ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: All members of the Campless team help in everything that we do (which is why the blog has no named authors) but for this one we wanted to give an extra-appreciative shout-out to Jameson Liang who put a lot of time and thought into this analysis.
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Are you sick of “Best of 2014” sneaker lists yet? You ought to be, it’s almost February.
So why are you reading this one?
Because you’ve been waiting on an objective, data-driven list. You don’t want to read a 26-click slide-show from the 2nd intern at the 22nd most popular sneaker blog. You don’t want to watch a best sneakers video from a YouTuber who has also published “How to get rid of acne and acne scars”. (True story). Instead, you’ve been waiting for this list because you know that with Campless, there is always a data angle.
For the past two years our angle was a “Staying Power” list. We ranked the twenty sneakers NOT released that year which had the most eBay sales during that year. For example, in 2013 the requirement was that the shoe had been released in 2012 or prior, and we ranked those shoes based on 2013 eBay sales. Here are our 2013 and 2012 lists.
This year we decided to do get closer to the standard fare and do a “Best of 2014” analysis (as opposed to “list”). In fact, our analysis is, by definition, the list to end all lists. We have intentionally waited as long as possible – perhaps too late – so that we could see every other “best of” list first. We have spent a long time identifying, compiling, standardizing and cleaning every single “Best of 2014” list we could find. What follows is a 100% objective analysis – data only, no personal opinion – of the top sneakers of 2014. We use the word “top”, as opposed to “best”, because best is a subjective word. “Top”, however – particularly as we are using it – is defined by the data. It is the objective* collection of sneakers which have appeared at the top of others’ lists.
*We recognize that the practice of taking a large number of subjective “Best of” lists, rolling them together and calling them objective, feels eerily similar to the mortgage-bundling which collapsed our economy in 2008, but you’ll just have to trust that the results will be better this time.
Data Source:
- We collected 60 sneaker lists from 24 different blogs, and 8 videos from prominent sneaker YouTubers.
- We actually found another 63 YouTube videos of people doing “best release” or “best pickup” lists – and we would have found more had we not stopped looking. We decided to use only those lists from people with a substantial following, which ended up being those eight. This is the one time of year when every sneakerhead with an iPhone thinks he or she is a movie star. No one cares that you copped a pair of Jordan 3 Sport Blues. Seriously. Put the camera down and go back to study hall.
- APOLOGY: We apologize if anyone published a list that was not included. It was hard to find all that we did, and we have no doubt that we missed some. There were at least five (four from TheShoeGame and one from DamnnEricka) that we have since stumbled upon, but that we were not able to include in the analysis. We’re certain there are others.
The sixty (60) lists included are as follows:
- Nine (9) from SneakerNews (Jordans, Kobes, LeBrons, KD, Nike SB, Asics, Reebok, Saucony and The Rest)
- Eight (8) YouTubers (YoAnty, Foamer Simpson, Franalations, Heskicks, NightWing2303, Asian Joe, TheRealTBlake, and Dj Delz)
- Seven (7) from SoleCollector (Best New Sneakers, Sneakers that will stand the test of time, Nike, Jordan, Retro, Adidas and Collabs)
- Five (5) from FinishLine (by Oscar Castillo, John Gotty, Jian Deleon, Anna Bedione, KickGenius)
- Four (4) from High Snobiety (by David Fischer, Jeff Carvalho, Pete Williams, AJ Gwilliam)
- Three (3) from The Hundreds (by Jon Hundreds, Chris Danforth, Tom Winslade)
- Three (3) from Complex (Best Sneakers, Retro Sneakers, Collabs)
- Three (3) from About.com (Best Vans, Reebok, Collabs)
- Two (2) from KicksonFire (Kicks Hypebeasts Loved; Most Underrated)
- And one (1) each from Bleacher Report, Brett Golliff, Crisp Culture, Global Grind, DeFY NY, HipHopWired, Kustoo, Nice Kicks, SoleWatch, Sole-U, Sports Illustrated, Stuff Fly People Like, SneakerWatchTV, SneakerBarDetroit, Sneaker Report and WearTesters)
This collection of lists produced 276 different sneakers and 106 different sneaker models. From those, it was our job to figure out how to combine and score them, and tally an aggregate list.
Methodology: [Skip to pretty pikture if no want hurt brain-brain]
- We created a point-system based on the sneaker lists.
- A “best of all sneakers” list was afforded a 25-point scale. The number 1 ranked shoe was assigned 25 points, number 2 got 24 points and so on, until number 25 with 1 point. For any lists with more than 25 sneakers, those ranked 26 or lower received no points. If the list only had 10 sneakers, the number 1 still got 25 points, down to number 10 which would got 16.
- A “best of sub-set of sneakers” list – i.e., best Jordan releases – was afforded a 10-point scale. Same rules as above except those ranked 11 and lower would receive no points.
- All points were assigned according to the ranking of the creator of the list, but after all points were assigned, all sneakers were split into “models” and “shoes”. Many list creators conflated models (such as the Air Jordan VI) with shoes (such as the Air Jordan VI Carmine) in their list. But for our purposes, we have separated the two and created two aggregate 2014 Top Sneaker Lists – the top sneakers and top sneaker models.
- As a bonus we’ve included a few Campless lists, based on resell data and volume. While not the focus on this post, it was easy enough for us to include and we don’t believe this would warrant a complete post all to it’s own, as you can go to Campless.com any time you’d like and check out the latest data rankings.
2014 Top Sneakers & Sneaker Models:
Top Sneakers:
The “Wisdom of Crowds” says that this is “correct” ranking of 2014 sneakers. But the wisdom of any random sneakerhead off the street can surely confirm that. Red October? Check. Lance Mountain? Duh. Legend Blue 11? No shit. The fun part comes when we look beyond the top few kicks.
Key Insights:
- The maximum number of Rankings Points one sneaker could have earned was 1,110. At 311, the Yeezy 2 Red October earned 28% of all possible points. AJ1 Lance Mountain had 24%. AJ11 Legend Blue 20%.
- Even though the Red October was number 1, it only appeared on 16 of 60 lists. Granted, some lists were “Best Reeboks” or “Best Performance Sneakers” – lists the RO couldn’t possibly be on – but it’s still instructive that 73% of the lists did not include the most wanted Yeezy.
- Y3 Qasa Racer at number 8 overall? Pretty cool.
- Six of the top ten are collabs. Interesting.
- 276 total sneakers landed on a list. 84 showed up on at least 2 lists. Perhaps all sneakerheads don’t think alike.
- The Jordan 1 Fragment (ranked 14) was on more lists (10) than 7 of the 13 sneakers ahead of it. Our theory? Top lists are made at the end of the year, and with the Fragment dropping on Dec 27 it was so fresh in people’s minds that they had to include it, but not enough time had passed for anyone to rank it very high.
Top Models:
Maybe even less surprise here than with the sneaker list…
Key Insights:
- Eight of the ten were new models. Two (Stan Smith, Jordan 6) had many retro releases
- Nike and Adidas took all ten of the top spots (Nike/JB 6, Adidas 4)
- Check out number 11! Common Projects Achilles Low almost snuck into the top 10. That’s one you don’t see regularly on sneaker blog hype.
Campless Rankings:
On the “Price-Guide” half of Campless.com (the homepage), you can rank sneakers. You can rank various categories of sneakers, including 11 primary categories (such as Air Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, etc.) and 76 secondary categories (such as Jordan 3, Jordan 4, Kobe 7, etc.). Each category of sneakers can be ranked by nine different “standard statistics”, which are: Average Deadstock Price, Total Resell Dollars, Total Volume Sold, Price Trend, Price Volatility Deadstock Percentage, Resell Price Premium, Deadstock Premium and Sneakerhead Significance. For a complete explanation of what these stats mean, see the Data Page.
The point here is that, while sneaker rankings are available 24/7/365, we thought it would be a nice bonus to include some of those rankings here, considering the data currently on the site is for the full year 2014. What follows are screenshots of the top 15 Campless sneakers for two of the standard statistics. Keep in mind that these rankings are based on eBay sales for the entire year, and are only limited to the 1309 sneakers that Campless currently tracks.
Average Deadstock Price:
Yes, we know some of these seem low, but keep in mind these are actual eBay sales – not auctions which are listed for exorbitant prices but do not sell. Also, we don’t include Flight Club data in here, so we don’t have the $37,500 Eminem 4 sale in our stats.
Total Pairs Sold:
Six of the top seven most resold sneakers in 2014 was an Air Jordan 11. That’s crazy. Yes, this list has the usual suspects – all of the big 2014 Jordan releases (AJ11 Legend Blue, AJ6 Carmine, AJ6 Black Infrared), but notice that numbers one (AJ11 Gamma Blue), four (AJ11 Bred) and five (AJ11 Concord) were all released in prior years. The AJ11 Legend Blue came in 6th primarily because it was released on December 20, so it only had 11 days of resale data included in the numbers above, as compared to those shoes which had the entire year.
Now that we have sneaker list rankings and Campless ranking, the obvious question is: How do they relate?
There are 279 total sneakers which appear on the sixty “best of” lists. Of those, 127 sneakers are also tracked by Campless. The following chart plots those sneaker by their relative rankings for both “best of 2014” and average resell price.
The straight green line is the “best of 2014” plot. You’ll notice that the Red October is all the way to the left – ranking number one. The volatile blue line is average resell price. If the two were correlated – i.e., if “best of 2014” was a function of average resell price – the blue line would sit directly on top of the green. The conclusion: there is no discernible correlation between average resell price and being on a top sneaker list.
What do you think? How do our calculated rankings compare to your personal best of 2014?
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APPENDIX:
We couldn’t resist, here’s our Campless personal top ten (one shoe from ten Campless team members, therefore no particular order): Y3 Yohji Boost (Mike), Nike SB Dunk Baohaus (Jameson), Air Max 90 Lunar Moon Landing (Gabe), Air Jordan 1 Melo (Ramin), Asics GLV Ronnie Fieg Sage (Dan), Adidas ZX Flux Mythology (JT), Asics GLV LimitEDitions Surredaliste (Matt), Adidas Pure Boost (Bob), Jordan 11 Low Infrared (Sy) and Air Tech Challenge 2 Grand Slam Pack (Josh).
