6 Things We Want to See From the Sneaker World in 2019

It seems as if every year, people proclaim the past year as the worst year ever, and 2018 was no exception for some. But it’s now 2019 and we can all shut up about the past and look forward to the year ahead. For sneaker enthusiasts that means looking forward to a few things and leave others in the past. Yeezy basketball sneakers. Dad Shoes. Something new and exciting from Adidas and more.

Here’s a list of what the perfect sneaker world looks like in 2019.

In 2014, Nike designers Denis Dekovic, Marc Dolce, and Mark Miner left the brand to go work at Adidas. The trio’s departure led to a $10 million lawsuit from the Swoosh, which accused the group of stealing the brand’s trade secrets. This legal snafu meant that Dekovic, Dolce, and Miner had to wait to actually get started at the Three Stripes, a delay which lasted until March of 2016, when they began work at the Adidas Brooklyn Creator Farm. We’d love to tell you about all the amazing product that they’ve delivered in the nearly-three-years since, but truth be told, there isn’t a whole lot to talk about—and things haven't exactly been improving for Adidas in recent times. There are a few interesting shoes like the recently released N3xt L3v3l basketball model, which was created in collaboration with the Brooklyn Creator Farm, but as interesting as it is, it doesn’t feel like the product of years worth of waiting. In 2019, we want to see Adidas take advantage of these acquisitions and for the trio really wow us.

2018 was the "Year of the Dad Shoe," where consumers started to ditch their thin sock shoes for chunky, thick-soled sneakers that their father would use to mow the lawn. It started with people wearing the New Balance 990, then it descended into the Nike Monarch becoming ironically popular with the youth, and went over the top with Balenciaga’s Triple S, then every other brand made some interpretation of this concept. It got to the point where people were wearing shoes that were never cool, and that’s where it started to go off the rails. Every fashion brand made their own version of a dad shoe, and if there’s one thing we know: There’s nothing more uncool than high-fashion labels making sneakers and charging north of $1,000 for them. Even Kanye West’s Yeezy line has turned into all dad shoes. We don’t want dad shoes and we don’t want sock shoes. There has to be a happy medium, right?

Nike released the Mag, best known as the auto-lacing sneaker from Back to the Future Part 2, for the first time in 2011. Although it lacked the ability to lace itself, it was a major moment for the sneaker world, and came along with the promise that a functional model would drop further down the road—which it did, five years later in 2016—albeit in extremely limited quantities. Nike expanded on the concept that same year with the Hyperadapt 1.0. Priced at $720, it was expensive, and the hype has fallen so flat on the model since that it’s now selling for well under retail on the resale market. A basketball model, first teased by Tinker Hatfield in 2017, is set to be introduced soon. Priced at $350, it will be the most affordable version yet, and it’s finally time all those years of development that Nike has invested into auto lacing to come to fruition on a wider scale. The future is here, but will it actually improve the way we put on our shoes, or is it just an expensive gimmick? It will need to be the former for it to truly matter.

Unsurprisingly, bots continued to plague the sneaker community in 2018. Whether it was another hyped-up Off-White drop, or Concept’s latest “Lobster” Dunk, there were numerous instances of releases gone awry thanks to automated software. During the course of the year, steps were taken to combat the problem including exclusive drops on platforms such as Frenzy, Nike’s SNKRS Stash, raffles, and more. But one of the easiest—and most rewarding—ways to stick it to bots was to elevate the IRL shopping experience. Retailers went out of their way to create unique concepts this year, from Diamond Supply Co.’s Dunk drop in Los Angeles to Kentucky boutique Oneness’ decision to make customers wear their “Not for Resale” Jordan 1s straight out of the store. These events are not only great ways to make sure the product ends up in the hands of people who really want it, but it turns an otherwise mundane release into a memorable experience for shoppers and staff alike.

Say what you want about Kanye West, but the man knows how to make a damn good sneaker. And people still care about them. He’s said for years that he wants people in the NBA to wear his sneakers, and it looks like it’s finally going to become a reality. We saw the first Yeezy basketball sneaker in 2018, and there were rumors that the NBA may ban the shoe due its excessive use of 3M. Those claims haven’t been substantiated. Only time will tell if Yeezy will hit the hardwood in 2019, but with Nike leveraging Jerry Lorenzo to make a Fear of God hoop shoe, it doesn’t seem farfetched to think that Adidas wants to do something similar.

Virgil Abloh’s “The Ten” collaboration with Nike was, without much debate, the sneaker event of 2017. It also dominated much of the discussion in 2018. The problem is that it’s 2019 now, and it started to feel old about six months ago. There’s good news though—Abloh recently alluded to that particular project coming to a conclusion, and it still feels like there’s a lot left in the tank for the partnership. We want more from Abloh and Nike, just something new. Whether it’s remixing different models such as the Air Jordan 3 or Pegasus Turbo in his signature style, flipping “The Ten” models in a new way, or even venturing into his own shapes à la Jerry Lorenzo, there are quite a few possibilities for the collab to carry on.