The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 229 — 📈 The 5 best (and worst!) sneakers of 2022...so far
Let's rank some sneakers, y'all!
Gooooood morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Hope you had an awesome weekend!
I got to kick it with some family, celebrate my fiancé’s birthday and watch my brother graduate high school. Feeling incredibly blessed today, y’all. Let’s keep the good vibes rolling.
Let’s jump in.
The 5 best sneakers of 2022 so far
Don’t look now, y’all, but we’re officially halfway through 2022 and I have no idea where the time has gone. But since we’re halfway through, I think it’s a good time to take stock of where we’re at in the sneaker pipeline so far.
So I decided to rank some stuff. What follows are my five favorite sneaker releases from 2022 so far. Before we jump in, some notes:
There’s no algorithm or script to this. A lot goes into consideration — from aesthetics to how the release went to public perception and more.
This is also just my opinion. I’d rather it not be too scientific at this point. Chances are some of y’all will hate some of these shoes and that’s OK. Your list is probably just as good as mine. Feel free to share it!
So without further ado…
The list:
Nike x CNCPTS Air Max 1: Y’all already knew these joints would be No. 1 here. One of the most aesthetically pleasing sneakers of the year with a solid story and lots of creativity. Loved it. The Mellow pair might be the best from the pack.
Air Jordan 1 Georgetown Hi ‘85: Anytime you drop an OG 1985 model of an Air Jordan 1 it’s going to do numbers. This might be the freshest shoe of 2022. Honestly, you don’t hear too much about it in sneaker of the year conversations but it’ll absolutely be there by the end of the year. It’s that good.
Treeline Air Max 1: These are really the Skunk Air Max 1s. I won’t accept them as anything else. What a fantastic GR from Nike, man. And it’s super attainable — there are consistent restocks and you can cop on the aftermarket for just about $30 over retail. Not bad. Not bad at all.
JFG x New Balance Inside Voices 90/60: If it weren’t for all those cancellations, this would be No. 1 for me. The design is so unique and the colors make it pop even more. They’re just beautiful sneakers. The release wasn’t a complete disaster — some folks were able to get pairs. That’s why it still made the top 5.
Conversations Amongst Us 550/2002r: Back to back for Joe FreshGoods here. Simple shoes, but the storytelling here was A1 with an extremely solid release. That’s a winning equation. These are also technically GRs for new balance, which is incredible considering the quality of them.
So that’s the best of the best for me. Now, here’s the worst of the worst.
The 5 worst sneakers of 2022 so far
Alright, so these are the five worst sneakers in 2022 for me. Let me give my disclaimers now before y’all come to jump me.
Just because these sneakers are on this list doesn’t mean they’re bad. They just aren’t for me. And I have my reasons, which I will explain. Mostly through jokes.
Some of these sneakers are actually good. And I actually like them, too! Well, some of them, anyway.
These are all totally debatable choices. I cannot stress that enough.
The list:
Nike x NOCTA Hot Step Air Terra: Yo WHAT was Drake thinking with these? Like, if he wanted to collab with K Swiss he should’ve just said that. YG did it. You don’t think they’d have gotten it popping with Drake? Tuh.
Balenciaga x Adidas Triple S: These are dropping almost five years too late and now they look like horse hooves instead of sneakers. And they cost entirely too much money. Do I know the price off top? No. But I know it’s too high.
Air Jordan 3 “Muslin”: This sneaker is mostly here because folks kept calling it the “poor man’s A Ma Maniere 3” and I just know the poor man is somewhere incredibly offended right now because no. The canvas material feels so cheap. There’s no way I’d rock this unless I found a way to customize it well.
Nike x Off-White Blazers: This is one of those that I actually like. But, also, like…they look like Swiss cheese. Even I have to admit that. It’s definitely a step below what we’re used to coming from Off-White.
Union LA Air Jordan 2: These shoes are not bad. They’re actually good. Really good. The release was just SO terrible that they had to land here. Union really had folks’ money hostage for weeks. They deserve this spot.
Honorable mention here goes out to Balenciaga with their dystopian-core Converse-looking sneakers. They were so shitty I didn’t feel it’d be right to put them on this list.
To me, they deserve a place of their own. It’s called the trash can.
An SB Jordan 4?!? Sign me the up
Jordan Brand and Nike SB collabs have always been pretty phenomenal. There’s quite a bit of history there between the two sides, so there’s a natural synergy that helps with a lot of these projects.
The Jordan 1 was a shoe skaters adopted into their culture back in the day after it landed on clearance racks.
It isn’t quite skated in as much today, but we’ve seen AJ1 and Nike SB collabs work really well. The Lance Mountain joints, the NY to Paris and LA to Chicago. I’ll even throw in the Nigel Sylvester 1s. The list goes on.
What’s new: Apparently now, though, there’s a Jordan 4 on the way, per Nice Kicks. It’s reportedly coming in 2023.
This is an interesting intersection: The Jordan 4 isn’t really a sneaker you’d associate with skateboarding. At least not off the top of your head. But it’s definitely something that could be interesting if executed well.
I’m looking forward to this one.
The hate was strong for this episode of Special Delivery
We finally had a sneaker on Special Delivery that I didn’t really like. The only problem was it wasn’t a sneaker — it was a clog.
We unboxed Salehe Bembury’s Crocs and it was my worst nightmare. Crocs are really taking over, y’all. And, I’m sure, some of you are totally here for it.
Some advice: If y’all are getting these, go a full size down. They’re very roomy. But, also, just stop wearing Crocs.
What’s droppin, bruh?
Kasina x Nike Air Max 1 “Won-Ang” — Wednesday, June 8
Air Max 95 “Cobblestone” — Wednesday, June 8
Yeezy Foam Runner “Onyx” —Wednesday, June 8
Tom Sachs General Purpose Shoe — Friday, June 10
Hello Kitty x Air Presto — Friday, June 10
Thanks so much for rocking, y’all! Appreciate you. Y’all are the best. Hope you have an incredible week.
Let’s chat again Wednesday. Til then, peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯
A list of best and worst without pictures of each shoe is a tough way to do it. I don't have an encyclopedic memory of each release so I guess I'll just take your word for it that the ones you liked were good. (yes I know I could look each one up individually on the internet, but I'm not going to)
That’s a shame about the AJ3 muslin bc they looked great in photos.