Eminem Is Cleaning Out His Closet — Literally: 117 Signed Sneakers Hit the Auction Block, Including His Super Bowl LVI Air Jordan 3s

Twenty-plus years after "Cleanin' Out My Closet," Slim Shady is doing it for real — and for charity. The Marshall Mathers Foundation Auction at Julien's is the largest single drop of Eminem-owned material ever offered to the public: 117 hand-signed pairs, all benefiting Detroit youth. The live sale is August 25, but the bids are already flying.

This is a big one. Eminem has teamed up with Julien's Auctions — the same house that's moved pieces from Michael Jackson, Prince, and Tupac — to auction off 117 pairs of sneakers from his personal collection. Not replicas, not store stock: shoes out of Marshall's own closet, and every single pair is autographed by him.

All proceeds go to the Marshall Mathers Foundation, which supports disadvantaged and at-risk youth in the Metro Detroit area. It's being billed as the largest single-sale collection of Eminem material ever offered publicly, spanning Nike, Jordan Brand, Adidas, and Puma — a mix of unreleased "friends and family" PEs, stage-worn pairs, and clean retail grails. Most are men's size 10–11.5, and each lot comes with its original box.

The Crown Jewel: the Super Bowl LVI Air Jordan 3 "Slim Shady" PE

The headline lot is the Air Jordan 3 "Slim Shady" PE — the unreleased player-exclusive created for (and worn during) his Super Bowl LVI halftime performance in 2022, the show where he took a knee at midfield. Julien's lists it as a Promo Sample, one of just 45 pairs made, a size 11.5 in "As New" condition, with its original box. Unreleased, tied to that moment, and signed: that's the trifecta that makes a shoe more than a shoe.

As of this writing (July 29), bidding on this pair had already reached $10,000 — against a Julien's presale estimate of $25,000–$35,000. That number will keep moving, but given the provenance — a globally televised moment most sneaker collectors watched live — don't be shocked if it pushes past the high end on sale day.

The song those AJ3s are forever tied to — the one he performed in them at midfield, over the top of the whole Dr. Dre-led show — is still one of the most-streamed rap records ever. You can watch the full Super Bowl LVI halftime performance on YouTube ↗, then hit play:

The Other Grails in the Sale

The Slim Shady 3 is the anchor, but there's real depth here. A few of the standouts:

The Encore 4 takes its name (and colorway story) from the 2004 album that put Em's sneaker relationship with Jordan Brand on the map. Worth a spin while you read:

• Air Jordan 4 "Encore" — one of the most coveted Eminem PEs in existence, tied to the Encore era and produced in extremely limited numbers. On the open market these have historically been mid-to-high five-figure shoes; a signed pair from Em's own collection is about as good as provenance gets.
• Air Jordan 4 x Carhartt "Eminem" — the 2015 three-way collaboration between Eminem, Carhartt, and Jordan Brand, and one of the most famous friends-and-family Jordans ever.
• Nike Air Max 90 — worn during his December 2024 performance in Riyadh (Soundstorm Festival). Another performance-worn, signed pair.
• Retail grails & oddities — cleaner pairs like the Puma Palace Guard, Adidas Superstar II, and an "Independence Day" Nike Air Max 90 round out the collection for bidders who want a signed Em pair without the PE price tag.

Why Eminem's Sneaker Grails Hit Different

Plenty of artists have signature shoes. Very few have a relationship with Jordan Brand as deep as Eminem's. Going back to the mid-2000s, Em is one of a tiny group of non-athletes to receive multiple "friends and family" Air Jordan PEs — pairs made in the low double-digits, never sold at retail, handed out to a circle you cannot buy your way into. The Encore 4 and the Carhartt 4 are the legends of that run, and both have historically traded in the mid-to-high five-figure range on the rare occasions a pair surfaces — a signed 2005 Encore 4 sold at Sotheby's for $50,800.

That's the context that makes this sale unusual. Normally these shoes move quietly between private collectors — you hear about a sale after the fact, if at all. Here, the source is Eminem himself, the pairs are documented, and each one carries his signature. In collector terms, provenance doesn't get cleaner than "straight out of the artist's closet, authenticated by the auction house, signed on the way out the door." That combination is exactly what turns a $2,000 shoe into a $20,000 shoe.

It also matters who is running it. Julien's Auctions is the house behind some of the most famous music memorabilia sales of the last two decades — Michael Jackson's glove, Prince's guitars, Tupac's handwritten lyrics. When Julien's puts its name on provenance, serious collectors treat it as real, and serious money follows. That's a big part of why the early bids are already moving.

Wait — the Auction Is August 25, So Why Are People Already Bidding?

This trips a lot of people up, so it's worth explaining clearly, because the answer changes how you should approach it.

Julien's runs a hybrid auction. There are really two phases:

• Now → August 25 (online pre-bidding): The catalog is live, so anyone registered can place bids today. These are essentially proxy / absentee bids — you set your maximum, and the system bids on your behalf up to that ceiling as other people come in. That's why lots like the Slim Shady 3 already show real money on them weeks out.
• August 25 — the live sale (10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET): This is the actual event. An auctioneer runs the lots one by one in real time, and your online pre-bids compete live against people bidding in the room, over the phone, and online during the broadcast. A lot doesn't "sell" until it's called and the hammer falls that day.

So the August 25 date isn't when bidding starts — it's when it ends. Think of the pre-bid window as the warm-up and the live sale as the finish, where the biggest jumps usually happen in the final minutes. If you're serious about a lot, register early, but know that the price you see today is almost never the price it closes at.

Realistic Price Expectations

Let's be straight about what these are likely to go for, because "signed by Eminem" covers a huge range:

• The Super Bowl LVI Slim Shady AJ3: already ~$8,000, estimated to clear $25,000+. The one lot where a genuinely big number is realistic.
• Ultra-rare PEs (Encore 4, Carhartt 4): these are the wildcards. A signed Encore 4 sold at Sotheby's for $50,800, and the 2017 run of 23 pairs has traded in the mid-to-high five figures — provenance from Em's own closet plus a signature only adds to that. These could be the surprise top lots of the sale.
• Stage-worn pairs (the Riyadh Air Max 90): "worn on stage by Eminem" carries a real premium — expect these to land well into the low-to-mid four figures.
• Signed retail pairs: the more common models are the accessible end. Realistically these land in the high hundreds to low thousands — a signed pair from his collection, but not a unicorn.

One honest caveat: Julien's has published presale estimates on the marquee lots — like the $25,000–$35,000 on the Slim Shady 3 — but not on every pair, and a charity sale with this much emotional pull often runs hot. Auction prices are set by whoever wants it most on the day — treat these numbers as a floor for the headline items, not a ceiling.

Where It Goes: The Marshall Mathers Foundation

The part that makes this more than a memorabilia flex: 100% of the proceeds go to the Marshall Mathers Foundation. Em founded it to provide financial assistance, healthcare support, and services to disadvantaged and at-risk youth in Detroit and the surrounding area — the same city and the same kids that made him who he is. Every pair sold is money going back into Metro Detroit.

The auction is not a one-off, either. The foundation does hands-on work in Detroit every winter, like the December 2025 coat giveaway on East Eight Mile, where more than 1,000 new coats went to kids.

How to Bid

The full catalog and live bidding are on Julien's site. You'll need to register an account to place a bid, and you can set proxy bids now ahead of the August 25 live sale.

→ View the Marshall Mathers Foundation Auction at Julien's ↗

If you end up landing a pair — or you're just watching the Slim Shady 3 climb — tag us @eminemnews_com. We'll be tracking the final hammer prices after August 25.

Details via Julien's Auctions and reporting from Billboard, Complex, ClickOnDetroit, and The Music Universe (July 2026). Auction date: August 25, 2026, 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET. The Slim Shady AJ3 bid ($10,000) and estimate ($25,000–$35,000) are as of July 29 and will change; the Encore 4 comp is a signed 2005 pair sold at Sotheby's for $50,800. Other price ranges are illustrative based on comparable sales.