Eminem x Carhartt x Air Jordan 4

Two Detroit names on one shoe

Carhartt was founded by Hamilton Carhartt in Detroit in 1889 to make work clothing for manual laborers, starting with two sewing machines and five workers. It is still family-owned and based in Dearborn, Michigan. Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is a Detroit-born rapper. In 2015 the two Detroit names met on a Jordan.

The shoe was the third chapter of Eminem's run with Jordan Brand, after the 2005 'Encore' Air Jordan 4, made for friends and family, and the 2008 Air Jordan 2 'The Way I Am.' A 2015 report said the Carhartt pair was another friends-and-family release, made to mark the 15th anniversary of The Marshall Mathers LP, which came out in 2000. A 2026 auction catalog instead says it marked the 15th anniversary of Shady Records. The sources do not agree, and this page does not pick one.

The base is the Air Jordan 4, designed by Tinker Hatfield and introduced in 1989, the second Air Jordan to show its Air cushioning.

How to read the shoe

The upper is Carhartt's black duck canvas, the heavy cotton of its work jackets, in place of the Air Jordan 4's usual leather. Chrome eyelets and a premium leather lining finish the inside. On the heel, where a Jumpman or Nike Air logo would normally sit, are Eminem's hockey mask and his backwards 'E' logo, along with Shady Records graphics.

Boxes and labels read 'Blk/Chrome-White' with production code SP15-MNJDLS-879/582314. The same numbers, 582314 and 879, appear on the boxes of pairs that have come up for public sale.

Some pairs carry box labels naming the person they were made for. Two pairs consigned from Eminem's own collection in 2026, in men's sizes 10 and 11, had labels suggesting they may originally have been designated for college basketball player Charday Hunt.

Ten pairs, 1,055 bids

The Marshall Mathers Foundation announced in November 2015 that ten pairs would be offered to the public, one at a time, through an online charity auction. Around the day the listings were due to open, Eminem posted that the auction would be postponed a few days 'due to higher than anticipated demand for the 10 pairs that will be made available to the public.'

The ten auctions drew 1,055 bids and raised $227,552, an average of $22,755 a pair. A size 7 brought the least, $18,750; a size 9 brought the most, $30,100. Reporting at the time called it the highest-profile multi-shoe sneaker charity auction since Nike's 2011 Air Mag sale.

Where the money went is described in slightly different ways. One report says the proceeds went to the Marshall Mathers Foundation; another says they benefited Michigan State University's Literacy Through Songwriting program; a 2024 auction catalog says the auction supported Michigan State University's Community Music School in enrolling local students. Read together, they describe money raised through Eminem's foundation for a Michigan State program.

More than ten, and where they went

The 'ten pairs' figure describes the public auction, not the whole run. Around the time of the sale, a pair was seen in person at a sneaker convention in Washington, D.C., and the reporter noted that while only ten pairs were said to have been produced, it seemed a few more had been made. Pairs were also gifted to Eminem's friends and family. The total production has not been published.

Pairs have surfaced at auction since. At a sale held May 31 to June 1, 2024, in Toronto, a size 12 pair with its box sold for $12,600.

On August 25, 2026, Eminem offered two signed pairs from his own collection, sizes 10 and 11, both in as-new condition and signed in gold marker, at a charity auction for his foundation, each with a $15,000 to $25,000 estimate. According to a published results tally, bidding on each stopped at $12,500, short of the reserve, and neither sold. They were two of only three lots from more than 100 that failed to sell or to beat their estimates; the third was the 2017 'Encore.'

Workwear, music and the Jordan

The shoe joined two Michigan institutions on a product almost nobody could buy. Eminem's later Jordans followed the same pattern: the 2017 'Encore' revival, 23 pairs with one offered by charity raffle, and the 'Slim Shady' Air Jordan 3 he wore at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show in 2022.

Its public price record still belongs to its first sale. The $30,100 paid for a size 9 in November 2015 was more than twice what a size 12 brought at auction in 2024, and more than the $12,500 bids that left two signed pairs unsold in 2026.

The numbers

Release

2015, friends and family; no retail release

Retail price

None

Public pairs

10, by online charity auction, November 2015

Auction total

$227,552 across 10 pairs, 1,055 bids, $22,755 average

Auction range

$18,750 (size 7) to $30,100 (size 9)

Production code

SP15-MNJDLS-879/582314

Colorway

Black/Chrome-White

Total production

Not published; more than 10 pairs exist

Timeline

1. 1889

   Hamilton Carhartt founds his workwear company in Detroit.

2. 1989

   The Air Jordan 4, designed by Tinker Hatfield, is introduced.

3. 2000

   Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP is released; one report says the 2015 shoe marked its 15th anniversary.

4. 2005

   Eminem's first Jordan collaboration, the 'Encore' Air Jordan 4, is made for friends and family.

5. 2008

   The Air Jordan 2 'The Way I Am' follows.

6. Nov 2015

   The Marshall Mathers Foundation announces ten pairs will be sold to the public by online charity auction.

7. Nov 2015

   Eminem posts that the auction is postponed a few days because of higher-than-expected demand.

8. Nov 2015

   The ten auctions close, with 1,055 bids totaling $227,552; the top pair, a size 9, brings $30,100.

9. Nov 24, 2015

   Results for all ten pairs are published.

10. Dec 2017

    Eminem and Jordan Brand revive the 'Encore' Air Jordan 4 in a 23-pair run.

11. Feb 13, 2022

    Eminem wears a 'Slim Shady' Air Jordan 3 at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show.

12. Jun 2024

    A size 12 pair sells for $12,600 at auction in Toronto (sale held May 31 to June 1).

13. Aug 25, 2026

    Two signed pairs from Eminem's own collection, sizes 10 and 11, fail to sell at a charity auction after bidding stops at $12,500 each.

The world in 2015

• Apr 11, 2015

  President Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro meet in Panama to discuss normalizing relations.

• Jun 16, 2015

  The Golden State Warriors beat Cleveland in six games for their first NBA title in 40 years.

• Jun 17, 2015

  Nine people are killed during a prayer service at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

• Jun 26, 2015

  The Supreme Court rules 5-4 that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.

• Sep 18, 2015

  Volkswagen is directed to recall about 500,000 U.S. diesel cars over emissions-cheating software.

• Nov 1, 2015

  The Kansas City Royals beat the New York Mets for their first World Series title in 30 years.

• Dec 9, 2015

  The buyer of the only copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is revealed.

• Dec 18, 2015

  Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in the United States.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Eminem x Carhartt x Air Jordan 4 is number 25 of 100 in the sneakers entries of the FLOAT 100. 22 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (35 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The upper is Carhartt duck canvas, the same heavy cotton as the brand's work jackets, in place of the Air Jordan 4's usual leather.
• Eminem had to postpone the charity auction because demand for the ten pairs was higher than expected.
• The ten pairs drew 1,055 bids, and the cheapest still sold for $18,750.
• Carhartt was founded in Detroit in 1889 with two sewing machines and five workers.
• Two signed pairs from Eminem's own closet failed to sell in 2026; their box labels suggested they were first made for college basketball player Charday Hunt.
• Sources disagree on what anniversary the shoe marked: The Marshall Mathers LP or Shady Records.