For many of the Valley's elite, the right pair of kicks is a trademark accessory carefully selected to convey a mix of power and nonchalance, creativity, and exclusivity.

With help from the team at the sneaker marketplace Flight Club, Business Insider compiled some of the most fashionable, expensive, and downright wild sneakers worn by tech founders and CEOs.

The inhabitants of Silicon Valley are not exactly known for haute couture.

It's a land where jeans, T-shirts, and hoodies reign supreme, and where sneakers are the footwear of choice.

But don't let the pedestrian fashion item fool you. These sneakers can be as rare and as status-defining as the fine watches adorning the wrists of Wall Street bankers or the designer handbags clutched by elite art dealers.

For many of the Valley's elite, the right pair of kicks is a trademark accessory carefully selected to convey a mix of power, nonchalance, creativity, and exclusivity.

With help from the team at the sneaker marketplace Flight Club, Business Insider compiled some of the most fashionable, expensive, and downright wild sneakers worn by tech founders and CEOs. The Flight Club team helped confirm the brands and styles and provided expert commentary and analysis.

We did our best to find photos of female tech executives wearing sneakers, but our search didn't yield many results. Women such as Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer wore low heels, flats, or loafers, which says something about how much freedom women have to dress down in the corporate world.

If you dream of becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg, lacing up a pair of these sneakers probably won't get you very far. But at least you'll look the part.

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