*EMERGENCY POST*: What is a Top 10 SOTY list without these ESSENTIAL sneakers?
I know we are living a lie.
I lied. Title of this blog is a misnomer. It’s not any essential list. It’s MY list, though. Which, to be fair, should be interesting to probably nobody *but* me. But if you’re here, either I duped you with the title or you are interested in seeing an authentic list. Even if it’s for little old me.
Last year, I *kind of* participated in that ‘sneakers of the year’ craze. I remember seeing Complex’ sneaker of the year - the Jordan IV x Union ‘Noir’ - and I remember thinking…how could the sneaker of the year be a 40-year-old sneaker that is available in nearly 130 different colorways? In the lord of our savior 2022, how basic are we that we are *still* relying on designs from the 80’s to drive the ‘fashion conscious’ sneakerhead forward? A travesty, really.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great colorway and composition on a classic shoe. But. Haven’t we already been here before? With all of the *new* (non-retro) stuff thats come out over the past year, we can’t find anything worthy of the title?
Silly enough, for my own pick for last years ‘Sneaker of the year’, I *also* went with a 35 year old silhouette…the Air Max 1 (from 1987). But, I justified it. Because I was able to get a few pairs through NFTs that I bought on the Ethereum blockchain. I wouldn’t say they were really the coolest looking shoe, nor the most original design (after 35 years), but the representation of sneakers on the blockchain is what I chose to focus on…a mix of the future with the past. Stupid choice? Who knows.
This year it felt like they were really laying it on thick. I must have seen 50 different ‘sneaker of the year’ lists and…I dunno…they just all seem so…generic. So I paid less attention this year than I did any previous year. Because. I’ve already spent too much of my time arguing with strangers on the internet back in the early 2000’s. It’s almost second nature for me to walk away from nearly any confrontation that exists on the internet (or in my comments). I just…when I’m arguing with my kid about why we don’t wear shorts in the snow….I just don’t have the the mental energy to spare on some generic list.
(An aside: At ComplexCon, I watched the ‘expert panel’ argue about the merits of one sneaker over another, and then I watched all these grown men shrink away from a pair of MSCHF’s ‘big red boots’ that was going around and I couldn’t help but think of how juvenile the whole scene was. Like...y’all are *scared* of touching a pair of shoes (boots) that the whole world pretty much went batshit for a few months ago? Say what you will about those boots - I said plenty - but if any of these sneaker media companies left the boots of their list they obviously aren’t actually paying attention to the sneaker world last year because, IMO, those were *THE* most important shoe of 2023.)
‘The Sneaker of the Year” argument is too vague and it’s too subjective. A more useful list might be something along the lines of ‘the most important sneakers of the year’ or ‘best new sneaker technology’, or ‘best signature NBA sneakers’ which give(s) us common language and much better platform to constructively engage from.
All of those disclaimers out there, I put together my own little ‘top 10’ list…something much less subjective and it only has to do with me…I’ve never really been one of those dudes that chases every new release, I usually just leave it up to the sneaker gods. Almost every *new release* I end up with comes to me a few months after release. So…naturally…I’m already behind on any time-sensitive ‘sneaker of the year’ list:
Sometimes I’m not positive I actually want to purchase something until I’ve seen it a few times…a lot of shoes just end up growing on me
I NEVER want to overpay for something that I can get for cheap with just a little bit of patience…
Professional (non-hobbyist) resellers have made it very difficult for me to get tied to anything
For me, the sneakers I enjoy are the ones that I can tell my own story around…the ones that have personal meaning to me. When it comes down to the favorite pairs in my collection, they’re almost always a mix of elusiveness, patience, persistence and they usually come at an alarmingly cheap price. So for that reason, this is my ‘Sneakers of the Year’ list: Here are *MY TOP 10 PICKUPS OF 2023*:
Nike Air SC Trainer 1 Sample - $37 (goodwill) - The only reason this pair made the list is cuz I sold it within 3 days of listing it for nearly 10x what I bought it for. And the proceeds from this pair likely funded the purchase of several of those higher on the list (lol)
Nike BRSB - Multiple pairs, avg. $50 (all over the place) - I only started looking at these a bit deeper when Sons (of sonsofblackmaria fame) and I began creating the checklist for the Dunky Dunks 2 card set (to be dropping via 1tostock here VERY soon) and I thought…’hey, these don’t look half bad.’ 4 pairs later and I' *love* this silhouette. I even somehow linked with the shoes designer brycewong on IG and didn’t even mean to.
Air Force 1 Low ‘NYC’ (KITH) - $60 (eBay) - I’ve been looking for a steal on (a version of) this pair for the better part of 20 years and finally clicked that ‘buy it now’ button this past year. It’s a great, classic, high quality pair that has (some) sentimentality to me.
New Balance 574 Legacy - $40 (local shop) - I’ve NEVER been a 574 guy, but when I saw the shape and quality on these 'Legacy’ pairs, I picked 2 of them up. An unexpected banger (for me).
Mizuno Wave Prophecy LS ‘Fisherman Pack’ - $40 (local shop) - I actually ended up with two pairs of these - the first I bought for $40, which I then sold on eBay to some guy in Portugal for some ridiculously high price…and when the shoes arrived in Portugal, he refused to pay the customs fees, so they *destroyed* the box in Portugal…and then he had the nerve to ask me for his money back. Huh? Anyway, with the proceeds of that pair, I ended up buying a pair in a different color for *much* cheaper and this shoe is a BANGER.
Nike Air Max Plus II - $90 (eBay) - As ridiculous as it sounds, I’ve been waiting for more than 20 years for a pair of AM Plus II’s (shoutout to all y’all who actually *read* the back of cards we been putting out). It’s been an elusive shoe for me, so when I saw a pair on eBay in a size I wasn’t too sure about, I still had to take the risk. Lucky enough, this particular colorway ran a bit big, so…win win?
Adidas x Alexander Wang ‘Runner’ - $55 (local) - Despite the fact that I sold the EXACT same pair of these on eBay for $217 earlier in the year, when I found a second pair a few weeks later I didn’t feel bad cutting the laces and giving them a shot.
Dizygotic ‘Cheech & Chong’ - $200 (eBay) - I lucked into the ‘Project Alpha’ pair at my local for a mere $40 (BRAND NEW), but after trying them on in the house I realized they were just too small. I searched far and wide for a slightly bigger pair on eBay but ended up coppin’ the cheapest pair I could find, which happened to be the Cheech and Chong pair. It didn’t disappoint.
Nike ACG Moc - $20 (local) - TBH these shoes are *super* ugly to me - they look like those canvas things that like every suburban dad in jeans has been wearing for the past couple of years - but they work perfectly as winter house shoes, which is what I’ve been using them for. They have a more natural fit than the original Moc’s and, at this point, I probably wear them more than 95% of my other shoes combined (because I work from home and they’re comfortable). So. There’s that.
Air Force 1 Mid ‘Off-White’ - $205 (GOAT) - if you’ve been following me on IG for the past 6 months or so, you might have caught me posting pics of the soles of these next to my apple watch showing how many miles I put in these (which I also tracked on a spreadsheet). I put in more than 100 miles on this pair of shoes and although bulky and heavy, is easily my top pickup of 2023. I was initially drawn to this silhouette as I’ve always been a fan of mids (AF1’s in particular) and couldn’t really see much I liked about the black and white pairs that dropped first. Some shoes get better with age and use, and IDGAF what any of y’all say - these look amazing after some wear (and, yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder). For those that asked - they feel like boots and they run about a half size big.
What about you? What’s does your SOTY list look like?