retro basketball high tops — The Deffest®. A vintage and retro sneaker blog.

A couple of weeks ago to celebrate the return of the NBA season we posted our first old school high top basketball sneaker buyer’s guide. Over the past few years we’ve notice a lot of the creative energy with retro 1980’s style high tops is coming out of the luxury space so we wanted to put up a post with our top 10 favorite high-end hoops sneakers as well. You can check out the sneaker buying guide list below. Please note the sneakers below contain product affiliate links. You can read our affiliate policy in the footer of this blog post. Thanks for your support.

OFF-WHITE BLUE HIGH OFF-COURT 3.0 SNEAKERS

Kicking this list off strong with the Off-White Men's 3.0 Off Court Supreme Lace Up Sneakers. You can check them out over at SSENSE or at Bloomingdales.

RHUDE RHECESS HI SNEAKERS

Made in Italy these distressed retro High Top sneakers are available over at SSENSE. These sneakers also come in a bunch of other colorways which you can check out here.

AMIRI SKEL HIGH-TOP SNEAKERS
These Amiri Skel High-Top sneakers in the ‘Chicago’ colorway are over at Farfetch and Cettire.

CELINE CT-03 LEATHER HIGH-TOP SNEAKERS
Celine’s Bred retro high top is available over at Mr. Porter.

SAINT LAURENT COURT CLASSIC LEATHER HIGH-TOP SNEAKERS

Here’s a pair of legit old school high tops in the Bred colorway from Saint Laurent. These retro high tops are available at Farfetch and over at Saks Fifth Avenue as well.

GUCCI BASKET HIGH-TOP SNEAKERS

Gucci’s ‘Basket’ high tops are throwbacks to the late 80’s early 90’s basketball sneaker styles and come in a few different colors. These are available at both SSENSE and Farfetch.

PRADA NEW AVENUE HIGH-TOP SNEAKERS

The Prada ‘Avenue’ retro Prada high tops are available over at Neiman Marcus.

LANVIN CLAY HIGH TOP SNEAKERS

Here’s another great pair of retro high tops, this time from Lanvin. You can pickup these old school ‘Clay’ model high tops at Farfetch.

GOLDEN GOOSE WHITE SKY STAR SNEAKERS

The Golden Goose ‘Sky Star’ sneakers look like they could have come straight off of the Sotheby’s ‘Signed and Game Worn’ page. You can also check out the ‘Bred’ colorway at Neiman Marcus.

COACH BLACK CITYSOLE HIGH SNEAKERS

The Coach Citysole is a retro-inspired high-top equipped with a chunky street-ready sole.

OVERTIME: BONUS SNEAKS

Honorable mention to the following high tops.

SAINT LAURENT SL80 HIGH TOP SNEAKER

VALENTINO GARAVANI MEN'S HIGH TOP SNEAKERS

Up until now this blog has mostly been geared towards old school runner style sneakers but the NBA season is about to tip off and we wanted to note the occasion with our first Top 10 men's retro basketball high top sneakers list. Anyone interested in some proper old school 80s style high tops check out the sneaker buying guide list below. If you’re interested in retro runners we recently update our buyers guide. Please note the sneakers below contain product affiliate links. You can read our affiliate policy in the footer of this blog post. Thanks for your support.

NIKE AIR JORDAN 1 MID in Black / White/ Fire Red
Kicking this list off with the most classic basketball sneaker of all time - the iconic Nike Air Jordan 1. Originally released to the public way back on April 1, 1985 these sneakers have disrupted the industry nearly 40 years later. You can buy these over at Nike.com or Shiehk and Nike also has a high version of the AJ1 in the red and white colorway.

Nike Air Jordan 1 Mid. Image credit to Nike.com

ADIDAS TOP 10 RETRO BASKETBALL SHOES
adidas takes us back to the old school with these reissues of a 1970’s basketball classic. This sneaker model is a throwback to 1979 and was one of the first high tops to provide ankle support. If you want to learn more about their history you can see the original vintage ad here. These high tops are for sale over at adidas right now.

NEW BALANCE 480 'BLACK' BB480HD
New Balance is at it with another homage to old school b-ball sneakers. These retro high top sneakers inspired by heritage basketball shoes and can hold their own on any court. These sneakers are available over Kicks Crew.

New Balance 480 'Black' BB480HD retro sneakers. Image credit KICKS CREW.

DIADORA MI BASKET USED SNEAKERS
These retro sneakers a reissue of a model designed specially for Diadora’s sponsorship of the Italian Milano Basketball team in 1984. These throwback men’s sneakers are available over at Madewell. These are also available in green at Banana Republic.

Diadora MI Basket vintage inspired sneakers

NIKE DUNK HIGH RETRO
Nike is back with another iconic high top harkening back to the 1980s. The Dunk classic retro basketball silhouette has an old school vibe and is popping off in the Los Angeles Lakers purple and gold colorway. These sneakers are available over at Nike.com.

Nike Dunk Retro High LA Lakers Purple and Gold colorway sneakers

ADIDAS FORUM 84 HI SHOES
adidas is back with another classic old school basketball silhouette with the Forum 84 Hi Shoes. The sneakers are based on the Forum B-ball shoes from the adidas archive. These sneakers are available over at adidas.com.

adidas Forum 84 Hi-Top Sneakers Retro Basketball Shoes

SAUCONY JAZZ COURT HIGH PREMIUM
The Saucony Jazz sneaker gets re-imagined as a 1980’s style basketball high top. Saucony used higher quality materials in the crafting of these throwback high tops and you can pick up these sneakers over at Saucony.com.

Saucony Jazz Court High Premium retro sneakers

CONVERSE ERX 260 ARCHIVAL LEATHER HI 165909C
Here’s another awesome retro b-ball sneaker from Converse. This model was part of Converse’s lineup from 1987 and was worn by both Karl Malone and Magic Johnson. These sneakers are available over at Kicks Crew.

Converse ERX 260 Archival Leather Hi 165909C vintage inspired sneakers at Kicks Crew.

PUMA PALACE GUARD RETRO HIGH TOP SNEAKERS
We love an old school chunky high top. Here’s another great pair of retro hoops shoes by Puma called the Palace Guard. Another retro pair of high tops sporting the LA Lakers purple and gold colorway. These old school sneakers are available over at eBay and amazon.

Puma Palace Guard retro basketball shoes

AVIA 830 OLD SCHOOL BASKETBALL SNEAKERS
Here’s a great pair of throwback basketball high tops by the now back-in-the-game brand Avia. If you want to by these they’re available over at Dr. Jays or amazon.

Also wanted to include an honorary mention to the Jaclar Intimidator retro high tops below. Shout out to team Jaclar and we recently posted about these sneakers here.

Last, but not least, shout out the the original ‘Dunkers Delight’ - Mr. Obi Toppin Sr. We’re going to close out this post with a video of all 102 of Obi Toppin Jr’s dunks from last season. Let’s Go Knicks. 👊