Nike Announces New $5000 Running Shoe – The Most Expensive Ever

By Tim Silva
April 1, 2024

You read that right. It’s not a pair of shoes for the 5K, it’s a pair of shoes for $5,000. Nike, whose shoes have been worn by many world-record setters, is unabashedly setting a new world record for the most expensive retail price for running shoes.

This audacious development has its roots in September 2023. It was during that month that Ethiopian distance runner Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s world record for the marathon while wearing a pair of Adidas shoes—the Adizero Pro Evo 1—and delivering a much-needed victory for the German brand in the running-shoe arms race. But the Adidas “super shoes,” which at the time were priced at $500, were not widely available, and mere days after Assefa’s stunning achievement it was reported in The Telegraph—and discussed on our World-Famous Message Board—that the shoes were selling on the secondary market for up to $3,000. This, far more than Assefa’s record, got Nike’s attention.

10x more expensive than this

“The market has spoken,” said Dirk Jan van Hameren, chief marketing officer at Nike. “If people are willing to pay that much for Adidas, why would we sell our best shoes for any less? Given our unrivalled reputation in the world of competitive athletics, Nikes ought to fetch an even higher price. We remain committed to having the most expensive shoes on the market, period. We may get outrun but we will not be out-priced.”

Nike’s new $5,000 shoe, dubbed the NikeFiveZeroZeroZero SuperPro ExtraEvo 1+, will be available in sporting goods stores and online beginning this month.