In a 2024 game of "I Spy," Adidas Sambas would have been the easiest pair of sneakers to spot. But by 2025, rarer models stepped up in the rankings.
All year, celebrity sneakerheads traded best-sellers for pairs only recognized by eagle-eyed enthusiasts (or Google Image Search). "Styles like Adidas Sambas or Onitsuka Tiger’s Mexico 66 may be fan favorites, but they are also everywhere," StockX's Brendan Dunne, senior director of customer community and engagement, tells me over email. "That ubiquity pushed consumers to seek out new releases that have yet to see widespread adoption, or exclusive styles that feel more unique."
So in 2025, A-listers' biggest flex wasn't simply finding a sneaker that coordinated with their five-figure designer bag or off-the-runway outfit. It was tracking down a new or retro sneaker that hardly anyone else had.
In early September, Rihanna got her hands on circa-1998 Spike Turf Sneakers from Puma's collaboration with Jil Sander. The white trainers stood out for their cleat-like soles, contrary to the Puma Speedcats and Avantis already on Rihanna's shoe rack.
It seems Rihanna—the brand's most loyal ambassador—debuted the cleat sneakers to tease the March 2026 return of Puma x Jil Sander. The labels announced their second collaboration just weeks after Rihanna took her archival pair for a walk.
A month prior, Rihanna pulled another sneaker out of retirement: Puma x Ottolinger Mostro sneakers, to match the yellow underlay of her vintage Issey Miyake Spring 2001. With neon-green soles, these are some of the more vibrant Pumas in her collection (right next to her blue Speedcat and Mostro Ecstasy sneakers, anyway). Rihanna first styled the metallic silver shoes in July 2024, four months after they hit shelves. The red-and-silver shade joined her closet shortly after.
Rihanna's rare Puma collection is something of a work requirement: As a fashion designer, she often releases pieces under the Fenty x Puma umbrella. But not every celebrity needed an official contract to trot out a rare collaboration. Take Jennifer Lawrence, who got her hands on a limited-edition pair of New Balance's 1906Rs designed with Aimé Leon Dore.
Lawrence wore her green and bronze pair on repeat during her second pregnancy. The Dore's preppy streetwear blended seamlessly with New Balance's best-selling silhouette; now, pairs from the collab fetch up to $325 on the resale market.
This isn't the last New Balance collab to enter the A-list arena. "Since then, the silhouette has continued to evolve through additional partnerships with Kith, Jack Harlow, Comme des Garçons, and Salehe Bembury, solidifying the 1906R as one of the brand’s most ubiquitous styles," Dunne of StockX adds.
Some celebrities, like Dua Lipa, tapped a close designer friend to build out their sneaker collection. In mid-November, she ended her five-year Nike hiatus with headline-making Moon Shoes—from a collaboration with her close friend, Simone Porte Jacquemus.
Dunne called the retro slip-ons "a Jacquemus-stamped answer to the recent slim sneaker trend." The original design, however, is 53 years old. The Moon Shoes have remained otherwise unmanufactured since Nike's co-founder Bill Bowerman presented them at the U.S. Olympics Trials in 1972. By the time Jacquemus and Nike were joining forces for a partnership nearly 50 years later, the French designer decided it was time to bring the archival style back.
It was a savvy move. The reworked sneaker "landed at a middle ground between sneaker nerds and fashion enthusiasts," Dunne explained. And, it sold out in minutes after two restocks.
Still, Lipa was able to secure the Moon Shoes in the Alabaster colorway. The once-$180 shoes are currently shoppable on StockX for $345.
In the midst of the Moon Shoe's takeover, Jennifer Lopez brought a seven-year-old Nike collaboration back into the conversation. This year, the circa-2018 Nike x Off-White Air Presto sneakers became her signature dance studio footwear.
Each shoe's block-letter Helvetica script, mesh monochromatic uppers, and red plastic zip-ties set them apart from the market's constant stream of white sneakers. Creative director Virgil Abloh deconstructed the Air Prestos in true Off-White form, 18 years after the model's original release.
Sure, she was six years late to the Nike x Off-White party. But Lopez made up for it in spades, having worn them over 15 times since April 2025.
The reign of the non-obvious sneaker is hardly nearing its end. Toward the end of the year, StockX noticed "impressive sales growth" in smaller, "more niche" brands like Saucony, Mizuno, and Brooks. It seems 2026's celebrity sneaker scene is on track to continue last year's streak. "This speaks to consumers’ desire to be early adopters of new brands and diversify their closets," Dunne said.
By this time next year, a sidewalk sneaker tally might even be Sambas-free.
