By Anton Karve

2022 has been a crazy year for sneaker collaborations. From classic releases like the Kith x New Balance 990 Collection, to weird, experimental drops such as the Sean Wotherspoon x Hot Wheels x adidas Superturf Adventure, we’ve had no shortage of quantity, quality and variety. With so many collabs being pumped out every year, the sub-culture of sneaker collaborations has become deeply engrained in the industry, a general reflection of the sneaker game. As we get bombarded with new collabs almost every day, it’s easy to forget the landmark drops that got us to this point – the sneaker collabs that didn’t reflect, but changed the game.

1. The One that Started it All

Image: Complex

Nike, Air Jordan, Jordan Brand and MJ himself have become so synonymous with one another that many would proclaim the Air Jordan 1 High “Chicago” doesn’t count as a sneaker collab. And while the AJ1 High was born out of an endorsement, rather than a typical collaboration, Nike and Michael Jordan did work together to produce the iconic final product – that’s enough to count it as a collab in our eyes.

If we had to choose a single sneaker to symbolise the sneaker game, it would be the the Air Jordan 1. The AJ1 High “Chicago” has had probably the richest history, not just out of any collab, but out of any sneaker. From designer Peter Moore drawing the iconic ball-and-wings logo after sighting a pair of pilot’s wings, to Michael Jordan initially criticising and refusing to wear the shoe, the list of events that surrounded the sneaker’s release is extensive. This shoe created many of the phenomena sneakerheads participate in today, from sneaker hype to sneaker resale. There’s no understating the Air Jordan 1 High’s influence on the sneaker game – in fact, many would state that the AJ1 started the sneaker game.

If anything you just read sounded interesting, check out our deeper dive into the history of the Air Jordan 1 High “Chicago”.

2. The First Official Collab of the Millenium

Today, there are a huge number of Stüssy x Nike shoes out there in the world, after a whopping 11 collaborative releases across a multitude of silhouettes – Dunks, Blazers, Air Maxes, the whole lot. This decades-long collaborative venture can all be traced back to the Stüssy x Nike Air Huarache LE, released in extremely limited quantities in Stüssy’s London Chapter right as the new millenium began.

Fraser Cooke, the “culture architect” of Nike, set the ball rolling when he asked Michael Kopelman of Stüssy, aka “the Godfather of streetwear“, to produce two colourways for his favourite running shoe. Kopelman responded with two blocky, aesthetic colourways, dubbed “Desert Oak” (left) and “Dark Olive” (right) that were a perfect fit with the chunky Air Huarache silhouette. These Huarache LEs were the beginning of an era in more ways than one, which is why they are still so coveted 22 years later.

3. An Underrated Masterpiece

Image: End Clothing

At what point did the CDG Play x Converse Chuck Taylor go from hype to basic? Probably when they actually produced enough shoes for everybody to wear. These black, white and red Chucks were born from a collaboration across the Pacific – between NY-based graphic artist Filip Pagowski, and Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons (fun fact, Kawakubo also founded Dover Street Market). Upon release, the uncanny blood-red heart with eyes quickly spread across the world. The contrast between the Chuck Taylor’s blissfully simple silhouette and CDG’s striking heart-with-eyes allowed these shoes to double as both a statement piece as well as an element that blends perfectly into any outfit. It taught the sneaker world that a high-profile collab need not be either neutral or provocative – it could be both.

Though you likely wouldn’t find the iconic CDG heart peeking out of many sneakerheads’ grail lists, the shoe’s careful balance of simplicity and playfulness will always stand the test of time.

4. Functional Beauty

Image: GQ

Tom Sachs is one of the most interesting characters to enter the sneaker industry. The NYC-based contemporary artist never ceases to fascinate with his combination of aesthetic sense, emphasis on creating long-lasting products, extreme views on colour choice (according to Sachs’ colour guide book, “The color purple is a forbidden colour. The color purple is punishable by death. There is never an excuse for the color purple.”), and prioritisation of the general consumer – even despite the hyped status of his drops. Besides this, Sachs also heavily prioritises engineering and innovation, which is precisely why his first collaboration with Nike was released as part of his SPACE PROGRAM: Mars exhibit, involving “a demonstration of all that is necessary for survival, scientific exploration, and colonization in extraterrestrial environs”.

The NikeCraft Mars Yard 1.0 was designed by Sachs and Tommaso Rivellini, a mechanical engineer in NASA, using heavy-duty materials that would allow the shoe to survive in even the most extreme conditions. Years later, Nike realised that constant use stressed out the sneaker’s materials, so Sachs and Nike redesigned the silhouette to produce the Mars Yard 2.0. In the spirit of engineering and innovation, the second iteration featured even better materials and minor design tweaks to address every issue present in the original shoe.

Though the Mars Yard 1.0 is virtually impossible to find, its legacy of combining hardy materials and engineering concepts into a visually-pleasing shoe lives on in the Mars Yard 2.0 and later creations from the Tom Sachs x NikeCraft powerhouse, such as the “Boring” General Purpose Shoe.

5. A Star is Born

Image: Stadium Goods

Every once in a while, a generational talent comes along that takes the world by storm. If you were to count feats and sheer influence, Kanye West has held the crown as one of kings of pop culture for years on end. The tendrils of his influence extend everywhere – into music, fashion, meme culture, politics, and most importantly, sneakers.

When Ye began to dip his toes into the game, the world had not yet seen a collaboration like Yeezy. Hip-hop artists and celebrities might have had limited say over their sneaker’s design, but the final decision always laid with the parent brand. However, Kanye had other ideas. As somebody who (at least back then) always seemed to be ahead of his time, he didn’t want a sneaker or fashion brand to determine the limits of his imagination. No, he wanted complete creative control, and after sifting through A Bathing Ape, Louis Vuitton and Nike, Kanye found his home at adidas. The deal was as such: they would give him the authority over Yeezy brand’s creative decisions, and in return he would build them a sneaker giant.

Kanye delivered, and he delivered big. The slip-on style Yeezy Boost 350 “Turtle Dove” was relatively alien to the combined fields of sneakers and running shoes back in 2015, but within years it was being done by almost every brand out there. The Boost 350 kicked off a new era in which Yeezy was king, as Ye continued to produce a seemingly endless stream of the most innovative, highly sought-after designs in the market. Now, Yeezy is a staple of the sneaker community, and looks to be here to stay.

6. Sneaker Solidarity

Image: SoleBox

By the late 2000’s, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West’s close peer in the hip-hop industry, had firmly established himself as a top-tier producer, rapper, singer and songwriter. Similarly to Kanye, Pharrell was at the top of his game and was looking for opportunities to branch out, something that adidas gave him the perfect opportunity to do. While Kanye worked on Yeezy, Pharrell initially focused on implanting his own style into existing adidas silhouettes – such as his favourite, the Stan Smith, which he dropped a triple-colourway “Solid” pack. In the same year that adidas Yeezy first dropped, Williams also produced the massively successful, and, well, massive “Superstar Supercolour” pack, featuring a whopping 50 different colourways. This enormous release of Superstars helped adidas get to a milestone of 15 million pairs of Superstars sold, confirming Pharrell’s influence in the sneaker industry.

However, both adidas and Pharrell knew that this was all that they had to offer as a duo. The proof of concept was there, and all they needed was something new, something special to place the Pharrell stamp on. As the adidas NMDs exploded in popularity in the mid 2010’s, the duo saw the perfect opportunity. The product of this was the NMD Human Race, or NMD Hu in short. Pharrell went wild with the design, creating a pair of sneakers completely different from the NMD silhouette they were based on. Most notably, Williams had completely overhauled the laces, opting instead for an innovative lacing system that tied itself directly to the shoe’s cage. This opened up huge real estate on the upper, which he filled with the blocky words “HUMAN” and “RACE” across each shoe, boldly stating the purpose of the collection – to celebrate the Human Race. 

The NMD Hu was an instant success, marking the beginning of a long-running collaboration between Pharrell and adidas to produce an ever-evolving list of Human Race sneakers. More importantly, it solidified Pharrell Williams as yet another creative genius in the industry, and along with Kanye, paved the way for future artists to have more creative authority over their collaborative deals.

7. Return of the Wonder Child

If you’re even slightly interested in the fields of fashion, streetwear and sneakers, you will have heard of Virgil Abloh. Yet another peer of the ever-influential Kanye West, Abloh is most well-known for founding luxury streetwear label Off-White, as well as his work as Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection from 2018. With a repertoire like his, it’s obvious that he’s designed for countless sneaker collabs, but his most prominent – and most ambitious – creation was an Off-White x Nike collection named “The Ten”. “The Ten” encompassed 10 hugely popular Nike, Air Jordan and Converse silhouettes, and Virgil sought to make his mark on them all.

The collection was divided into two design categories: “REVEALING”, which focused on using seemingly ‘accessible’, handmade production techniques, and “GHOSTING”, which revolved around the category’s common translucent uppers. Of course, even in collections as high-profile as “The Ten”, some designs were bound to go further than others – and the design that went the furthest was the Off-White × Nike Air Jordan 1 Retro High The Ten “Chicago”.

Derived from the grandfather of sneakers, the AJ1 High that started off this list, Virgil’s style elements could be seen scattered throughout the entire sneaker. Some elements were prominent, such as the Off-White zip-tie and text blocks such as “AIR” on the midsole, while others were subtle, such as the specialised Swoosh, specifically designed to look as if it had been ripped off from an OG AJ1 High, recut, and stitched back onto the upper. Every single detail appeared to be meticulously crafted to not just add interesting elements to the sneaker, but also to produce a handmade touch to the design’s overall aesthetic. It was, and still is, a fascinating display of Abloh’s stylistic sense.

“The Ten” was met with overwhelming hype and widespread critical acclaim. It was one of the only collabs to successfully pull off this level of ambition, and we can only hope that another genius like Virgil Abloh will step up to try their hand at creating their own collection of the like.

8. The Next Generation

Image: Sneakerfreaker

The Travis Scott x Nike AF100 might not be the collab’s most well-known release, but it certainly was a momentous one. The AF100 was created to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the legendary Nike Air Force 1 silhouette in ComplexCon 2017. Along with Travis Scott’s creation, other giants such as Virgil Abloh, Rock-A-Fella, Don C and Acronym brought their own takes on the AF1 to the table for an extremely limited drop.

Image: Atomic Design

The exponential popularity of the collaborative duo’s more recent releases, such as the Travis Scott × Nike Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG “Mocha” and the Air Jordan 1 Low “Reverse Mocha”, have overshadowed the AF100, however the unassuming, relatively simple Air Force design was the true prototype for all of the Travis Scott and Cactus Jack masterpieces we see today. Elements such as the choice of white canvas rather than leather upper, detachable Swoosh in multiple colours and materials as well as the reversed ‘AIR’ branding on the heel, indicated that Scott was gutsy enough to play around with design elements most would choose to leave be, a daring streak that showed up on the oversized, reversed Swooshes of Travis’ AJ1 designs. Travis had taken the legacy of idols like Kanye and Pharrell and ran with it, pushing the boundaries beyond anything the world had ever seen.

Image: Reddit (u/chrxs_675)

Hindsight is 20-20, and we now know that though Travis Scott and Nike created the AF100 to celebrate the 35th birthday of the Air Force 1, it also celebrated another occasion: the birth of one of the best sneaker collaborations in this generation.

9. Contemporary Fusion

Image: @amieejerrard

Given that the list began with the most game-changing collab at the beginning of modern sneaker history, it is only apt that it ends with the most game-changing collab of recent times. The sacai x Nike LDV Waffle isn’t the collaboration’s first release (that title belongs to the sacai x Nike WMNS Air Max 90), nor is it their most popular drop, especially considering the sold-out release of the sacai x Nike Cortez 4.0. However, it is undeniably the sneaker that propelled them into the spotlight, permanently making their mark in the sneaker game.

Sacai founder Chitose Abe had within her an entirely unique design sense, one that tactfully created a synergy between men’s and women’s streetwear from a high-fashion perspective. Her unique design DNA, when supported by Nike, resulted in one of the most left-field sneakers the world has ever seen: the sacai x Nike LDV Waffle. The LDV Waffle, also known as the VaporWaffle, utilised contrasting colours, textures and materials to produce an incredible optical illusion. This resulted in a sneaker which looked as if Nike’s 1983 Pegasus and Vaporfly running shoes had temporarily de-solidified, phased partially through each other, and re-solidified with a slight offset. Everything about the sneaker was completely novel, down to the colour combinations and how individual parts of the shoe were structured.

Of course, sneaker communities went absolutely crazy. The LDV Waffle, which managed to somehow look futuristic and nostalgic at the same time, had created a novel sneaker design to a level of creativity and detail only achieved every once in a while, and the market of sneaker collaborations can do nothing but wait for another innovation by sacai x Nike to dominate it once again.