SOTA brings some of the rarest sneakers to JOOPITER and Billionaire Boys Club in New York Over 50 of the most coveted sneakers ever
SOTA takes part in a special project created in collaboration with JOOPITER, the global digital commerce and content platform founded by Pharrell Williams. For the occasion, the Roman archive presents a selection of twelve pairs from its sneaker archive, becoming part of an exhibition dedicated to rare and culturally significant sneakers. The project is developed in collaboration with Billionaire Boys Club, the brand founded by Pharrell and NIGO, bringing into dialogue archival objects, collectible design, and contemporary culture.
Within this context, Billionaire Boys Club, together with JOOPITER, hosts a private preview of the pop-up in New York on April 9, 2026, anticipating a retail experience open to the public from April 10 to 13. Within the project, SOTA builds a focused selection that spans key moments in sneaker culture: from the 1980s, with the early phases of footwear design linked to basketball, to the collaborations that have redefined the relationship between fashion, art, and streetwear over time.
The curatorial approach does not present sneakers as simple market products, but as cultural artifacts, tied to design innovation, authorial vision, and cultural context. Among the most relevant pieces are a Nike Air Jordan 1 High ‘Royal’ Salesman Sample (1985), a rare pre-release example connected to the origins of the Air Jordan line, and a Nike Air Jordan 1 OG ‘Chicago’ (1985), one of the most iconic colorways ever, both designed by Peter Moore. These are joined by the Nike x Off-White Air Jordan 1 High ‘Chicago’ from The Ten (2017), designed by Virgil Abloh, a collaboration that marked a turning point in the dialogue between luxury and sneaker culture thanks to a radically deconstructed design language.
The selection is completed by other rare pieces from the SOTA archive, for a total of twelve sneakers that collectively narrate the evolution of sneaker culture and the increasingly central role of collecting in contemporary design. Bringing archival sneakers into a curated retail space thus becomes a way to activate a broader narrative, in line with the shared vision of JOOPITER, Billionaire Boys Club, and SOTA: providing access to culturally relevant objects through research, storytelling, and context.
