GWS Auctions is set to auction a pair of Michael Jackson’s loafers on May 2, a Florsheim Imperial pair that were worn and signed by the musician. The minimum bid is set at $7,500.
Jackson was known for wearing a distinctive combination of black loafers and white socks, typically with cropped pants. His loafers are associated with his signature moonwalk and “Billie Jean” performances. Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” is set for release on Friday, and the film’s premiere on Monday saw some guests pay sartorial homage to the late musician with the loafers and socks aesthetic.
Another pair of Jackson’s Florsheim Imperial loafers was auctioned by GWS Auctions in 2018, the pair worn when he first moonwalked during a Motown 25 TV special rehearsal in 1983. Jackson repeatedly wore shoes from Florsheim, a men’s footwear brand dating back to 1892, which has accumulated a wide range of fans over the years. For example, at the press conference for the 2025 Met Gala, cochair Colman Domingo, who plays Michael Jackson’s father Joe Jackson in “Michael,” shared how his stepfather would dress up for special occasions, and his looks often included Florsheim shoes. The brand came up more recently when a discussion arose on the Internet around President Trump loving the shoes and sending them as gifts.
In addition to popularizing white socks and black loafers, Jackson received a shoe-related patent, along with two of his costume men, Michael L. Bush and Dennis Tompkins, in 1993. The patent was given for creating the tech that allowed for a dance move seen in the 1988 “Smooth Criminal” music video in which Jackson appears to lean beyond his center of gravity without falling.
Shoes are not the only footwear items of Jackson’s that auction houses have taken interest in — one embellished sock he wore during a concert in Nice, France, during the 1997 HIStory World Tour sold for more than $8,000 at a French auction in 2025. Outside of footwear, Nate D. Sanders Auctions is auctioning a white rhinestone-embellished glove that belonged to Jackson, another one of his fashion signatures. Value is still attached to Jackson’s wardrobe, despite the shadow cast over his legacy due to child sexual abuse allegations; the star always claimed his innocence, and died of an overdose in 2009 at the age of 50.
