August 11th 2017
Retail Price: $150
Initial Resale Value Lows: $300
Current Resale Value: $550-$750
Profit Margin: $250-$450 per pair / 83%-150%+ ROI
Perhaps one of the more unexpected and possibly overlooked releases, KITH NYC teamed up with Chuck Taylor and Coca Cola to release this shoe that oozed Americana and retro swag.
Resale value spiked then fell: For a period these hard to get shoes could have been had for a markup of double its retail price. The resale value for the white version has since been revived to up to 5 times the retail price for a healthy return for those who got them for the low.
~~~
These kind of Return on Investment (ROI) numbers would be considered amazing compared to the traditional stock market, where returns of 8% in a year are standard and 20% in a year is considered a big boom in economy.
Resale platform and data aggregator StockX is an excellent research tool. Sign up for an account here if you don’t already have one. We got most the stock photos of the shoes from this article from them and, disclaimer, we also have a partnership from which we receive a small commission if someone signs up and purchases a pair.
If you want to read more about sneakers as an alternative investment, check out our guide here on collecting sneakers for future financial freedom, or have a look at our Hypemaster Playbook where we break down how to best participate in the sneaker resale market to squeeze out opportunities from all angles, whether it’s snagging releases right on the drop for a quick flip or making long term investments like this.
Author
Comments