The 25 Best Sneaker Collaborations of 2013

A trip into Extra Butter's brick-and-mortar store will conjure up memories of going to the movies, and the New York shop was inspired by one of its favorite movies for its collaboration with ASICS, Kill Bill. The collection is still a work in progress, but it's titled "Deathlist 5," and two of the five sneakers have already dropped: A pair of Gel Lyte IIIs and Gel Sagas. The complete collection should drop by the end of the year, but the already-released sneakers were so good, they deserve recognition.

Nike's Air Max 93 hadn't seen the light of day since 2006, but British retailer size? brought the neglected Air Max sneaker back in a big way. Size? released several Air Max 93s this year, but the best ones were the first pack it dropped. If someone wasn't up on their Air Max 93 history, they'd swear that these were OG colorways, but grey suede with lime green and blue accents and tan suede with orange and pink accents can be appreciated by anyone, not just the most in-depth runner heads.

Don't be deceived by the name, Brooklyn Projects is located in Los Angeles. Nike SB collabs don't hold nearly as much weight as they used to, but the shop approached its Dunk Low with the idea or paying tribute to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The sneaker had a black safari print, with a red toebox, and a gold swoosh, and closely resembled the stars that line the sidewalk. The heels of the sneakers read, "Brooklyn Projects," and with shop owner Dom DeLuca's past as an MTV VJ, this design was appropriate.

It's fair to call Ronnie Fieg the master of the Gel Lyte III, and this year he was inspired by flamingos to make one of the year's best collabs. The sneaker isn't as loud as one would think, but was a statement in its own way through the use of subdued tones. Throw in Fieg's collaboration with BWGH on gear for the sneaker, and that's why this sneaker holds weight.

Saucony's Shadow Master doesn't get as much love as it should with collaborations, but Scotland's Hanon Shop takes a unique approach to being a sneaker boutique, and prides itself in executing rarer concepts. Its work with the sneaker resulted in "The Shadow Runner," a mostly-suede pair of sneakers that flaunted a purple, blue, and black upper, and had U.S. heads banging their skulls just trying to cop a pair. This, however, was one of the more low-key releases of the year, but it was limited and done correctly.

Not often are sneakers inspired by the fine arts, but Brooklyn We Go Hard--it's actually a French brand--took cues from Mark Rothko's painting for its collaboration with Puma. The result was a work of art: Soft suede, a two-tone sneaker, and a release near the holiday season made the brand's foray into running sneakers exceptional.

Not all sneaker nuts are the ones that are camping out for Air Jordan releases, some fiends are the ones who research back catalogues and think of clever ways to remix a sneaker while keeping it in line with its original concept. England's Crooked Tongues are those sort of drooling-over-sneakers heads, and the shop's work on the Reebok Classic Leather was anything but conservative. The folks at CT gave the sneaker a snakeskin upper, gum sole, and French terry liner. Those are qualities to cause a lineup and sneaker riot.

Sole Collector understands sneakers. The publication has been holding down sneaker enthusiasts with vital knowledge and knows how to take inspiration from the sports world and apply it to its favorite sneakers. The Nike Air Zoom Flight 98--affectionately known as "The Glove" because of Gary Payton--came back this year, and Sole Collector felt it was appropriate to pay tribute to the city where Payton played, Seattle. The Seattle Supersonics have become the Oklahoma City Thunder, but fans of '90s basketball remember Payton playing lockdown defense and talking shit. The green shroud on the Sole Collector Gloves goes perfectly with a Payton throwback, and the white mesh upper has lime green stripes. But the best part of the sneaker might be that it actually is done-up as a Gary Payton PE.

Next-level sneakers aren't for everyone, but it often takes forward-thinking brands, like Japan's Engineered Garments, to create concepts that are foreign to the sneaker world. Sometimes, brands do mismatch sneakers, but EG decided to use mismatch materials. It took Vans Slip-Ons and gave one sneaker a smooth leather finish, but the other sneaker had hairy suede. It sounds like a challenging style move, but this is a style risk worth taking.

Japanese streetwear brand Mastermind released its final collection for spring/summer 2013, but it still had one of the biggest sneaker collaborations of the year. Mastermind gave the Superstar, Rivalry Hi, Gazelle, and Pro Model CF mostly-black color schemes, and its infamous skull and bones logo. It sucks to see Mastermind fade into the annals of streetwear brands that no longer exist, but it surely went out with a bang.

Ronnie Fieg often takes trips down to Miami, but he's New York City to the core. He represented both of these inspirations in the East Coast Pack. Fieg designed two pairs of Gel Lyte IIIs--the sneaker that helped build his rep as a collaborator--that weren't just the same sneaker in two different color make-ups, but the Miami version had a mesh toe, while the New York pair, that took cues from the Mets and Knicks, was done with a suede toebox. Each pair was appropriate for the weather each city faces.

CLOT went into uncharted territory when it designed a pair of see-through Nike Air Max 1s in 2006. It's seven years later, and CLOT is still making dope Air Max 1s. Instead of making these sneakers transparent, they had an icy sole with an image of a foot, similar to the first Air Max 1 release, and almost see-through mesh toebox. The white, black, and green color scheme was clean, but the gold was in the sneaker's details, and thats why it worked so well.

BAPE is known for its sneakers, but it doesn't do sneaker collaborations left and right anymore. It picks the right brands and products to work with. This year, a mega collab between BAPE, Undefeated, and adidas went down. Adidas' Consortium series always brings about quality product, and camo-print Campuses and ZX 5000s were more than willing to take on the military-inspired motif.

Concepts started as a lifestyle section of The Tannery, a premium footwear store in Cambridge, Mass. that opened 30 years ago. The Tannery isn't doing sneaker collaborations, but Concepts commemorated three decades of the shop with a New Balance 998 minty green suede upper and an orange suede tongue. It's a color combination that's not seen too often on sneakers, and that's why this collaboration was special. The sneakers also told the story of Concepts, and educated sneaker fans on one of the OGs in the footwear game.

Tokyo's atmos took camouflage to another level with its very limited Air Max 1s. Tiger stripe camo was placed along the sneaker's toe and upper, and a snakeskin printed joined the pattern to make it even more deadly. These kicks were almost impossible to track down in the U.S., but atmos, who has done amazing work with the Air Max 1, had people searching for runners that usually find themselves sporting basketball sneakers, because this collaboration was that good.

Floral prints have come back in a major way, and Supreme is a brand that loves to connect cultural relevance to the pieces it designs. The New York brand's collaboration with Vans for its spring/summer 2013 collection, titled "Power, Corruption, and Lies," wasn't just any flowery print. Supreme decided to again work with Peter Saville who designed the original artwork for New Order's sophomore album. When the print was placed on Sk8-His, Eras, and Chukkas, it was given new life, and proved that Supreme is still a master of sneaker collaborations.

Palace hadn't done a sneaker collaboration until 2013, but its first collaboration was with Reebok--a brand that means a lot to the street culture that Palace is deeply entrenched in. The brand carefully picks and chooses who it works with, and the Workout Lows that it put its touch on were ever so slightly altered by Palace. They featured the shop's logo on the tongue and laces, but were the perfect sneakers for someone who wants sneakers that function for both skating and chilling. Palace succeeds because it's a legit skate brand that makes clothes that appeal to London streetwear, but its sneakers with Reebok--gum sole and all--were appreciated by people across the globe.

Whose more OG, Ice-T or Vans? It depends on what the question is, but both are certified West Coast legends, and worked on the dopest pair of Sk8 His together this year. With "Rhyme Syndicate" across the tongue, this collab was given a black and white color scheme, and was as cold as Ice-T's raps. Throw "Ice-T" on the side and "O.G." on the heels, and this sneaker screams, "West Coast."

It's not often that how a sneaker is color blocked redefines its silhouette, but the good folks over at Sneaker Freaker were able to complete this task with their New Balance 998 "Tassie Devil." It was in a simple, effective color scheme: purple, black, and white, but it doesn't look like any other 998 on the market. It also paid tribute to a critter that resides in Sneaker Freaker's home, Australia, the Tasmanian Devil. The sneaker's feature the devil's jagged teeth on the front of the midsole, and was arguably the best New Balance collaboration of 2013.

A$AP Rocky and Jeremy Scott have been friends for some time, and both share a love for style and hip-hop, and 2013 was the first time they got the chance to work together. Instead of doing a clothing collection together, A$AP Rocky was given the chance to design a Scott's JS Wings 2.0 sneakers for adidas Originals. The all-black sneakers rang true to Rocky's personal aesthetic, and featured sewn-in stars and stripes--much like he donned on the cover of his debut album, Live. Love. A$AP.

Allen Iverson's Reebok Question Mid could definitely tell a story, but Sweden's Sneakersnstuff gave the signature sneaker a buttery suede do-over and took cues from Seinfeld, and called it "A Shoe About Nothing." But these sneakers were about everything. They had a maroon and teal upper, and showed that classic sneakers can be given crazy color schemes and still be done tastefully.

Black was insane this year for sneaker releases. So many sneakers released, but the cream of them all was Ronnie Fieg's New Balance 1600 for his shop, Kith, called the "Daytona." Inspired by trips to Daytona Beach as a kid, Fieg gave the sneaker a color scheme that reminded him of the beach and boardwalk. A buttery blue suede toebox was complemented by a sandy upper with pink hits. Luckily, this collaboration also dropped overseas, and gave people a chance to buy them outside of the craziest retail day of the year.

Berlin, Germany's Solebox doesn't only collaborate on running sneakers, but when it does, it breaks the Internet and makes heads get their proxies in order. This year, Solebox worked with Saucony on two pairs of Shadow 5000s. Plenty of boutiques worked on Saucony sneakers this year, but Solebox perhaps did the fewest alterations to the Shadow 5000s, and that's why they were so good. The two-sneaker pack featured sneakers that were mostly-black with a little bit of white and either pops of orange or green. Sometimes, it's what taken a way from a sneaker--instead of added--that makes it better. Solebox proved this notion, and further upped its rep as a sneaker boutique.

Nike would be pissed if the brand didn't have Kobe or LeBron on its roster, but Packer Shoes took the liberty of imagining PEs for both of the NBA stars--who both wore Reeboks at moments in their careers--and released two pairs of Question Mids that were "For Players Use Only." Kobe's pair was done-up in a Lakers color scheme, but LeBron's shoe took it back to his school days at St. Vincent St. Mary. with a green suede toe, his initials, and his number on the sneakers.

The new $100 bill caused excitement amongst those who were supposed to spending regular Greenbacks. The multi-colored bill--that had hues of blues, browns, and tans--was used by Cambridge, Massachusetts's Concepts for its take on the New Balance 998. The sneakers were Made in USA, and applied a color scheme that was worth the money. The sneaker's midsole looked yellowed, but the tan upper and hints of brown and blue made the "C-Note' a sneaker that excited fans of limited sneakers, but also anyone who digs a thoughtfully conceived idea.