99% of Sneakers Auction at Sotheby's Goes to 1 Buyer

On Thursday, 100 pairs of the rarest sneakers—labeled Nike, Adidas, and Air Jordan, for starters—went up for auction. By Friday, they were all sold to a single bidder, except for one lone, expensive pair: the 1972 Nike Waffle Racing Flat Moon Shoe. Bill Bowerman, a cofounder of Nike, designed that shoe with a waffle-like sole, per CNBC. Only 12 pairs were made, for runners at the 1972 Olympic trials, and the pair being auctioned is thought to be the only one never worn. Online bidding will be open until Tuesday for that pair, starting at $80,000. Sotheby's is conducting the auction with Stadium Goods, a reseller.

The other 99 pairs went to Miles Nadal, a Canadian entrepreneur, for $850,000; his bid for the remaining pair wasn't accepted. Nadal's collection now includes unreleased Air Jordans; a pair of Adidas NMDs created as a gift for late designer Karl Lagerfeld, an effort by Chanel and singer Pharrell; and the self-lacing Nike Mags inspired by the film Back to the Future Part II, per Quartzy. Nadal intends to display the sneakers at the private Toronto museum where he displays his car collection. "Acquiring such a range of contemporary classics is a unique opportunity to build a substantial sneaker collection of iconic proportions," he said in a statement. (More Sotheby's stories.)