best-sneakers-2018-so-far
The first half of 2018 has been filled with sneaker releases, including shoes from New Balance, Nike and LeBron James, Adidas and Kanye West, Air Jordan and Virgil Abloh. What was the best sneaker to release so far? And will it be the best at the end of the year? Only time will tell.

7. Travis Scott x Air Jordan IV

Image via Nike

Every rapper has their own sneaker these days. Some are really good. Some are fucking awful. The partnership only makes sense when it’s done with a shoe that the artist would proudly wear without an endorsement check attached to it. When Travis Scott received his own Air Jordan IV this year, it was like a dream come true for fans of Scott and Jordan Heads alike. Toss into the mix the fact that the shoe was inspired by the Houston Oilers, Scott’s O.G. hometown team, and it made even more sense. Even without that backstory, the light blue, red, and black sneakers looked great on their own.

6. Levi's x Air Jordan IV
Image via Flight Club

It’s hard to beat a good Air Jordan IV. What if it’s not an O.G. colorway, though? Doesn’t matter, at least if it’s as good as the collaboration between Levi’s and Jordan Brand this year. Following up on their project on the Air Jordan 1 mid in 2008, the two cherished American brands got together for a much better shoe than their previous effort. The Air Jordan IV wrapped in raw denim, complete with a leather tongue tag and a red tab on the upper. It was the sort of thing that even non-Jordan heads could get into. The more you wear them, too, the better they look. Some people went out of their way to destroy them with bleach, paint, and knives. We say do it the old-fashioned way: by wearing them into the ground.

5. Comme des Garcons x Nike Air 180

Image via Nike

The Nike Air 180 isn’t one of the more famous sneakers in the Air Max line, although it should be. It hasn’t been re-released in 1,000 different colorways. You can’t walk into Foot Locker and buy them year round. But there they are sitting pretty high on our best list. Thanks to Comme des Garcons, the 180 was released in three colorways that all featured varying levels of pink. Not only did the CDG name up the shoe’s profile, but it did so for the price, too. They retailed for $260, literally double the shoe’s standard retail price, but people didn’t mind. They bought them anyway. Sometimes it takes the right brand to reinterpret an offbeat shoe to create something great, and that’s exactly what CDG was able to accomplish.

4. Off-White x Air Jordan 1

Image via Nike

The best sneaker of 2017 was easily the Off-White x Air Jordan 1 (although some might give that honor to Virgil Abloh’s Presto). Following that trend, one of the better sneakers of this year was another colorway of the same shoe. Kind of boring choice, we know. But it’s hard to deny Abloh’s success with Nike in the sneaker game over the past few years. It was also cool to see him do a Euro-exclusive release—a place where Jordan Brand historically has struggled—on the literally off-white pair and have them become more sought-after than the ones that are inspired by Michael Jordan’s alma mater, the University of North Carolina. Any way you shake it, Virgl x Nike is still a big deal, and these sneakers are the biggest deal out of the bunch.

3. Adidas Yeezy Boost 700 Waverunner

Image via Adidas

Some are going to say: The Waverunner first released in 2017, why are they on this list? Well, because they saw their official, broad release in 2018. And that’s why they’re on here. Chances are that if you got a pair it was this year, so quiet down, sneaker nerds. This is Kanye West’s first full-on, chunky dad shoe. It has encapsulated foam, a thick sole, and bright colors and layers on the suede and mesh upper. Ahh, sounds lovely, doesn’t it? It quickly drew comparisons to ’90s running sneakers. And there’s a reason for that. If you know, you know. It’s also the most requested Adidas sneaker of all-time, at least according to Kanye West. The $300 price tag was steep, but everyone who’s gotten them says they were worth the money. Yes, that’s a proven statistic.

2. Air Jordan III "Black/Cement"

Image via Flight Club

It will cause a literal fight—or at least it would be awesome if it did—if you ask what’s the better Air Jordan: the 1 or the III? There weren’t any mind-blowing Air Jordan 1s released this year, so we’re going to talk about the III for a minute. The grail of all grails. The Air Jordan III “Black/Cement.” It’s been a certified classic since Michael Jordan wore them in the 1988 All-Star Game, and 30 years later they’re back in their purest form. Nike Air on the back. Tumbled leather. Cement print on the toe. They’re great and Jordan Brand made 1 trillion of them (that’s an actual count). Everyone in the streets was wearing them, to the point where it became ridiculous. Sometimes when something is that good, you have to let it rock.

1. Sean Wotherspoon x Nike Air Max 1/97

Image via Nike

No matter what you think of Sean Wotherspoon or his business, Round Two, it’s hard to deny that he made the most popular sneaker this year (so far). Inspired by vintage Nike hats from the ’80s, Wotherspoon’s Nike Air Max 1/97 had the upper of the Air Max 97 in a rainbow of different shades of corduroy, complemented with an Air Max 97 sole. It won last year’s Vote Forward competition for Air Max Day and came out this year in larger numbers after a very, very limited release in 2017. There were a lot of activations around this shoe: Wotherspoon himself drove around in a van that was painted like the sneaker and released pairs at special locations. There are a handful of negative things I could say about the sneaker and the collaboration, but when LeBron James himself is wearing the sneakers, you know you created the right shoe. It’s going to be interesting to see if Nike is going to continue to give sneakers to resellers and if this is a genre-breaking collaboration. Only time will tell, but the first release was a success.

Read More Here

7936068257?profile=original

Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

Prince Malachi is the founder of The Oracle Network and the Streetwear brand Y.A.H. Apparel

You need to be a member of The Oracle Mag to add comments!

Join The Oracle Mag