The Best Sneakers of 2021

Image via Complex Original

Release Date: August 20

Price: $150

An inline release from New Balance might not be something you would expect to see on this list, but an inline New Balance doesn’t usually spark lineups at sneaker shops either. We have to give credit where credit is due. The New Balance 2002R “Protection Pack” was able to win over customers, no affiliation with big collaborators like Aimé Leon Dore or Joe Freshgoods required. Instead, this trio prevailed because of a simple-yet-effective design tweak that replaced the usual paneling found on the 2000s runner with jagged suede overlays that gave the shoe a more premium feel. The design came courtesy of Yue Wu, who says the look was partly inspired by “old folks in Boston” wearing their beat up yet still functional New Balances around the city. Each monochromatic colorway (grey, white, and black, respectively) sold out with ease and still flips for a decent price on resell platforms, but we’d argue the grey is the best of the bunch. The traditional all-grey upper just always looks best on New Balance runners. In a sneaker world dominated by collaboration (just look at this list), New Balance was able to continue its impressive run and capture everyone’s attention not by bringing back a celebrated release from the past, but by creating a new classic for the future. It should be commended. — Mike DeStefano

Release Date: December 11

Price: $225

It’s hard to get excited for sneakers that are pure retros in the context of the best sneaker of the year. So often, models like these are relegated to excitement upon leaking on social media that doesn’t actually translate to sales upon their release. There are some exceptions to that trend, however, and the yearly holiday Air Jordan 11 drop has typically been one. This year, the “Cool Grey” Air Jordan 11 was up, returning for the first time since 2010. It’s a sneaker that holds a unique place in Jordan Brand history as a non-original colorway that’s always felt like one—despite not first releasing until 2001 while Michael Jordan was a member of the Washington Wizards. The fact has certainly helped the shoe’s legacy, as it was actually worn on-court by Jordan during his third act. The colorway, that long-time Nike exec Gentry Humphrey explained was inspired by the Air Max 95, has since trickled down through much of the Air Jordan archive, cementing its importance to the line and ensuring it sold out just as fast in 2021 as its prior releases. — Zac Dubasik

Release Date: March 6

Price: $200

Kanye West’s Adidas formula, for the most part, has been to create a silhouette and then release it in every shade imaginable. He’s done the first part with the Yeezy 450, which many view as the sequel to the 350 series. It’s a light sock shoe with an aggressive midsole/outsole that some compare to a hand grasping the upper or gyoza dumplings. The shoe isn’t perfect, though. It’s more difficult to wear than the 350, as its slim upper presents issues for pant options. The shoe hasn’t spread like wildfire like other Yeezy designs, but it has gained traction and looks to be the next big silhouette in Kanye West’s empire of footwear. Maybe it will take time to grow on everyone. But it’s good to reward new, challenging designs. And this shoe certainly exemplifies that notion. — Matt Welty

Release Date: November 5

Price: $520

The list of shoes in the Nike archive that can accurately be referred to as “classic” is vast, but few embody the term like the Eric Avar-designed Air Foamposite One. From on-court moments like Mike Bibby’s debut of the model in the 1997 NCAA Tournament and Penny Hardaway using a Sharpie to get his colorblocking NBA compliant to its sky-high $180 price when it originally released to stories of the molds costing upward of $750,000, the Foamposite’s status in sneaker history is hard to overstate. And that’s exactly what makes Comme des Garçons’ reinterpretation of the silhouette so significant.

Long known for its experimental aesthetic, Japanese fashion label CDG was given the creative freedom to take the Foamposite outside the bounds of simple colorway or print enhancements. It delivered an entirely new upper that still felt like a Foamposite, but was unmistakably something new. The shoe was criticized for its $520 price, but it was hardly a surprise given the history of CDG’s collab pricing combined with the sophistication of the shoe’s construction. — Zac Dubasik

Release Date: February 10

Price: $190

Depending on who you ask, this sneaker may have deserved to place higher, or it may not have had merit to make the list at all. How do you take a “Chicago” Air Jordan 1, add a well-executed theme, drop it around NBA All-Star Weekend, and not wind up with an undisputed top-three sneaker of the year? The answer boils down to the controversial way the shoes were released—if you can even say they really released at all.

Weeks before the Trophy Room x Air Jordan 1’s official date, images started popping up on social media of resellers posing alongside rooms full of blue shoeboxes. Floors were scattered with dozens upon dozens of the white, red, and black Air Jordan 1 sneakers. One thing was clear: however it happened, a ton (and we mean a ton) of pairs wound up in the hands of resellers before the sneakers dropped. What we can’t say with certainty is where those pairs came from, but many believe it was an inside job, with a number of backdooring allegations being levied against Michael Jordan’s son Marcus, who owns Trophy Room. Again, we’re not here to implicate anyone in the botched release, but we also can’t fully reward a shoe with so much negative buzz around it. Simply put, had the public had a fair crack at these, the sneakers would’ve been in contention for the year’s very best. — Riley Jones 

Release Date: September 10

Price: $220

To graduate from footwear to a legitimate cultural item, a sneaker needs a story. Storytelling in shoes has grown trite over the past decade, with brand marketing people insisting that even the most banal designs have a narrative around them, but it’s still a special tool that, when executed well, can make them memorable. Joe Freshgoods’ version of the New Balance 990V3 is maybe the best example of that this year.

The “Outside Clothes” themed shoe comes in earthy suedes and brilliant blue mesh. Fittingly, the sneakers emerged at a moment when, the pandemic subsiding, people were able to enjoy actually being outside again. More than that though, they are a celebration of Black social life, of communities built in shared spaces outdoors, and of Joe’s own experiences growing up on the West Side of Chicago. The blue is a bright summer sky, the green the grass under foot.

Where the heel of this model would usually sport text reading “made in USA,” the back of Joe Freshgoods’ collaboration reads “made for us” in a nod to the people and experiences he wanted to celebrate with the project. He centers those people in his memorable video that introduced the sneakers in August, shooting the spot on his grandmother’s block in Chicago and working in a reference to New Balance’s importance to Black fashion in the DMV area. (Consider it the antithesis to that “SNL” skit from 2013 that lampooned New Balance as the signature shoe for “chubby white guys in their late 30s to early 40s.”) In doing so he gives New Balance a different kind of story and, in a year filled with banner collaborations for the brand, its best sneaker of 2021. — Brendan Dunne

Release Date: July 29

Price: $200

It’s hard to write anything about Travis Scott right now without a little bit of a dark cloud hanging over it. By now the fatal events that took place at the rapper’s Astroworld Festival in Houston are well-known and will likely be at the forefront of everyone’s minds for the foreseeable future when it comes to the artist. All that being said, it would be ignorant to dismiss the impact that Travis’ three-way collaboration with Hiroshi Fujiwara’s Fragment had on the sneaker world. 

Like all of the Cactus Jack frontman’s past sneaker collabs, hype was through the roof for the collection, this one featuring a High and a Low. On their own, Travis and Fujiwara have two of the most coveted Air Jordan 1 collabs, and now that they’ve joined forces, you’re looking at a top-5 sneaker of the year with ease. Signature reverse-Swooshes take center stage here, sitting on top of a familiar Fragment Design color palette. Finishing touches include trademark logo stamps on both heels with the Cactus Jack face on the left and a duo of lightning bolts on the right. Feel how you feel about Travis Scott right now, but don’t forget the impact that he’s had on the sneaker industry as a whole, and specifically in 2021. — Ben Felderstein 

Release Date: August 2

Price: $180

Nobody else but Virgil Abloh could have done this. No other collaborator has earned the trust of Nike to the extent that the brand would let them release 50 colorways of one shoe over the course of the month. Nobody else could have made it all make sense either, using the shoes’ colorways—the first of them in white, the pairs numbered 2 through 49 in varying degrees of grey, and the final one in black—to represent Abloh’s brand motto of “defining the gray area between black and white as the color Off-White.” Only the late Abloh could have mixed together those ideas at such an ambitious scale and pulled it off.

It would be dishonest to, in the wake of his passing in November, pretend as if these shoes were well received all along. From their first leak, there were complaints that a 50-sneaker collection was hyperbolic to the point of being obnoxious. But their rollout, through Nike’s exclusive access program on SNKRS, helped the shoes still feel elusive and special while not totally unobtainable. And in light of his death, the Dunks took on a new meaning, a sweet poignancy from a man who was intent on creating as much for the world as he possibly could in the limited time he had. — Brendan Dunne

Release Date: November 12

Price: $250

In what would end up being the final Off-White x Nike product to release prior to Virgil Abloh’s unexpected death, the prolific designer put his spin on the Air Jordan 2. Released in two colorways—a white, red, and black inspired by Michael Jordan’s original Chicago Bulls-themed pair and a new black and varsity royal makeup with golden accents—the shoes were intended to resemble artifacts pulled straight from Nike’s vault. That meant a pre-crumbled midsole construction (achieved through a first-of-its-kind process involving 3D scanning an original pair), a depiction of Jordan’s autograph adorned the pairs (intentionally placed on different panels of each pair, since MJ wouldn’t always sign them the same way), and apart from a few of Abloh’s signature touches like exposed foam and zip ties, the shoes were produced as close to the 1986 originals as possible. 

Via the Instagram comments of collector and Air Jordan 2 aficionado Sean Collard, Abloh spent a full weekend going back and forth with fans and detractors alike, breaking down the finer points of the vintage-informed design. In his messages, Abloh shed light on the challenges the brand faced in perfecting the slope of the toe box and creating the shoe’s unique midsole. “Spent four sample rounds on the toe box itself, it’s the toe box the 2 Low deserves for today’s eye,” he wrote. “Won’t mention how many sample rounds it took to get the injection sole right.”

What we’re left with is an Air Jordan 2 that looks like a work of art. It’s a special sneaker, one that Abloh was keen to peel back the curtain on, and it’s taken on a new weight following the Off-White designer’s passing. — Riley Jones

Release Date: April 28

Price: $200

Rarely is there such a consensus about a best sneaker of the year that holds its spot until the end of the calendar. That happened with A Ma Maniere’s Air Jordan 3, however, and we’ve been calling it all along. When word came that James Whitner, the owner of A Ma Maniere, got the chance to do his own retro Air Jordan, people had high expectations. Whitner’s had a long-standing friendship with Michael Jordan himself. And he’s become one of the most notable sneaker retailers in North America in recent years.

His Air Jordan 3, inspired by the first Jordans his mother bought him, was going to be something special. He opted for a white-based shoe inspired by Black women and the struggles they endure. The shoe was designed with women in mind, but created so it could be worn by anyone and made in inclusive sizing. The sneaker featured grey suede on the toe instead of elephant print, a pre-yellowed midsole, Nike Air on the back, the brand’s logo on the tongue, and a luxurious satin lining. It was luxury defined.

The sneaker released in a staggered way. Women got the first crack at the shoes. Then everyone else. The shop tried to weed out resellers. It felt fair. It was the polar opposite of the Trophy Room Jordan 1 fiasco. It was a moment where people felt like they won. And they got a good, no, a great shoe out of it. — Matt Welty