How haute couture turns men’s sneakers into luxury footwear

Initially considered simple sports shoes, sneakers soon assumed a predominant role in the world of fashion and urban culture due to their universal nature, becoming the most widely used and popular accessory in everyday outfits.
This has led them to move out of the sports brand scene, which in the beginning were the only ones to produce them, and onto the catwalks, with the large and historic fashion brands starting to offer increasingly exclusive and sought-aftersneaker models and limited editions capable of reaching six-figure prices in their high-end collections.
Thus was born the trend of luxury sneakers mens, which transformed a simple sports shoe into a symbol of absolute prestige that can be worn on any occasion, even the most formal, without ever being out of place.

How men’s sneakers became luxury shoes

The first sneaker in history was invented in England around 1850. It had a rubber sole and canvas upper and was an immediate success among aristocrats who played outdoor sports.
It was then mainly 3 events that turned these sports shoes into a mass phenomenon: the 1826 Athens Olympics (for the first time athletes wore sneakers to compete), the 1936 Berlin Olympics (athlete Jesse won 4 gold medals wearing these shoes), and the 1955 movie Burnt Youth (star James Dean wore sneakers with jeans and a leather jacket, turning them into a symbol of rebellion).
It was basketball player Michael Jordan, however, who made sneakers a new mainstream fashion icon, wearing what have since become over the years not only the sneakers par excellence, but also the best-selling sneakers.
From that moment on, sneakers were first produced for every sport, increasingly innovative and technological to increase performance, and then became couture sneakers thanks to some of the world’s leading designers, who turned these shoes into luxury accessories, clearing their name as an element of high fashion and bringing them to the runways of the most prestigious fashion shows.

Men’s luxury sneakers: from fashion accessories to collectibles

Thanks to a number of iconic personalitieswho have worn them and several exclusivelimited editions and limited edition models, sneakers have become collector’s items, much loved and in demand by a growing audience.
Starting as a niche market, sneaker collecting has quickly become a fast growing market: from $80 billion globally in 2020, the figures could reach $120 in 2026.
This has led to what is known as the reselling phenomenon, which has involved a great many shoe models and consists of buying limited edition models of sneakers online and then reselling them on various platforms at an obviously increased price to those collectors and amateurs who were unable to take advantage of the official, time-limited sale.

The new trend of luxury sneakers for men

With the growing trend narrowing the boundaries between street culture and luxury, there has been an opening up of luxury brands to this type of shoe, products with such wide appeal that they have thus been transformed into everyday, yet absolutely exclusive accessories.
Sneakers have thus been cleared through customs in business apparel and have become a garment that can be worn on any occasion, even the most elegant, professional and classy ones, becoming a fashion and luxury product in the latest fashion.
Thus, new models of luxury men’s sneakersand sneaker versions of the most iconic sartorial shoes are born, becoming rare, unique and prestigious, aimed at a new generation of luxury consumers looking for shoes that combine comfort, color and technology with elegance and an absolutely cool aesthetic.
Thus, sneakers are products that rewrite the rules of the most formal style and represent a true modern status symbol, even while not respecting the classic canons of the past. The new luxury men’s shoes speak the language of the street, but they represent sought-after, limited-edition accessories that are very often unobtainable and cost even very high figures.