Top 20 Sneaker Announcements While We Were On Holidays
Ah, first day back in the office for the SF crew for 2016. We’ve all been away since Christmas, and we’ve spent the last few weeks trying to detox ourselves from our RSS feeds, avoiding emails and ignoring our computers all together. Staying on top of the endless barrage of sneaker releases gets tiring you know! Sometimes you just need to disconnect from all the sneaker madness in order to ready yourself to dive back in head first in the new year.
Some of you might have had the same idea as us to take a break from being a sneaker fiend over the holidays, so to get ourselves back on top of everything and to bring you guys up to speed, we’ve made a quick recap of all the noteworthy sneaker announcements that happened over our break. Here are the top twenty news items we missed in no particular order…
KENDRICK LAMAR x REEBOK CLASSIC LEATHER (BLUE AND RED)
revisits the Bloods and Crips theme from his highly sought-after collaboration last year with a new release. Slated for a January 16th drop at Reebok Certified Network accounts worldwide, will Kendrick and Reebok’s partnership become the springboard for a watershed year for the athletic company in 2016? Pic via .
NIKE AIR FORCE 1 LOW (NAI KE 2016)
The 's standing in the sneaker community may be a shadow of its mid-2000s self, but some traditions never die. Nike will be celebrating the Chinese New Year with a crispy clean AF1 decorated with icons of Chinese culture, including a lotus flower on each tongue, koi fish on the heel and chubby babies on the insoles. No word of an international release at this stage, but expect this quickstrike to hit select Chinese accounts in mid-January.
CLOT x ASICS GEL LYTE III SAND AND LAVENDER PACK
ASICS Tiger linked up with for the ‘Sand and Lavender’ pack, which was exclusively available at the brand’s JUICE locations across Asia. We’re fonder of the ‘Lavender’ colourway, but you know we’ll always be biased when it comes to purple kicks!
NIKE AIR ENTERTRAINER
A clear jab at a past collaborator, Nike dropped the new Air Entertrainer silhouette that was obviously inspired by the Air Yeezy II. Although we found it hilarious when we first saw the news pop up, we’re not sure if Nike successfully clowned Yeezus with this jab or took the L themselves. Either way, we’re just happy to see the sneaker wars heating up already in 2016!
NIKELAB AIR FORCE 1 MID (VANCHETTA TAN)
continued its hot streak with premium renditions of the iconic with the new ‘Vachetta Tan’ colourway that released on January 9th. Featuring rolled edges and premium tumbled leather panels on the upper above that unmistakable chunky midsole, the humble AF1 Mid was transformed into a beautiful premium sneaker that set tongues wagging across the sneaker community.
GRENSON x NEW BALANCE MADE IN UK 576
linked up with iconic British shoemaker Grenson for a very special ‘Made in UK’ version of their . Manufactured in collaboration between NB’s Flimby factory and Grenson’s factory that has remained largely unchanged since 1895, this 576 is constructed with Grenson’s finest Italian calfskin leather with brogue tooling across the upper. The shoe is already available from Grenson in-store and online, with a larger NB release following on the 23rd of January.
JUST DON x AIR JORDAN 2 (BEACH)
If Nike ain't have Don C, man they wouldn't have nothin'! The Chicago native tackles the once again, switching out the for some muted beige. The next Just Don colab will come specially packaged with a collaborative golden pin and strapped red leather snapback. Word has it that these could be dropping on us as soon as January 30th, so prep those trigger fingers and be sure to cross the rest! Pic via .
BODEGA x ASICS GEL CLASSIC (ON THE ROAD)
While the SF crew were jet setting across the Land of Oz to lap up the summer sun, the good folk over at hit the road to revive a long-forgotten classic from the ASICS archives – the Gel Classic. Clad in earthy tones and packaged together with a disposable camera, these were designed to capture the spirit of adventure. Sadly these suede-and-leather-bound beauties have come and gone, so you’ll need to start scouring the ‘Bay if you want to land a pair. A strong start to the year for Bodega, here's hoping the best is still to come!
ADIDAS ULTRA BOOST ST (GLOW)
A standout favourite for the best sneaker of 2015, the has received an added dose of stability and dubbed the Ultra Boost ST. The tweaked design has started hitting shelves in the above-pictured ‘Glow’ colourway, complete with reflective three stripes detailing. These are available right now, but act fast – these won’t stick around long!
NIKE AIR MAX CB 34 (PHOENIX HOME)
is creeping his way back on to store shelves with this white leather make-up of the Air Max CB 34 due to hit stores before January is through. Repping the Phoneix Suns’ staples of purple and orange, look for these to hit all good Nike Basketball stockists over the coming weeks.
NIKELAB KOBE 10 ELITE LOW HTM
Nike announced the fourth colourway of the Elite Low at their 21 Mercer location before an online release in the first week of 2016. Sharing similarities with the ‘Arrowhead’ HTM release from April 2015 combined with ‘Oreo’ Flyknit aesthetics, this was a hard shoe to get ahold of unless you were lucky enough to win the online raffle.
NIKE AIR PRESTO (SHADY MILKMAN)
A number of the original colourways from the initial line-up from 2000 made its way back from the vault last year including the , , and releases. To continue the OG Air Presto comeback, the ‘Shady Milkman’ began popping up across the sneaker blogs in the first few days of 2016. No definitive release date has been made official yet, but word through the grapevine is a European release set for February 11. Pic via .
NEW ERA x NEW BALANCE 580 ANNIVERSARY PACKAGE
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the , New Balance collaborated with to bring us this blacked-out shoe and snapback combo. The devil’s in the details as they say and it’s hard to miss them on these once the lights go out. Both the cap and kicks are kitted with glow in the dark and reflective details for that late-night shine. These dropped January 8th at select New Balance stockist but, if you act fast, you may still be able to swoop a pack at retail. Stay tuned, because we suspect NB may have a few more birthday surprises in store for the 580.
BAIT x DIADORA N.9000 (NOTTI VENEZIANE)
Inspired by a recent trip out to Italy to check in with HQ, the crew constructed a rendition of the made from the finest leathers and tinted in the hues of a Venetian Night. Sadly, as far as we can tell, these have sold out, so you might have to start looking to the ‘Bay if you want to land a pair.
ADIDAS NMD RUNNER (TRIPLE BLACK)
Three stripes loyalists better be ready to smash those piggy banks, because 2016 is going to mean big things for the – especially now that adidas are dropping the requisite pure white Boost midsole! No release date has been set, but you can expect the NMD to hit us in triple black, from top to toe, very soon.
NIKE AIR HUARACHE INTERNATIONALIST
The often-forgotten Air Huarache International silhouette from 1992 returns in 2016, ditching its ‘90s colourways and construction for contemporary tonal colourways with matching gum soles. Granted, the International is the least interesting model from the OG Huarache line-up, for die-hard Hua collectors this will no doubt be a welcomed return for the black sheep of the family. Available now via .
ASICS GT-COOL XPRESS OG RETRO
ASICS was very busy in 2015 between celebrating the 25th anniversary of the and re-introducing vintage models from their vault including the and . This year, it looks like the GT-Cool Xpress from 1994 will become a large focus for the Japanese company, and this OG colourway looks like it’ll be the first one out the gate in 2016.
BODEGA x SAUCONY SHADOW 5000 RE-ISSUE
Originally released as part of a super-limited collaboration to select ‘elite’ Japanese numbers, have brought back their blue for another innings. Only 300 pairs were made originally back in 2010, making these a tough find for collectors. Fortunately, it seems that have made a few more pairs this time around but be warned, these are still very limited so you better act fast if you want to score a pair.
NIKE AIR PENNY 2 (MIAMI)
Penny Hardaway’s Miami Heat stint might not be as memorable as the magic he created the first time with Shaq at Orlando, but what it did lead to was an amazing Air Penny 2 dressed in Miami colours back in 2009. The Air Penny 2 will be revived this year with a number of OG and new colourways, but we thought we’d highlight this unlikely return to represent the flock.
24 KILATES x ASIC GEL RESPECTOR (VIRGIN EXTRA)
Polishing off ten years in the sneaker game, chose to honour their Spanish roots with a colab honouring the Mediterranean nation’s prized extra-virgin olive oil. Drawing inspiration from the green, yellow and purple hues of the unpressed fruit, Pol and the boys hit the with a fresh dose of colour. These dropped at 24 Kilates’ Barcelona and Bangkok stores on January 9th, but you can expect these to release at a number of additional selected ASICS retailers across the globe on January 16th. Stay tuned, this isn’t the only shoe we’ll see honouring the Spaniards’ birthday milestone.