Sotheby's is into streewear too

Sotheby's will also include sneakers among its precious lots. The prestigious auction house has announced the launch, scheduled for this spring, of a new buy-it-now marketplace organized in periodic drops in which jewellery, watches and sneakers will be put on sale with prices ranging from 500 to 150,000 dollars. Brahm Wachter, the director of e-commerce for Sotheby's, says:

We’re aiming to cater to a part of the market that hasn’t been fully addressed yet. We’re combining the worlds of vintage sneakers, modern sneakers and memorabilia. In 2021, we’re going to look to use a drop model for these top 5 percent of sneakers, focus on announcing them beforehand and do a more coordinated drop, and we’re going into the category as quickly and aggressively as we can. 

Sotheby's interest in so-called "sports memorabilia" began in 2019 with the record-breaking sale of a Nike Moon Shoe for $437,000 – closely followed by the sale of jerseys and sneakers worn by Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James. In September, instead, the first hip-hop-themed auction was held that gave new recognition and validity to the collecting linked to sneakers and streetwear, as well as historical artefacts while in December a unique pair of Meissen x adidas ZX8000 Porcelain was valued at one million dollars.

However, the formula of success still needs to be established: the market is only now maturing and there is still a considerable difference between the evaluation of a sneaker and its selling price; there is also the issue of the platform, which attracts little to younger collectors, who prefer platforms such as StockX, Cult Canvas and From The Archive to the traditional auction house.