20 Sneaker Trends That Never Should Have Happened

For every sneaker trend we wish would have never gone away, there are two we're happy are gone - or that we wish would go away. Whether you think "the sneaker game" is better or worse than it used to be, there's no denying that it's different now. In another couple of years, it'll be different still. And while we can't predict exactly how it will change, we can at least offer some suggestions. Check out 20 Sneaker Trends That Never Should Have Happened and please, share your own thoughts.

Sometimes it's OK to not buy the latest trendy thing because you may get stuck with them.

Not sure when it became cool to be first at something. As far as we're concerned, it's about being fresh and feeling good. The first mentality of getting sneakers early, and commenting "first" on a blog or Instagram picture, is one of the dumbest things around. Congrats, you're corny.

If a sneaker is cool enough to retro in the first place, it's cool to bring it back in exact form.

Back in the old days, finding a t-shirt and a fitted to go with your sneakers used to be something of a challenge. Now, with companies manufacturing shirts and hats to complement every hot release, even your average first grader could do it. And hey, remember when MLB fitteds were only available in the team's actual colors? That was fun.

The very first "sneaker collectors" rarely intended to just stash away their kicks until they turned to dust. The idea was to keep a specific pair "on ice" until some point in the undetermined future, at which point they would pull them out and blow minds. Now that everything retros over and over again, stashing a pair for a long while seems sillier than ever. Throw out all those silica gel packets and wear your damn sneakers.

Man, listen. Before you put brush to those Jordans, please, think about what you're doing.

It's bad enough that retro sneakers are launched with no sense of their place in sneaker history - there should be reasons why every shoe is re-released - but it gets worse when a shoe from 1993 is followed by a shoe from 1997 and then a shoe from 1985 and then one from 2000. Throwing all of your old catalogues in a blender should not be a viable release strategy.

If Michael Jordan could get away with wearing the same signature shoe for an entire season (including the playoffs) and Stan Smith could get away with wearing the same signature shoe for his whole CAREER, maybe the current model is a little excessive.

It's funny - when cupsole basketball shoes like the adidas Superstar and Nike Air Force 1 were introduced, they were hailed as veritable technological miracles, saving countless feet from the relatively support-free soles of Converse All Stars and the like. So the idea of stripping a sneaker of its high-tech underpinnings in favor of an antiquated vulc sole seems like some kind of a sick joke. Bob Cousy could cry.

The term exclsuive should never be used in sneakers or in sneaker blogging. Just because you have a camera and a shitty website doesn't mean your pictures of the same shoe we put in a magazine months ago are exclusive. On the same subject, any shop that thinks they are selling "exclusive" sneakers, must be poppin' mollys for every meal.

We're definitely entertained by some of the fuckery but people need to chill on all that digital courage they're drinking. There are people behind those accounts you relentlessly attack because you didn't get a pair of sneakers. Never forget, karma is a bitch when she wants to be.

We get it, everyone has a camera. that doesn't mean everything should be shared. And we're not even going to get into quality or the photoshopping some of you lames do.

The same guys rapping about guns, drugs, killing and worse, seem to be getting deals left and right now. Reality is, only a few of them are deserving. You know, there's a difference between a businessman and a business, man.

At one point in recent memory, we counted nearly 40 colorways of a certain signature model. When it comes to team shoes, it's even worse. It's cool that we have more choices but do we really need THAT many choices? Even if we love the shoe, we can't keep up.

It's great that we have more access to information now but do we really need release dates? What about just releasing shoes to stores and letting people actually get them in person, instead of having to buy unseen and promoting the resellers market? Even the Mayans couldn't stick to a calendar, why should sneakerheads?

Would you take a classic car and put all sorts of modern technology in it? OK, bad example. Sneakers are different, though. For every Lunar Force 1, which seamlessly merges classic and modern, there have been many other, unnamed Island of Dr. Moreau experiments that reflected poorly on the design AND the technology. Not to mention, those creations implicitly endorse the above monstrosities.

This isn't to say that the "South Beach" LeBron 8 wasn't a great shoe - because it was - or even that the "South Beach" colorway itself is bad - because it isn't. But hey, that sneaker came out in 2010. Move on, people. That means you too, would-be customizers.

Just stop. Please.

Just because a player gets showered with confetti or get a gold ring for winning a title, doesn't mean it's a good colorway for a sneaker. At the same time, a lot of players don't even deserve the rings.

We realize that we're lucky to get free kicks but at the same time, it's kind of gotten out of hand the number of "influencers" that get free sneakers nowadays. Especially considering most of them don't care, or even wear those free sneakers. (Can you say bad seed?) Wear your kicks!