Running shoes, not hyped basketball drops, defined 2025 on the resale market. Per StockX's annual "Big Facts" report, published on November 12, 2025, ASICS sales rose 45 percent year over year on the platform, and the ASICS Gel-1130 in Black/Pure Silver finished the year as the best-selling sneaker overall. The report, based on millions of trades across StockX's marketplace, reads less like a sneakerhead diary and more like a memo about where taste is heading.
Which brands actually won the resale year?
The answer is a cluster of once-niche running labels. Per the report, Saucony sales climbed 38 percent, Mizuno jumped 148 percent, and Brooks surged an eye-watering 1,508 percent. New Balance's 204L became that brand's best-selling new model of 2025, while the adidas Samba Jane and Onitsuka Tiger TGRS each topped their own brand's new-release charts. Even Nike's quirkier side carried the story: Air Rift sales rose 21 percent, and the Nike Total 90 3 ranked third among Nike's new 2025 releases.
Why does resale data matter more than runway data?
Resale platforms record actual transactions at market prices, so they capture what people pay for when the hype filter is off. What the 2025 numbers show is a preference shift: comfort-driven, performance-rooted silhouettes outpaced statement pieces, echoing the wider boom in practical running footwear. That boom is visible well beyond StockX — per Reuters, on November 12, 2025, Swiss sportswear brand On lifted its annual sales targets for the second time that year on sustained demand for its running shoes.
The report also hints at how a shoe earns staying power now. The Gel-1130, an affordable technical runner from the mid-2000s, beat every hyped collaboration on the platform. Price apparently helped: per StockX, the year's leading styles clustered under the $250 mark, and the report's own holiday watchlist — Jordan 4, Jordan 5, Gel-1130 — favors proven silhouettes over debuts.
Related stories: Temu's 200 Million Euro Fine Resets Marketplace Rules in EU · Met Gala 2026 Makes the Case That Fashion Is Art.
What did the platform learn beyond sneakers?
Big Facts extends past footwear, and the side categories tell their own story. Per StockX, collectibles — led by Pop Mart's Labubu — grew fast, Pokémon trading card sales rose 339 percent and Magic: The Gathering surged more than 700 percent. Search interest in the Canon G7X camera jumped 1,919 percent, part of the digital-camera revival among younger shoppers. These are the same consumers buying running shoes: they want objects with function, backstory, and tradeable value.
The detail most coverage skipped
Buried in the report: the Converse Shai 001 drove Converse's biggest sales month since March 2022, and Nike Kobe 6 Protro sales more than doubled versus 2024. Performance basketball is quietly rebuilding its resale base through player-led models — A'ja Wilson's A'One was Nike's second-best new 2025 release — rather than retro nostalgia.
Why this matters for the season ahead
For brands, the lesson is that 2026 shelf plans will be judged against resale performance, not just launch-week sell-through. For shoppers, it means the running shoe you already own is the rare trend piece that appreciates in relevance. The data suggests the slim runner era is not a pause between hype cycles — it is the cycle.