The Top 50 Sneaker Collaborations of All Time

The sneaker collaboration is a relatively recent phenomenon — it hasn't been that much more than a decade since artists and retailers getting a chance to put their own mark on a sneaker company's masterwork became commonplace. Since then, they've more than made up for lost time and virtually no silhouette has been left untouched. We knew selecting the top 50 sneaker collaborations of all time wouldn't be easy, so we passed the task on to the inimitable (and unmatchable) Gary Warnett. Click through the gallery to see the best of the best.

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Year: 1996

As you'd expect, there's plenty of Supreme shoes in this top 50, and at first glance this SMU is unexceptional. Until you realise that it pre-dates the swathe of collaborative Vans interest by an entire decade. That's because the Old Skool is a superior skate shoe and — lest you forget — Supreme is a skate store. Throw camo patterning in and you've got a shoe that could drop 15 years on and still garner plenty of pixelated coverage. In an era of wide skate shoes becoming so padded that board feel became a near-impossibility, this shoe was an oddity — but it's the perfect embodiment of New York's unique approach to skate culture, which is the backbone of all things Supreme. Who the hell was keeping vulcanized shoes box fresh in 1996? Nobody. That's why you don't see these in your daily eBay search. The DC, Gravis, Padmore & Barnes collaborative releases and that own-brand Supreme shoe that looked like a Fila are almost equally as elusive.

Year: 2000

What happens when two vast corporations meet to create a special edition shoe? Normally you get a bland release, but if it's operating from Japan, you get a bizarre sneaker brilliantly reworked. Whatever your opinion of the Nike Kukini (and those that know appreciate how Alpha Project releases informed the decade that follows), you've got to concede that it's a unique shoe. Coca-Cola commissioned this special edition of the oddball, organic-looking performance piece to coincide with a Sydney Olympics giveaway. The only thing that's traditional about this shoe is the Coca-Cola color palette and as part of a collection of commemorative Coca-Cola points system, Japanese Nike-heads had to drink a ton of Coca-Cola, send in the bottle caps once they'd recovered from the caffeine high and then be entered into a draw to decide if they got a pair from an extremely limited run. Then they could resell the shoes to pay the resulting dental bills.

Year: 2001

The Reebok Pump Fury had a moment in the flashlights, back when now-forgotten London's female celebrities were stumbling, saucer eyed out of the Ivy with a pair of Pump Furys on their feet, but this was something a little different. A few years later, Chanel decided that the weirdo Insta Pump runner's shape was perfect for their catwalk show and commissioned a special edition in a duo of appropriately stark grey and black colorways, complete with interlocking 'C's. Then somebody decided to pull the plug on the whole thing as far as a release was concerned, meaning only promo pairs remained. Now, the fashion house sneaker realm is a bigger deal — even Gucci have PUMA affiliations — but these preempted those projects in a major way. These crop up periodically for serious dollars and the repro makeups without the branding are significantly less chic. A classy collaboration that deserves a spot in the hall of fame.

Year: 1999

The first Junya Watanabe Nike project set a standard for much that followed. It was just a little too early for us ignorant Westerners, but Japanese heads understood the power of this project. Establishing a Comme connection, the decision to pick some Alpha Project oddities rather than some basics worked out well. There were some stark (well, as stark as a drip-effect weirdo athletic shoe can look) looking Kukinis a little later via Junya, but these Zoom Havens are the best of the early bunch. The wraparound Dynamic Fit and space-age looks made this cross trainer a cult favourite, built for running and tennis. Only an extra accent color separated this makeup from a more readily available makeup, but that wasn't the point. Just like the shoe itself, this release laid the foundations for the future of footwear releases.

Year: 2007

After playing with futuristic silhouettes in the early stages of their relationship, Junya Watanabe's conversations with Nike turned to the past. The byproduct was some accurate replicas of original running classic including Cortez, LDV, Daybreak and LD-1000. Debuting on catwalks in Paris in 2006 as a preview of S/S 2007, these athletic icons ultimately went on sale in Comme des Garçons spots before the Nike Vintage line blew up. With Nike facing criticism by fans for the quality of their retros at the time (witness the platform sole and Aladdin-style shape of the Air Stab reissue), these silenced the critics, who then went on to moan — quite rightly — about that unnecessary yellowing. Some shoes sold poorly at the time, but years on, with the fat-Swooshed Blazer Hi's popularity at street level, the project left a mark. A fine project that resurrected some masterpieces with the appropriate reverence.

Year: 2009

So here's the thing — most graffiti-related sneakers look like they hit the third rail multiple times and took a few hits by transport cops with the ugly stick. These don't. Denmark's Wood Wood took inspiration from nighttime bombing missions and the reappropriation of classic ACG models to launch this remake of the legendary Wildwood, with bonus Dynamic Support and Lunarlon properties. Speckles, sub-cultural references and a superior All Conditions palette on the upper made this a classic from a time when collaborations were confined to basic retro models rather than cutting-edge technical pieces. The special box for a lucky few made this release even more significant.

Year: 2006

TET and the W(Taps team understand what makes a piece of design so significant and with a childhood steeped in skate culture, they took the Vans aesthetic back to the early days of Bones Brigade and before that a certain "locals only" menace. Basic colors, bone prints and the ever-versatile Chukka model, as popularised by H-Street team riders, were a perfect match. This collection incorporated other iconic models, but for a couple of summers, the W(Taps Chukka seemed omnipresent. The 2008 Bash model for Vans Syndicate, channeling classic Jordan in an homage to the original AJ1's invincible leather was strong too, but this design was an instant classic - in fact, a new colorway of this reworking is set to drop very soon...

Year: 2003

Nike and Stüssy take up a small chunk of this top 50 and these are just another excellent example of how their Nikes reigned for around five years. Nike's relationship with the West Coast streetwear titans gave them a collaborative first dibs on the latest resurrections. 1993's Huarache Light is a connoisseur's favorite alongside the flatter-soled Racer variant and the grape colorway was a tough one to beat, but in their lurid slime green and black and orange and grey makeups, Stüssy retained the original appeal but stamped their own identity onto this design. These sold fast, but the real obsessives hunt the Hyperstrike editions of this Quickstrike drop with the Stüssy script embroidered on the heel.

Year: 2005

2005 was a good year for Nike collaborations and you had to be queuing, connected or fast with your eBay 'Buy It Now' forefinger to grab the Kid Robot Air Max. That whole era when grown ups attempted to conceal a toy fixation by calling it "urban vinyl" was a strange time and you wouldn't expect Kid Robot's effort to be a little more lurid, but their Maserati-inspired take is killer, with the pink accents countering the sensible colors with an appropriate playfulness. On sale exclusively at New York's Barney's, only a few grabbed these, leading to some of the most insane resale value of any Air Max to date. Only a chosen few got their hands on the pink Hyperstrike edition too, but those who missed out didn't need to shed tears into their BAPE red camo pillows — it wasn't as good as the “proper” colorway.

Year: 2005

Europeans really love New Balance shoes, and late 1988's 1500 model seems to be the one the Eurogang find themselves drawn to. Executed right when made in the UK in the mid '00s, the stance, shape and fit became a cult phenomenon and Berlin's Solebox boutiques generated some of the greatest 1500s of all time. It might sound churlish, but the 1500GGB edition even rivaled the original US and UK makeups in the premium materials, colors and attention to detail. Dropping when most other collaborations were getting daft and conceptual, this was just a decent shoe and it spawned a dynasty of excellent Solebox editions, including a gum-soled return to the drawing board for a GGB remake of sorts in 2009. These were never cheap in the first place (1500s were an expensive shoe in the late '80s too), but the eBay loot that any of the 150 pairs made fetches is pretty obscene.

Year: 2007

Don't be thinking that it's just the big brands that make the best collaborations. Amsterdam's Patta are located in a city with a history of performance running brands reappropriated at street level, so they called on ASICS to rework the then-recently resurrected Gel Lyte III model with some Dutch colors and the city's three Saint Andrew's Crosses in the mix. This premium remix caused pandemonium at the store, with many making a fruitless European trip and the scant amount of stock at spots like Rivington Club vanishing equally fast. They even came with a color-coordinated rucksack. For a minute, these were in Flight Club for obscene (possibly optimistic) sums — which at the time, for an ASICS shoe in a Nike- and Jordan-dominated market, was a remarkable achievement.

Year: 2005

There's some other Staple shoes that weren't necessarily collaborations (like the the Navigation pack) worthy of mention, but this NYC-saluting Dunk is a significant moment in the collaborative realm because — despite low, low production numbers — it went mainstream in terms of coverage with the Reed Space besieged by hype-fueled characters on the shoe's release. Crucially, that colorway's a killer and its been transferred to some UK-made New Balances since as well as occasionally being "homaged" by other brands on their inline releases. Riot footwear.

Year: 2007

For a basic shoe, the Chuck Taylor's a tough one to rework, just because it's a design classic when it's at its simplest. Hiroshi and the fragment team matched the toe bumper to the canvas colour, added the pill logo that makes things more covetable and used a version of the shoe that's a little less prone to leave the wearer hobbling. And that was pretty much it. Somehow that became a necessity in black, blue or an AIDS charity (RED) edition. The low version beats the highs for matters of total versatility.

Year: 2004

A sneaker website getting its own SMUs? Insane. Well, it was in summer 2004. Now it's a little less of a strange proposition. London's own Crooked Tongues wanted to rework a shoe they had a genuine affection for, adding some fresh colorways to the Made in England 576's elegant silhouette, looking every inch like the 574's more dandyish sibling. 50 pairs of each in this quartet were released to the public and they sold fast. Early 2005's Solebox collaboration on a 1500, a 577, 991, M575 and 1500 in late 2006 and a one-off 574 in 2007 continued the brand relationship and two of these 576 colorways have been resurrected for a duo of UK-made 1500 colorways this month. Now everybody's a New Balance fanboy, but back in 2004? Less so.

Year: 2005

The Nike Air Stab is a classic running shoe, and the retro had plenty of old collectors and new jacks buzzing. That was until they saw the bizarre retro that seemed to turn this sleek, jagged icon into a banana-shaped, platform shoe. So it's a testament as to how strong this collaboration with London's Foot Patrol was, that it made this shoe (the first of the Stab retros) into a must-buy. The key was the clear sole, purple, concrete speckle, light blue and a wildcard yellow on the eyelets that set it off perfectly. That was enough to make a botched reissue a necessity rather than a pariah on the shelves. In fact, this was such a sexy sneaker that it even made the cover of Complex that winter too.

Year: 2005

The Nike Zoom Spiridon was a pioneering runner when it came to Nike's Zoom Air technology in 1997 and fans wanted it back. In 2005 they got a fairly faithful retro. The following year, French sneaker fans could pick up a patent-aided Courir SMU too, but there were some unreleased masterpieces along the way. The mystery orange and blue sample never saw light of day, but not putting out the Opium edition was doubly strange. If you've been to Paris and seen the Opium boutique's in-store museum of Nike rarities and classics, you know they don't play. Their 180 went on sale, but this black and gold Spiridon makeup was the ultimate Opium shoe. This is the best Quickstrike that never was.

Year: 2005

Court Forces are a good shoe. They're not the kid of thing you'd harass your parents for on their release in 1987, but kids in Japan dug them and Eric Dressen wore them to skate in. If they were good enough for him, they were good enough for us. After a lowkey HTM collection of colorways, these 25th anniversary Stüssy editions had kids queuing again. The buttery yellow edition, the purples and the blacks were flawless in their execution and the animal effect leather, lettering and lace jewel all maintained the magic. These were the last of Stüssy's golden age Nike collaborations, but they set a precedent that caused the majority of SMUs from other brands that followed in their chunky footsteps to suck by comparison.

Year: 2004

ESPO isn't the sort of person you'll see enthusiastically pandering to some brand in interviews. In fact his honesty can act as a self-sabotage of sorts and he seemed surprised that his jokey submission — some kind of subversive dig at these projects — made production. Made for charity (the dull Eminem Burst, Sarah Jessica Parker Presto and a dull N*E*R*D Dunk weren’t great but these, Stash BWs and Futura Blazers stay classic), this transparent take on the Air Force II, complete with free socks, is incredible. Almost impossible to wear, but incredible all the same. Other see thru sneakers are just biters and when this went on sale at NYC's NikeTown there were some minor scuffles that made the local press too.

Year: 2008

2008 was a dumb year for collaborations. Theme packs, pointless storytelling and too much deja-vu pretty much ruined everything. Thankfully, San Francisco's Harputs (and the Vans Syndicate project) saved the day. One of the greatest sneaker stores on the planet, at a time when wood-lined mediocrity with identikit stock was becoming a boutique plague, Harputs brought adidas to the West Coast and this take on the Forum Mid (part of a pack with some other SMUs that made less noise), merged a pricey mid-80s basketball icon with the ABA colorway and mesh of the legendary Americana. If you knew, you knew. And that's what sneakers should be about. The rest of you can stare miserably at your stack of Bapestas.

Year: 2003

The minds behind Tokyo sneaker store Atmos created a trinity of beautiful Nike collaborations with their Safari-patterned Air Max 87 (before the Safari print was played-out through overuse, just as Supreme used Elephant print before long, long it became tired) and a tremendous Air Max 95 using this palette, but this Air Max 87 colorway is a thing of beauty. Sure, a mesh toebox would have been nice, but other than that, the tint gold forefoot Swoosh, minimal rear Swoosh branding, white leather, suede, nubuck, a gum sole and crucially, that Viotech Swoosh cutting through the neutral shades. How exactly these briefly entered Nike outlets is a mystery, but they're a necessary addition to the collection that proves a "busy" colorway isn't necessarily a shitty one.

The version in a custom box is rarely seen nowadays and it’s a fitting vessel for such a memorable take on a staple sneaker.

Year: 2005

The ALIFE crew went a little wilder than usual with their Reebok designs, transforming Michael Chang's signature Pump tennis design with a tennis ball themed upper that's accurate down to the Pantone shades and feel. There's Nikes with a similar concept from the 1980s, but these executed it perfectly. ALIFE's sneaker projects are notable for their sheer variety — wild one minute and totally restrained the next. These go so balls out that they're irresistible and the well-executed script branding is tremendous too. The downside is that each Reebok Ball Out makeup was a dirt magnet like no other, making any journey into a puddle and dust-dodging ordeal. ALIFE's next Reebok project would go the other way and give the sneakers Teflon protection.

Year: 2006

Made in conjunction with Dutch hip-hop magazine 'State' too, the Nike and Patta Air Max 90 is one of the very best colorways ever, because Team Patta have a real appreciation for the shoe (it's huge in the Netherlands) and they gave it a weed-themed colorway to make it go with a high. There's an incredibly rare orange variant worth hunting down, but the green 'Homegrown' is just a work of art, down to the cork footbeds. A THC-themed shoe should be terrible, but Patta put a masterpiece together and that white midsole was an incredibly smart move, encasing the orange Air unit. Patta knows.

Year: 2003

Few nations love running shoes as much as the British, and the Nike Epic project was the brainchild of London boutique Foot Patrol, setting off their collaborative career. If you know sneakers you'll appreciate the reflective underlay and perforations that define this mid '80s performance piece. It's not the most obvious choice of shoes to rework, but that's what makes it absolutely right — an Air Force 1 would lack this release's authenticity. Appropriately gloomy shades to match the nation's weather and a tiny production run accompanied by an even tinier production run of a Hyperstrike edition that was part of a prize draw makes these one of the best releases ever and a significant moment for UK connoisseurs.

Year: 2005

Chris Gibbs is a man who can succeed in outfits that would get you clowned and UNION's take on the Air Force 180 as part of Nike's Clerk Pack came off like Barkley sipping lean. That's a very good thing. With multiple colors and patterns in one shoe and a throwback to the shoe's 1992 origins in an era of lurid tastes, plus a possible element of satire with regards to the idiotic shoes that were being pumped out at the time, Gibbs and the team created a masterpiece with this Quickstrike release and, as his is way, it was curiously prescient of the trends that followed. The inline colorway that imitated this aesthetic was just lazy though.

Year: 2007

Less a collaboration than a love letter to the Air Force 1, Bobbito Garcia's Uptowns were the highlight of the shoe's 25th anniversary. Not content with creating a trio of Lows that were completely new (at a deeply generic time), the Air Force 1 High makeups that Kool Bob Love designed took the age-old union of Force and Timb (as seen on some glorious early '00s lows and some underrated mids) and brought them together on the more appropriate high for the first time. The wheats are perfect but the Beef and Broccoli Field Boot tribute is perfect too. Homaging the original mesh and leather AF1 mix to ape the Field Boot's leather and canvas blend? Smart thinking, Bob. Contenders to the collaborative crown should study this and back down.

Year: 2003

Stash is a pioneer when it comes to streetwear and collaborative sneakers. Sure, he wasn't the first to rework a Nike, but who the heck would opt for the Air Max Big Window? That's an offbeat choice, but Euro 'heads who love this model and kept it in production since '91 appreciated it. This was the shoe debut of Stash's trademark mix of blues and greys (which like some postmodern version of a tag or throwup became another mode for Stash to go all world with his work), and best of all, it was part of Nike's charity output. Ethical hype is the best kind of hype. This is clean, and the colorway would make its next appearance on some sought-after Air Force 1 Lows and Air Max 95s a few years later. Thankfully, a far duller colorway sample was ditched at development stage.

Year: 2005

2005 feels like such a long, long time ago but the full-blown collector culture was in effect by that point. The dawn of the hype blog had kids updated, CNN-style, as to when these were hitting and they represent one of the last examples of real Dunk pandemonium (after the Pigeon mayhem the same year), before the 'What the Dunks' parodied the craze in 2007. Diamond Supply's take on the Dunk was a lift of a higher end inspiration, taking Tiffany & Co's colors to the upper of the hype totem of the time. Diamond Dunks were a hype fiend's best friend, and the textured materials and metallic Swoosh just increased the desire for this release. There's been returns to that Pantone shade that's close to the trademarked Tiffany Blue (Pantone number 1837, in line with the company's launch year) on Nike releases, but nothing comes close to the original. It's worth pondering the potential outcome of these and the Gucci-themed RESN release — another Dunk from the Diamond Supply stable — dropping in succession, if the RESN hadn't been shelved until 2009. Unlike many impulse buys of the mid '00s, these are a definite keeper, even though the all-important resell price remains astronomical.

Year: 2007

The Campus is a perfect shoe, and to commemorate adidas bringing it back in its 80s form, they called on London's Foot Patrol who created three perfect suede colorways with off-white herringbone sole units and — in a move that could have alienated the model's legions of diehard fans — a contrasting set of snakeskin-effect stripes on the medial side. Packaged with FP-branded sweatbands and with store manager Wes on the box in a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar style, they don't make them like this any more. Even the launch day queue was a good-natured one rather than the usual competitive horde of queue jumpers and bribed hobos. Shoes copying that contrast branding are just copycats.

Year: 2006

When it comes to the Footscape there's a ready-built audience who are open minded to accept weirdo sneakers. Fusing the 1995 Footscape design with 2000's avant-garde Woven aesthetic was a big top-tier push in summer 2006, but when you've gone that far, why not take it further? Teaming with famed London store The Hideout, horsehair was added to the model's upper to add to an appropriately equine colorway (there was an accompanying Porter collaboration in matching colors too). Sci-fi shoes gone rustic isn't the most accessible style for a sneaker, but those who understood how this madcap duo of Tier Zero colorways was trying to push boundaries became instant disciples of the shoe.

Year: 2003

What exactly the MT580 silhouette does is an enduring mystery. It barely resembles the traditional New Balance 580 running shoe and this frequently mita-affiliated release's dramatic Rollbar application and trail shoe silhouette was once confined to Japan. It crept out over subsequent years, but it was better when it stayed utterly aloof and deeply expensive when it came to translating the Yen. Three-way collaborations are usually insta-fail, but this meeting of New Balance, Stüssy and Tokyo's hip-hop obsessed Real Mad Hectic crew was incredible, finished with some non-subtle ‘Mad Stüssy’ branding but decorated with beautiful, accessible colorways based on the Escape-style Stussy Nike Huaraches made it the sort of shoe to gaze at in costly Japanese magazines back in the day. It's a mile away from the stern, handcrafted pieces that New Balance pumps out at heritage level, but it's a memorable release nonetheless.

Year: 2003

The ASICS collaboration isn't too surprising nowadays, but when Long Beach retailer Proper opted to rework the Grand Turismo II model that introduced Gel to the masses circa 1986 it was a strange move. The byproduct is perfect though — the speckles (before speckles got played out on retro shoes) and military materials like ripstop felt fresh and innovative, getting that aesthetic on point years before it became commonplace. This is a groundbreaking dual-brand project that seemed to deliberately duck beneath the radar, but it hit the mark with a consumer who was already bored with Dunks.

Year: 2003

From a distance these Dunks are wholly remarkable, but close up they're nearly perfect. Cast your mind back to a time when the Dunk still seems to be a sacred shoe rather than a played-out byproduct of SMU partnership promiscuity and you'll recall that UNDFTD in its infant stage was bringing a sporty and militaristic look to the table that's embodied in this shoe. Before things got dumb, partners approached a collaboration with a certain conservatism and these neutral colors were elevated by incredibly scarce supplies, the use of ballistic nylon and those bars embroidered onto the heel. A killer visual identity applied perfectly.

Year: 2004

Dave's Quality Meat's butchery theme was always a little more jovial than the stern-faced approach that rival retailers espoused. Just as sneakers seemed to opt for sythetic materials over real leather, DQM put out this paean to all things porcine and edible. Muslims and Jews couldn't consume it, but this colorway of the Air Max 90 (hardly the usual canvas for a Stateside collaboration) went H.A.M. with a bacon-themed colorway to accompany DQM's range of apparel, frequently laced with meat-based puns. The pink and red wasn't just a joke — it was one of the best AM90 colorways to date and the Hyperstrike edition's subtle changes and more detailed packaging make it classic.

Year: 2009

2009's Air Max 87 colorways are Patta's finest sneaker collaboration to date. Just when the AM1 hit overkill, Team Patta arrived to save the shoe from becoming a no-go. How? For the first two (and easily the best of a quartet), the washed-out colored canvas took it back to some old acid wash rap garments and the model's original 1987 colorways, but restoring the tiny forefoot Swoosh was the smartest move. These are the shoes that saved a classic from a bland purgatory and the way that purple version just arrived out of nowhere as a Tier Zero Patta-only drop was inspired at a time when we were bored of the established preview jpegs, leaks and promo trail.

Year: 2003

You think about ALIFE and you automatically envision something a little more aggressive on a shoe, right? Before there were wearying collaboration programs, things just seemed to appear from nowhere and ALIFE's adidas Originals reworkings seemed engineered as deliberate opposites. Sure, there was a wide and bolshy Attitude (and a Top Ten) in the collection, but this take on the Grand Slam was super clean. That took a knowing leap of faith, because the majority of collaborators would have been too keen to make noise with a shoe to keep it this basic. The decision to use this tennis shoe — a connoisseurs' favorite — and to let the ALIFE logo just whisper in line with court decorum was inspired and indicative of the team's overstanding of global sneaker tastes.

Year: 2004

There's some intriguing sneakers around that dispensed with a formula and just made excellent product. SOPHNET Internationalists are a case in point and the GASIUS take on the Vengeance is crazy too, but reworking the Nike Zoom Talaria was a next-level maneuver and one seemingly made to alienate anybody who didn't know their history. A clean colorway and the NORT logo represented the Berlin and New York store looks and you had to be a fan to appreciate this shoe's place as a performance pioneer dating back to 1998. If you didn't get it, don't worry — Hyperstrike status meant you'd never get your hands on a pair anyway. These are another Stash-helmed classic and are notable for being one of the few sneakers with a 'Tron' (read the store name backwards) reference on them that doesn't flat-out suck.

Year: 2002

Whoever was scouting for potential partners to get Nike into a closed circle was a very savvy individual indeed and they realised that — like Supreme — Zoo York epitomized (it doesn't get much realer than Pang, Hunter and Supa) New York's unique and aggressive approach to skate. The uncompromising graphic print, touch of brown in the material mix and hard-to-find status worldwide with it being in core skate spots, with some folks finding them easily and others struggling. That SB distribution was a law unto itself and these capture a moment in time for the next generation of sneaker collectors. On a non-SB note, the grey and blue Zoo York Blazer Mid is a classic too.

Year: 2006

Supreme's winning streak on the Nike SB front continued with these Blazers. Early Blazer SBs like the Paul Brown colorway used to be a hard sell to kids with Dunks in their eyes, but these brought something new to the shoe that was steeped in NYC's hustler chic. The Air Trainer TWs with their Canal Street bootleg style jackets, Delta Force Mids and Bruins were all excellent, but the sheer amount of detail these applied to a simple shoe were staggering. The Gucci-style heel tape, the ‘D’ ring, snakeskin Swoosh and quilted leather were high-end informed street style — Nike meets Chanel — that stayed simple. That pretty much sums up the Supreme approach.

Year: 2000

There's something about the Huarache that fires imaginations overseas, with this experimental runner becoming a popular sneaker with a street-level audience. Add Stüssy to the equation and kids just weren't ready. These colorways were instigated by Londoners Michael Kopelman and Fraser Cooke, giving the shoe the Escape treatment it never got the first time round. Streetwear brands and sneakers had long been associates before this team up, but they hadn't merged like this. And as a result, these ended up being slow burners with Stüssy Store customers, but now they're coveted and treated with the reverence they deserve. For better or for worse, this is a blueprint for much of what you're assailed by whenever you hit the blogs. Except there weren't too many blogs to cover these at the time, bar the likes of Spine, Rift Trooper and plenty of Japanese information outlets. Pre-hype hype.

Year: 2003

This shoe started out in yellow suede until Futura completely changed the colorway. Like the ESPO Air Force II and Stash BW, these were for charity and as with the former two, they proved that graffiti and sneakers wasn't just drips and "urban" imagery clichés, and that writers could unleash innate style king status to colorways too. Futura's FLOM Dunk with Nike SB for Futura Labs and the DUNKLE are other significant Lenny moments on a shoe, but this version of the late '70s Blazer with the smaller Swoosh and canvas foxing is a perfect shoe, incorporating some militaristic shades and exploring new color block opportunities via the contrasting lace stays and toe. This is a sneaker that just looks right and there's a sense that the artist was just making a shoe for himself to wear — and that accessible self-indulgence merged with simplicity is the key to this shoe's brilliance.

Year: 2001

This was one of Drew Greer’s babies (more on him later) — Alphanumeric deserves a place in history for merging skateboarding, streetwear and the kind of hip-hop attire being pushed in Source ads with a savvy that elevated it above the usual bullshit. Alyasha Owerka-Moore, Mikro Mangum and Sal Masekela created a progressive aesthetic with the apparel, and when Nike came calling, talk of an AF1 collaboration turned into Dunk talk. Before SB, the Pro Bs had the strap and extra padding, and Alphanumeric’s grey and yellow and grey Scotchlite aided editions, with A# embroidery (one of the earliest recorded instances of another brand’s logo on a Nike shoe) in the area most liable to be annihilated while skateboarding brought colors and technical looks to the upper of a simple shoe, making some of the most forward-thinking Dunks alongside the Foot Action releases from the same year. Around 36 pairs of each colorway were handed out to friends and family before the shoes got a wider release without the branding. A key proto SB moment.

Year: 2005

There’s collaborations and then there’s being given free rein to play with the Air Jordan IV. Undefeated were fortunate to get some high-profile footfall instore and after some conversation they got a Jordan collaboration. That was unheard of at the time. The only problem with messing with a masterpiece is that the colorways were as iconic as the shoe and Retro+ releases had played it pretty safe throughout the early ‘00s. Undefeated gave the shoe an MA-1 jacket makeover with olive drab (a recurring UNDFTD aesthetic) and orange accents for visibility, plus a Velcro tongue label in line with the inspiration. Sold through raffles and charity auctions, this was an eBay resale dream team in action and the colorway seemed to inform plenty of Jordan retro releases that followed.

Year: 2001

The Dunk was on the verge of a surge in popularity when this Stüssy project dropped. Nike’s consultancy game is and always has been tight,and they knew that collector culture was set to go global after hitting Far Eastern heights already. 2001 was the year that the Dunk was pushed beyond the college-style colorways with Foot Action and Pro Low B releases, and this Dunk High with Stüssy in luxurious ostrich leather and snakeskin effects on some sublime premium colorways. These were a subdued take on the shoe for those who understood and they set a standard for the decade that followed. By the next year, the SB program and a readily available supply of Dunks made the 1985 design a fully fledged phenomenon. These were shoes made to be worn rather than sit in an orange and beige box amassing value, and while there’s been “un-Stüssy” colorway copies, nothing beats the real deal.

Year: 1999

We owe Drew Greer a fair amount with regards to a credible connection between collectors and brands. Why does this get included when Run-DMC’s adidas line didn’t? Because this feels like a blueprint for much of what we see today. Between 1996 and 2000, Drew was Nike footwear Product Director prior to other roles within the company, but his work with the Air Force 1 and Dunk remains pivotal. He was a mastermind behind the decision to take the parallels between Iowa University’s original colorway (gotta love that Goldenrod) and the Wu-Tang’s Killa Bee sting that brought black and yellow to rap way before Wiz. Wu dudes like Raekwon are real sneaker connoisseurs from a time before corny dudes with Rapidshare mixtapes by the ton talked about retro Dunks in their verses. That love was repaid by Drew and his team when they used the Iowa Dunk and some Wu Tang tongue and heel branding to create a pioneering release to create some hype for a post-millennial Dunk push (which we can safely say, proved successful), of which a ‘W’-free Iowa retro was the first sign of an impending swarm at retailers globally a few years down the line. 36 pairs were alleged to have been produced to parallel the Wu’s chambers, spotted at Training Camp and as a promo giveaway. This unassuming, effortless little union of brand and band is a deeply important shoe — to get the extra branding like that was pretty much unseen at this point. Terror Squad, Jeezy CTE, Vibe, Roc-A-Fella and Deftones promo pieces from Nike couldn’t match the originator, which in itself, felt like an extension of the old Elton John, Devo and Frank Zappa SMUs from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. If you’re still bleating about it being lazy or obvious, then you’re missing the point.

Year: 2004

The Superstar35 project introduced the world to the adidas Originals Consortium concept that let a cartel of retailers loose on an adidas classic. In this case the sneaker subject was an anniversary Superstar that had its real shape restored in premium materials. Every store effort was strong but this Neighborhood edition’s skull and cutlass branding, block lettering and blacked-out toe shell to match the upper is one of the most perfect shoes ever made. They weren’t cheap and those seeking a pair in London had to queue on New Year’s Eve while the world partied around them to be in with a chance of picking a pair up. This is quintessential adidas — precise, clean and timeless, but it also epitomizes Shin and the NBHD team’s no-nonsense, better-in-black aesthetic. There were more collaborations between both teams after this, but the anniversary Superstar was a glorious moment in time that’s impossible to reproduce.

Year: 2002

Poison Green and Turbo Pink transformed the Blazer for Stüssy’s third collaboration with Nike. These reworkings of the best incarnation of this basketball classic dropped just before Cam sanctioned pink, which might account for the length of time they seemed to spend on Stüssy store shelves. The use of a neon pop color for the Swoosh against a navy or dark grey upper maintained the integrity and simplicity of a shoe with some sub-cultural clout (just think back to Tony Alva in some classic Glen E. Friedman shots) but made it just about odd enough to only appeal to fanboys and girls who could appreciate that look. And just as everyone realized that these were a classic, they were gone. To pick the best of Stüssy’s top 5 Nikes is difficult, but these just edge out the Dunks for still looking unique after all these years. They almost ended up being more conventional — green with a white Swoosh and blue with a white Swoosh, but thankfully, a fluorescent vision prevailed.

Year: 2003

In 2003, Bathing Ape and adidas set a standard with their “The respect is mutual” Superstar and Superskate project. It’s impossible to make a call on which silhouette worked the best, so they deserve equal billing. Most collaborations are an unsatisfying experience once they’re in your hand — the packaging, hangtags and build are a letdown. These shoes retained the quality control that typified both brands in their prime — BAPE had the Japanese-made gear with the double-sided labels, while adidas’s German and French-made favorites created a serious legacy. When you queued, paid a hefty RRP and brought these shoes home, the carry handle custom boxes, 3-Stripe Ape faces on rubber tags, specially printed paper and materials justified your fevered mindstate on the build-up to release. Few shoes have lived up to the hype after forums and early streetwear and sneaker blogs specified the exact price and drop date and time. The B-Side version seemed to miss the point a little, standardizing an exceptional set of shoes.

Year: 2002

In just under a decade, collaborations seem to have gone from skateable to hateable, but the Supreme Dunk SBs remain more desirable than ever. This shoe was a blue touch paper for many that lit an obsession that remains to the present day and it’s a duo of shoes that made the Supreme team and SB one of the definitive collaborative partnerships. These are the shoes that helped build Nike Skateboarding. Bringing Supreme, Zoo York and Chocolate aboard was a shrewd move, but the shock to the system here was seeing Jordan’s elephant print on a non-Jordan sneaker. Sure, it was on the STS/Force IV, a Windrunner, a Pegasus and an Air Trainer back in the day, but by 2002, it seemed to be policed a little more. Supreme put that crackling print on these, plus hits of blues and reds to maintain the lineage of 88’s iconic release and channel some old NYC hustler style (the 2003 Dunk Hi seemed preoccupied with an era of aspirational hustler gear too) and even the tie-in apparel followed that knowing look. For a while, elephant print stayed special. Then it was put on everything, stripping it of its magical aura (the Safari print suffered a similar fate too). These, Chris Hall’s one-off Air Force 1 Highs and the near-mythical Supreme Air Force 1 are still crack for your feet.

Year: 2003

Nike and Stash made the best sneaker collaboration ever? Yep. Many will dispute it, but this project repped both partners perfectly and was an unbeaten love letter to the subject shoe. Only Bobbito came close in paying respects to the Uptown with this level of mastery. The muted colorway, premium materials, use of a high version over the populist lower cut, return of the mesh panel that was present on the original editions, transparent sole (transparent in a good way rather than the nasty Visible Air version) and the spraycan nozzle pattern applied like an elephant or Safari print was a killer combination. Graffiti on shoes can go badly wrong. For every sublime Also Known As charity Dunk collection in wet look patent or KR Air Force 1, there’s a hundred monstrosities carrying vast letters and pitiful hand styles. The way London, New York and Tokyo editions stayed similar, bar different colors beneath the outsole with the local letters, and that weighty flight case packaging made this some event footwear that felt truly special. Few of the thousand who picked them up in 2003 seem to show much buyer’s remorse, even if this shoe’s a tough one for non-native New Yorkers to pull off with maximum swagger. This is the package that all collaborations could and should be with the right partners and creative team involved. This even got a VIP retro in 2007 after the anniversary celebrations, but the metal eyelets meant that anyone with the OGs stayed winning.