Gold Sneakers

Gold sneakers have had its place in sneaker history over the last few decades; most shoes consisted of simple colors and leather/suede/canvas/synthetic uppers but gold was rarely ever mass-produced. The most readily recognizable gold sneaker was worn by Michael Johnson, Olympic Gold Medalist sprinter for the American National team. In the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA, Michael Johnson obliterated the competitions by winning four Gold medals. Johnson is also known for wearing gold track spikes, creating the notion that he dipped them in liquid gold before using them in competition.

Another predominantly gold pair of shoes is the Nike Dunk High Olympic Gold edition that released in 2004. It features an entirely gold upper with a black midsole and a metallic gold sole. The shoe was created to commemorate Team USA at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Quantity was limited and a pair will fetch aroudn $400 in the open market.

The most recent golden shoe is a collaboration between Undefeated, the West-Cost based sneaker shop, and the Puma 24k Collection; it features a lustrous gold leather upper with Undefeated’s logo pierced onto the upper ankle. Only 72 pairs are known to be in existence, and were released in early 2009. It also stands as one of Sneakers News’ Top 30 Sneakers of 2009.

Gold is a very common color trim in a wide variety of sneakers, but very rarely is it cast as the leading actor. But judging by the aforementioned shoes, gold has lived up to its name and has provided only blockbuster hits.

Related Info:

> Sneaker News – Read about theUndefeated x Puma 24k Gold Mirror Mid

> Sneaker News – Top 30 Sneakers of 2009