Canadian financier Miles Nadal went from cars to sneakers and zilch. The man who sees art in movement, be it cars or sneakers, assembled an enviable collection of both and now aims to get rid of it. The collection is a holy grail for sneakerheads, comprising 750 pairs of sneakers. Petrolheads are in for a treat too, as 144 vehicles of his Dare to Dream collection will also be auctioned with the sneakers for a cool $62 million, per WSJ. Nadal didn’t know he had a sneakerhead hidden in him until he purchased 99 of the rarest sneakers in the world from Sotheby’s for $850,000.
The 100-pair sale was Sotheby’s first-ever sneaker auction, and Nadal’s first tryst with amassing a sneaker collection. Evidently, he never went back as his collection only expanded with some very iconic and historically significant examples. His vast collection features sneakers adorned with the autographs of sports legends like OJ Simpson and Tom Brady, several Air Jordans, the waffle-soled “Moon Shoe” from 1972, and a notable Nike prototype. “If 100 was cool, 500 was better, and maybe 750 is even better,” Nadal said of his sneaker-buying mentality.
The founder of Peerage Capital, an investment firm, emerged as an unexpected sneaker collector in the world, but a collector he was. Miles’ personal collections of cars took the shape of the internationally renowned Dare to Dream automotive collection. He dubs his rare versions of the world’s most classic cars as “mobile works of art.” The vehicles are all displayed in a Canadian museum along with an array of more than 160 cars he’d collected over the years, of which he now wishes to bid adieu to 144. Come June 1st, the tycoon who worked for companies like Asics and Adidas through his advertising firm will be auctioning off the bulk of his shoe collection.
Around 750 pairs will be up for grabs at R.M. Sotheby’s auction house that will feature no less than 500 pairs of Air Jordans and are estimated to score over $2 million, according to R.M. Sotheby’s. The batch of 144 of his cars and motorcycles, including high-value Ferraris, McLarens, and Lamborghinis, are estimated to sell for over $60 million. Proceeds from the sneaker sale will go to charity. Nadal did not specify the organizations, but shared it would benefit “those less fortunate, especially underprivileged kids.”
It is time for the 65-year-old to hang the boots, pun intended, on his collector days and lessen what he called ‘his burden.’ “There’s never a week that goes by that I don’t have one to five things that need to be repaired—parts replaced, etc. And that’s not as much fun as it used to be,” Nadal said. The auction of this gigantic multi-million-dollar collection is where the fun will begin come June 2024. Everything wont go as Nadal plans to keep a few sneakers and 20 odd cars (daily drivers) for himself.
Who is Miles Nadal?
Miles Nadal was born in 1958 to a family of modest means in Toronto. A firm believer that ‘Anything is possible,’ he went from a camp photographer selling pictures for $5.00 each to turning it into a commercial photography and printing business. MDC Partners Inc. grew into one of the largest marketing and communications companies in the world. His 40-year flourishing career saw him evolve from a respected entrepreneur to a philanthropist and a visionary for business building. The founder of Peerage Capital helms the North American luxury realtor, Peerage Realty Partners, the single largest franchisee of Sotheby’s International Realty. Peerage has over 7500 employees and advisors and $10 billion of assets under management. The philanthropist and his family support several local, national, and international organizations, including The Miles S. Nadal Jewish Community Centre in Toronto, The Miles Nadal Heart Centre at the Sinai Health Network in Toronto, etc.
