Nike

World's biggest sports brand. World's biggest sneaker brand. Nike is named after the Greek goddess of victory - and has since the ‘60s been the most victorious sneaker brand of all.

Nike has created some of present time’s most original silhouettes - and especially Tinker Hatfield, who initially was hired to design Nike stores, has innovated some of the most iconic sneakers. He created the now classic Air Max 1 (link) with an inside-out approach, inspired by the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Subsequently he had the honor to design the Air Jordan line. In 2020 Sotheby’s sold the most expensive player-worn pair at a staggering 560,000$ price tag - it was, of course, the Air Jordan 1 High.

Nike has always defined what the term hype actually means. When the cult film Back To The Future Part II released back in 1989, it included the futuristic Nike Mag with self-lacing technology. In 2015 Nike finally had the technology to make the concept viable, and they auctioned off a very limited sizerun, donating all profits to the Michael J. Fox foundation. The Nike Air Mags sold became some of the most expensive shoes in sneaker history.