Year End Review Top Sneaker of 2021
Looking back on the year 2021, there were a lot of the same silhouettes that dropped in different colors, but at the same time, all new ones were coming out of Nike, Adidas, and even Crocs. We are thrilled to highlight our favorite shoes of 2021. Jump down to the comments section to highlight some of your favorites. As you can quickly tell, we love blue around here, and many of our favorites were blue, heck, some were even Dailey Blend Blue™. But regardless of the color, this year seemed like more people got into Sneakers, with friends hitting us up on email, text, and DM for what shoes to cop and what shoes to drop. Regardless of the W’s and L’s, 2021 will go down as a year that brands took some risks and balanced those risks with the HITS. We expect more of the same in 2022!
Air Jordan 1 "University Blue" - Hardly an OG in terms of colors and materials, the "University Blue" is basiaclly Dailey Blend Blue™.
YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 "Mono Ice" - A translucent light blue one-piece upper covers a webbed cage design for this model. Pull tabs, lacing, and sock liner come through in the same color, and the typical BOOST sole unit remains underfoot.
Adidas Yeezy Foam Runners - While the original Adidas YEEZY Foam Runner colorway dropped in late 2020, the style wasn't widely available until this year. This was just a cool concept, and while I have tried on a pair, everyone says they are super comfortable
Nike Go FlyEase A true marvel in functional and purposeful design, the Nike Go Flyease was unquestionably one of Nike's most impactful sneakers of the modern era and looks great. Still on the hunt. Holler if you come across a 9.5.
Salehe Bembury x Crocs Pollex Clog - Salehe Bembury has made a name for himself since departing from Versace; while not a sneaker, neither is the foam runner mentioned below. This is by far one of the best collaborations of the year, marrying the two brands, more specifically Crocs X Salehe own finger (footprint), it is pretty damn special.
AMBUSH x Nike Dunk High "Deep Royal Blue" - AMBUSH's Yoon continued her coveted Nike Dunk partnership with a "Deep Royal Blue" colorway. As a Dunk fan and an Ambush fan, this shoe was just a strong showing, still my favorite color to date.
FRAGMENT DESIGN X SACAI X LDV WAFFLE' LIGHT SMOKE GREY. - Nike teamed up with Chitose Abe and Hiroshi Fujiwara to create the Fragment Design x Sacai x LDV Waffle' Light Smoke Grey.' Drawing from the LDV and the Waffle Racer, the shoe's upper is built with a mesh base, overlaid by stacked suede on the forefoot, eyestay, and heel. White leather marks the Swooshes, with further doubled-up touches on the laces and tongue. Co-branding emerges on the elongated foam midsole that provides cushioning underfoot, giving way to a contrasting black waffle rubber outsole that's included for traction. Lots going on here with this shoe, still haven't worn mine, but getting ready to break it out of the box.
Fragment Design x Travis Scott Air Jordan 1, July 2021 - This is without a doubt a considerable sneaker to drop this year, with Travis Scott's name attached to it, the added fact that it was Fragment just took this one over the top.
A Ma Maniere x Nike Air Jordan 3 - James Whitner's The Whitaker Group is one of the industry's premier storytellers. His team has shown the community how to combine product and purpose successfully. Not only were they able to drop the MJ 3, but they also dropped an MJ 1, which was almost our #10 shoe. Big up to the A Ma Maniere store in ATL, I loved riding my bike over there when I lived in the A.
Nike x Notre Dunk releases in tan and blue colorways exclusively at Notre January 21. A second release of the blue colorway follows January 23 on SNKRS, and I was lucky enough to get both pairs even after missing the drops. As someone who finds themselves calling Chicago home these days, I am all about repping your hood, and this shoe does it to the T. Big up to the team at Notre, such a smash collab.
