Data story
The collab tax
Put a famous name on a sneaker and the same model resells for 1.8× as much. For Travis Scott it is 4.0×. We measured that premium for 704 collab colourways, then timed how fast it fades after release.
Source: SneakerPulse records of completed GOAT and StockX sales through Sept 30, 2026. Photos: StockX and GOAT.
222 ways to sell an Air Jordan 1 Low
Start with one shoe. Each dot is one regular (non-collab) colourway of the Air Jordan 1 Low with 10+ sales on GOAT from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, placed at its median sale price.
222 colourways, 61,264 sales. The middle one sold for $115. That is the model's baseline: what a typical Air Jordan 1 Low resold for this year.
Hover or tap any dot for the colourway. The scale is logarithmic: each step right is a doubling.
Then the reversed Swoosh arrives
Now the Travis Scott Air Jordan 1 Lows: 10 colourways on the same model. The cheapest, ‘Shy Pink’, sold for a median $333, 2.9× the baseline. The dearest, ‘Mocha’, went for $1,792, 15.6× (433 sales; the dearest with 100+).
$345 · 3.0×
Photo: GOAT
$711 · 6.2×
Photo: StockX
$450 · 3.9×
Photo: StockX
Same last, same leather, same factory. The difference is the name. Other collabs on this model sit in between: Rookie Card - Away (Trophy Room, $240), Better With Time (Nigel Sylvester, $244), Rookie Card - Home (Trophy Room, $667).
704 collabs, each against its own model
Now every collab colourway with 10+ GOAT sales in the year, each divided by its own model's baseline: a Supreme Air Force 1 against regular Air Force 1 Lows, a Wales Bonner Samba against regular Sambas. 124 models, 245,859 sales.
The typical collab sold for 1.76× its model (95% interval 1.66× to 1.86×), about $94 more a pair. 607 of 702 sold above their model's typical colourway.
Comparing within a model removes the obvious mix effect: Jordans cost more than Sambas whoever designs them. On StockX, which sells only new pairs, the same test on 596 listings gives 1.57×.
The collab tax, name by name
Split by collaborator (8+ listings each), the spread is wide. Cactus Plant Flea Market leads at 4.5× (9 listings), then Wales Bonner (4.1×), Travis Scott (4.0×, 31 listings) and Off-White (3.7×, all 75 above their model).
Supreme (59 listings, 36,847 sales) sits at 2.0×; Kith (62 listings) at 1.9×.
Thick mark: the collaborator's median; bar: 95% bootstrap interval. Faded rows did not sell above their models more often than a coin flip (sign test, Benjamini-Hochberg q ≥ 0.05 across all 33 collaborators tested). Too few listings to rank: Bad Bunny (6, 4.0×), J Balvin (4, 1.5×), KAWS (6, 1.3×).
Some names add almost nothing
At the other end, a collab label is no guarantee. Social Status 0.88× (3 of 11 above), Teddy Santis 1.10× (31 of 44 above), sacai 1.11× (7 of 14 above), A Ma Maniére 1.18× (14 of 20 above), Levi's 1.23× (7 of 10 above), Union LA 1.42× (15 of 20 above).
Against retail, the gap is starker. Travis Scott listings sold for a median +260% over their own retail price (23 of 26 above retail). sacai: −42%; Teddy Santis: −33%.
Retail from StockX's product data, where a StockX listing matched by SKU (633 of 704 collab listings).
How a premium fades: one shoe
Part two: how long does it last? Take the Fragment × Travis Scott Air Jordan 1 Low ‘Sail Military Blue’, released November 15, 2025 at $155.
In its first two weeks it sold for a median $1,700, against $119 for a regular Air Jordan 1 Low: 14.3× the regular price. By week 12 it sold for $947 (7.6×): the part of the price above a regular pair had halved. By week 44: $474.
That is this shoe's half-life: 12 weeks. The pair still sells for 3.1× its retail.
GOAT and StockX sales pooled, 24,801 in all. The dashed line is half the launch premium over the baseline, which moves month to month. Hover or tap a week.
Collab hype lasts months, not weeks
We timed the same thing for every launch we could follow: shoes released January 15, 2025 to June 30, 2026 that opened at least 15% above their model's baseline. 61 collabs and 182 regular colourways qualified.
Each line is the share of launches still holding more than half their launch premium. The regular colourways' line crosses 50% at week 6 (95% interval 5 to 9). The collabs' line hovers just above it for months and crosses at week 33 (interval 12 weeks to not reached within a year).
At six months, 56% of collab launches still held over half their premium, against 22% of regular ones (log-rank test p < 0.001).
The hype half-life, ranked
By collaborator, with 4+ launches each: Teddy Santis 2 weeks (4); Kith 2 weeks (4); A Ma Maniére 4 weeks (6); Supreme 16 weeks (12); Union LA 32 weeks (4); Fragment 32 weeks (4); BAPE did not halve (5).
Read the bars before the dots. With four to 12 launches each, every interval is wide, and only BAPE differs from regular colourways after correction (BAPE q = 0.021).
Too few launches to rank: CPFM (3 shoes, 0 halved); Undefeated (3 shoes, 2 halved); Salehe Bembury (3 shoes, 2 halved); JJJJound (3 shoes, 1 halved); Levi's (3 shoes, 3 halved); Nigel Sylvester (2 shoes, 0 halved); Patta (2 shoes, 2 halved); CLOT (2 shoes, 1 halved); Awake NY (2 shoes, 0 halved); Travis Scott (1 shoe, 1 halved); Concepts (1 shoe, 0 halved); Bad Bunny (1 shoe, 0 halved); Corteiz (1 shoe, 1 halved). Travis Scott's one qualifying launch is the shoe above; its 2026 Air Jordan 1 Lows have no release date in our data.
In three numbers
What this shows, and what it does not
A collaborator's name moves the price of the same model a long way: the same shape, often the same materials, sells for 1.8× as much with a name on it, and 4.0× with Travis Scott's. The premium also lasts. Regular colourways that launch hot usually give back half the premium within about 6 weeks; for collabs it is closer to 33 weeks, and some had not halved after a year.
Not every name works. Social Status, Teddy Santis, sacai, A Ma Maniére listings sold close to their models' regular colourways, some below them. The half-life ranking rests on four to 12 launches per collaborator, so read it as what happened to these shoes, not as a rule. None of this is a forecast or buying advice.
Questions
Are Travis Scott Jordans worth it?
On resale prices, they hold a large premium. From October 2025 to September 2026, 31 Travis Scott colourways sold on GOAT for a median 4.0 times the typical regular colourway of the same model, about $450 more a pair, and 23 of the 26 with a known retail price sold above it (median +260% over retail). The Air Jordan 1 Lows ranged from $333 to $1,792. Past prices are not a forecast and this is not buying advice.
Do sneaker collabs resell for more?
Usually. Of 704 collab colourways with 10+ GOAT sales, 607 sold above the median regular colourway of the same model; the typical collab sold for 1.76 times its model (95% interval 1.66 to 1.86). On StockX, new pairs only, the figure was 1.57.
Which sneaker collabs hold their value?
Two measures. Highest premium over their own model: CPFM (4.5x), Wales Bonner (4.1x), Travis Scott (4.0x), Off-White (3.7x), Fragment (2.1x). Slowest to lose a launch premium: collabs as a group took a median 33 weeks to lose half of it, regular hyped colourways 6 weeks; among collaborators with enough launches, BAPE (not halved within the data), Fragment (32 weeks), Union LA (32 weeks) held longest, but samples are small and intervals wide.
How fast do collab sneaker prices drop after release?
Slower than regular releases. For launches from January 2025 to June 2026 that opened 15%+ above their model, half of regular colourways had lost half that premium by week 6; for 61 collabs it took 33 weeks, and 56% still held more than half after six months (regular: 22%).
What is the collab tax?
Our name for the extra a collaborator's colourway resells for compared with regular colourways of the same model. Across 704 collab listings the median was 1.76 times, or about $94 a pair.
Method. Completed GOAT and StockX sales recorded by SneakerPulse (sales between $0 and $30,000, UTC days, data through September 30, 2026).
Footwear only, cleats excluded, kids' sizes (GS, PS, TD and similar) excluded. Matching. Listings are GOAT's, named "Collaborator x Brand Model 'Colourway'". We remove the quoted colourway first
(so "New Balance 9060 'Off White'" is not an Off-White collab), then look for each collaborator's name (35 names, e.g. "Travis Scott" or "Cactus Jack", "Off-White", "Union" or "Union LA",
"Fragment", "A Ma Maniére"); a listing naming two collaborators counts for both. A regular colourway names no collaborator and has no " x " outside the colourway. The model is GOAT's brand plus
the name before the colourway with the collaborator, brand words, years and release-tier words (Retro, OG, SP, QS, NRG, Premium, SE, LX, Pro) removed, so
"Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Retro Low OG SP 'Velvet Brown'" and "Air Jordan 1 Low 'Bred Toe'" are both Air Jordan 1 Low; women's listings are their own model.
"Regular" means not a collab; it includes limited non-collab releases. StockX listings are matched to GOAT listings by SKU.
Premium. October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, GOAT. A collab listing's median sale over its model's baseline: the median of the regular colourways' own medians
(10+ sales each; 5+ regular colourways needed). Listings sold in the window whatever their release year. Collaborator medians: 2,000-draw bootstrap intervals over listings;
"above its model" uses an exact sign test against 50% with Benjamini-Hochberg q-values across all 33 collaborators with 3+ listings. GOAT also sells used pairs and we cannot
tell them apart, so every figure was rerun on StockX, which sells new pairs only (596 listings, median 1.57×; collaborator medians on StockX are in the data file).
Half-life. Shoes released January 15, 2025 to June 30, 2026 (release date from StockX's product data, via SKU), GOAT and StockX sales pooled.
Launch premium: median of days 0 to 13 (20+ sales) over the model's baseline in the release month (median of regular colourways' monthly medians, 5+ sales each, 5+ colourways).
Then each week from week 2 with 8+ sales against the baseline in that week's month, smoothed with a 3-week rolling median, followed up to 52 weeks or September 30, 2026.
The half-life is the first week the smoothed premium is at or below half the launch premium; shoes that never get there are censored at their last week. Only launches at least
15% above the baseline are timed (61 of 69 collabs, 182 of 482 regular colourways that met the data rules; 299,111 sales for the collabs).
Medians are Kaplan-Meier medians with 2,000-draw bootstrap intervals over shoes; groups are compared with a log-rank test (BH across the 7 ranked collaborators).
Robustness: on StockX alone the same collabs' median half-life is 30 weeks (50 shoes); on GOAT alone 49 weeks (38 shoes).
With looser data rules (10+ launch sales and 5+ sales a week) the medians are 31 weeks for 74 collabs and 5 for 276 regular colourways. Many collabs drop out for thin sales or a model with too few regular colourways (Jumpman Jack, Crocs Pollex),
and listings without a StockX release date, including Travis Scott's 2026 Air Jordan 1 Lows, cannot be timed.
Query: tools/stories/collab_tax_query.py; data: JSON (free to reuse with credit). Product photos: StockX and GOAT.