Ranking The Top 10 Balenciaga Sneakers of All-Time

When you look at a Balenciaga sneaker you know it has to be high fashion. No normal shoe would even try for this bizarrely appealing set of styles and colors. Yet somehow Balenciaga manages to take the best of the odd and un-pretty and turn it into a better product. These shoes are so strange, new-school and so desirable that sometimes the restock sells out before the next order is placed for them. If you want your own set of comfortable chic and futuristic sneakers from the house that Cristóbal Balenciaga founded, we suggest you start with one of the ten best, most iconic and epic looks the company has ever created.

10. Balenciaga Triple S Trainers Bicolour

Unique sneakers have been a massive market since the 80s at least. Every year styles grow more bold, more futuristic and as new materials, colors and forms come into the public eye just putting on your kicks has become high fashion. While Converse All-Stars and Air Jordans may be what you think of when you imagine fashion meets sneakers, Balenciaga turned the sneaker world on its head when they walked the Triple S down the runway back in 2017. Of all the Triple S they make, and there are more than a few, this pair, the bicolor, is the most unique. Literally split down the center the Bicolor Triple S is peerless and iconic in its own right, not just for the profile of the Triple S, but for its novel color combination.

9.  Balenciaga Lambskin High Top Tone on Tone (Blue)

These elegant blue hightops may not be suede, but we think the king of rock and roll himself might have coveted a pair if he were still around. Elvis may be gone, but you can still pick up a pair of the tone-on-tone high top (aka arena) shoes from a secondhand place in new condition. The deluxe midnight tome and gold accents show you have good taste. To be fair, plenty of folks just ‘don’t get’ the monotone shoe ‘thing’ unless it’s black. We know better, there are times when you need your color pop to go uninterrupted except for a subtle bit of bling in the right place.

8. Balenciaga Arena Snakeskin

Much like hand-painted jeans, hand painted shoes are both rare and coveted. These high tops have a delicate and yet maco snakeskin detail in shades of grey and black. We can’t even imagine how much time the artisans who make these shoes must spend carefully applying each scale, but the effect is breathtakingly real. Animal rights activists would have a field day with these shoes, but that’s one way to tell they’re worth it. Fortunately, no snakes were needed to make these.

7. Balenciaga Tone on Tone Speed Trainers (Red)

Balenciaga’s visionary sock-as-shoe design revolutionized comfort. You can get these ultra-wearable ‘ socks with a sole’ style shoes in basic black and white, but the tone-on-tone red is much more daring and bold than its austere counterpart. For breathability and long days, there’s nothing like this shoe, especially in summer. We tried a pair, and now we want them in every color. WHo knew Polyamide and Elastane would be the next big thing in footwear?

6. Balenciaga Mixed Media Leather Track Shoes (Women’s Pink and Blue)

Sure, you can wear your sneakers shopping, or with casual couture, but for those of us who exercise to stay fit, the Balenciaga track shoe is designed for actual performance. You can run, jog, stroll or strut in these feminine running shoes. Whether you go to a posh gym or jog on a trail, these will give you the support you need and the style you want in the trendiest and most timeless colors. Barbie and Legally Blonde had one thing right; pink makes a glamorous signature look.

5. Balenciaga Calf Leather High Top (White With 14k Gold Accents)

Something about a white and gold shoe exudes stylish class. It’s why people are willing to spend so much time and money keeping their white kicks pristine. This upmarket and ostentatious re-interpretation of the classic white shoe are definitely for the smartly dressed man. No worries, you can sport them after Labor Day anytime. However, you might want to get yours before Nieman Marcus sells out because these are on their last call. After they sell out, you’ll have to pick them up secondhand-new if you can find them at all.

4. Balenciaga Triple S (Neon Green)

This Triple S looks like something out of a cyberpunk dreamscape. We can see futuristic parkour Olympians sporting this along with their bone conduction headset sunglasses. The brilliant neon plasma green is a color story that needs no compliment and stands on its own. As far as the future of sneakers is concerned, these are racing toward it. We know the Triple S are supposed to be ugly-chic, but these are just stunning. The future of shoes looks bright from where we’re sitting.

3. Balenciaga Thick Sole Grained Leather Sneaker (Orange)

We’ve all heard the phrase “Orange is the new black,” most of us before it became the title of a popular Netflix show about women in prison. It remains true that the once-Halloween-only color has become massively popular. These sneakers are a fabulously high fashion example of how to wear orange and make it look classy.

2. Balenciaga Multicolor Sneakers (Bowling)

These outrageous bowling shoe style sneakers have a vintage feel without being weird or uncomfortable like a bowling shoe. You also won’t find any lane in the world where you could rent a pair of these incredible sneakers. The appeal is obvious. The designers at Balenciaga have a sweetly strange sense of the so-ugly-it’s-attractive that draws the eye.

1. Balenciaga Triple S (Dad Shoe)

While all the Triple S shoes are made for comfort and style, and they are the height of high fashion sneakers, there is one color story that stands head and shoulders above all the rest. The Green, beige, yellow, grey, black and white Triple S, dubbed the ultimate Dad-shoe by Vogue may be the most sought out Balenciaga shoe ever. The kitschy, tacky look is not only intentional, but it’s also entirely on trend. From the moment these walked the runway, they changed the way people see their sneakers. This is the shoe that you can rock with a $20,000 suit, and no one will bat an eyelash unless they’re too far out of the fashion loop to know what they’re looking at.

Final Thoughts

Funky, chunky, ultimately comfortable and designed to be odd looking, Balenciaga’s sneakers are in a class of their own. Whether you need a monochrome high top, the Triple S in fleek and ugly color combos, a trainer for your jog down 5th avenue, or a sock-shoe you can get the most comfort and function you’ll ever wear on your feet for $900 out of these mold-breaking shoes. Normally we might snicker a bit at such an expensive sneaker, but these bring innovative triple soled designs and actual comfort into the luxury shoe game. That’s an innovation we can respect.