It may not move at quite the same speed as fast fashion, but sneaker design certainly isn’t static. New styles appear every week thanks to drop culture that runs like clockwork, keeping sneakerheads in a perma-frenzy and sneaker brands in a healthy profit. In that melee, sneaker trends bubble up and pop back into oblivion. The trick, as ever, is knowing which ones to adopt.
Below, we explain some of this year’s biggest new sneaker trends, and macro trends that aren’t going anywhere just yet. From outdoor-inspired kicks to some surprise comebacks, here’s what you need to know.
Heirs to an Original
Adidas Sambas have been on a very good run. For the past few years, they’ve dominated the low-key sneaker corner for men and women alike, offering the perfect blend of casual comfort and throwback, low-profile design. But now there’s a sense that their time in the spotlight is ending, not least because they’ve been spotted on the feet of politicians, who – let’s be honest – don’t often appear in street-style galleries on Instagram.
So what’s going to replace them? There’s still plenty of gum-soled goodness from other Adidas Originals models like the Gazelle and Speziale. If you’ve had enough of the three stripes, though, Nike’s Killshot 2, Puma’s Palermo and Onitsuka Tiger’s Mexico 66 are all good options.
Fifty Shades of Beige
Are white sneakers out of fashion? God, no. We can’t imagine a time when they will be. But this year, we’ve definitely seen a larger number of off-white options on the market. The palette is earthy: creams, browns and olive greens that are a little easier on the retina than a pair of boxfresh white trainers.
You’ll find the colour trend splashed across minimalist sneakers as well as throwback athletic shoes and trail shoes. So you can essentially feed it into any look, but it works particularly well with outdoorsy get-ups and Cos-style floaty minimalism.
Walking on Clouds
Chunky trainers have been in fashion in one way or another for at least 30 years. This year’s iteration comes from tech-forward disruptor brands like On Running and Hoka One One. Their heavily cushioned, cloud-like designs are a dream to wear and, like hiking and trail-running shoes, they’re easy to slot into a casual look.
We’re increasingly seeing them entangled with streetwear, while the brands are also savvy enough to offer minimalist colourways that appeal to more pared-back dressers. Hard to see how you can start wearing these and then go back to anything else.
All Net
Gum soles have been everywhere for the last couple of years, but we’re starting to notice another throwback design element in more and more retro-leaning sneaker trends. Mesh panels feel like a time portal back to sneakers of the 1980s and 1990s, and at least a few of newer models pay direct tribute to that era.
The Mac Attack QS from Nike is close to a reissue of a shoe John McEnroe wore on court. Then there’s the 9060 from New Balance, recalling running shoes of the early 90s and the birth of the dad shoe.
And like all good dad shoes, mesh-panel sneakers benefit from added flex and ventilation in the upper, making them a great option for a comfortable summer sneaker.
Take A Hike
It’s been a few years since fashion’s fixation with the great outdoors did the unthinkable, making practicality and comfort cool. With many of us being forced outside to socialise and into our homes to work, the blend of functionality, cosiness and style offered by outdoor-inspired garb has never been more relevant.
The popularity of trail runners continues even if trail running itself remains something of a niche pursuit. Salomon’s XT6 has been the standard bearer of this trend, born to tackle mountainside dirt tracks but forced to make do with the tarmac outside trendy coffee shops. But they’re now approaching a similar saturation point to Sambas.
So, if you’re looking for alternatives, may we recommend you start with the Grid Peak from Saucony, the Cloudventure from On, Nike’s Air Humara or Mountain Fly 2 and La Sportiva’s TX4.
Basketball Classics
Dunk-mania has dominated the sneaker world for about five years: we lost count of how many times a limited-release Dunk SB dropped, but other models are muscling their way around the court, too. Jordan’s ever-revolving roster of shoes has included eye-catching throwback versions of the Air Jordan 1 and 4 models.
There are also basketball shoes bearing the names of contemporary heroes like Steph Curry, LeBron James and Luka Doncic. Check out the Jordan Luka 2 for a modern silhouette that could work with any number of looks. Or, beyond the court, Travis Scott’s version of the Jordan Jumpman comes with the rapper’s trademark reverse swoosh, which appears on most of his Nike mash-ups.
Skate Shoe Resurgence
For better or worse, oversized skate shoes were all the rage in the early 2000s. Puffy tongues, bulky silhouettes and excessive detail were inescapable until around 2005, and once they’d fizzled out, everyone was pretty confident that they wouldn’t be returning. But if the 2020s has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected – skate shoes included.
The first real sign came a few years back when A$AP Rocky paid homage to the Osiris D3 (the king of puffy 2000s skate shoes) via a collaboration with Under Armour. More recently, Nike’s SB Dunk Low has become one of the It Shoes of the past few years. DC shoes have done collabs with the likes of Needles and London-based skater and streetwear scenester Lucien Clarke. We’ve also seen Converse push its 90s skate icon the One Star with a blaze of new colours and collabs.
Eco-Friendly Kicks
It’s no secret that the fashion industry takes a heavy toll on the environment. From factories billowing out greenhouse gases to fast-fashion offcasts piling up in landfills, it all adds up. Notoriously hard to recycle, sneakers (and the drop culture that sees new models land every week) are part of the problem.
Perhaps that’s why more and more brands are looking for ways to reduce their environmental impact and create sneakers that put sustainability front and centre. New labels like Waes are making great-looking, fully compostable sneakers to be kinder to the planet, while even big names like Nike and Adidas are experimenting increasingly with recycled fibres.
A small step, sure, but it’s one in the right direction.
More Minimalism
Fashion’s cyclical nature usually means that whatever is going on at any given time is a response to what went before it. For many years minimalism had ruled supreme, so things were bound to begin moving in the opposite direction at some point.
However, rather than being cast into obscurity, minimalist footwear has earned a place in the sneaker history books. Simple white trainers are now a bona-fide men’s style classic and their enduring popularity proves they won’t be going away any time soon.
Common Projects’ Achilles model is still widely considered the pinnacle, but everyone from sportswear giants to Northamptonshire shoemakers to up-and-coming independent labels is now producing their own take on the silhouette. Buy whatever takes your fancy—you really can’t go wrong with a plain white kick.
But More Maximalism, Too
Accuse us of hypocrisy if you like, but one of the weird quirks of fashion these days is that you can have two trends – polar opposites of one another – enjoying the limelight at the same time. So yes, minimalist kicks are still everywhere. But in response, we’re also seeing more maximalist sneakers that revel in how dementedly overdesigned they are.
Check out the Salehe Bembury x New Balance 1906R ‘Lava’, with its red, orange and yellow uppers. Or streetwear label Clot’s take on the Adidas Superstar, which comes with huge soles and a loafer-style tassel on the front.
For something more everyday, browse the latest Air Max collections, which feature crazy upper design as standard and loads of look-at-me colourways.
Retro Runners
With all that tech being churned out by sportswear’s heavy hitters, sometimes it’s nice to return to basics. Retro suede runners are big news this year and make the perfect accompaniment to anything from a tailored tracksuit to raw selvedge denim.
These throwback kicks often feature vivid block colours, which can be a great way to introduce a splash of vibrancy to even the most pared-back outfits. Plus, they’re seriously comfortable, which is always a welcome bonus.
The best designs can be found at heritage brands like New Balance, Asics and Novesta.
More High-Fashion Collabs
Collaborations are nothing new in the world of footwear. In fact, they’re about as old as sneaker culture itself. These days, however, they’re becoming more important than ever before as a tool for reintroducing consumers to forgotten silhouettes and shaping brand image.
All of the biggest sneaker releases in recent memory have been collaborative, and recently high-fashion labels have been getting involved, too. The Nike x Sacai LDWaffle, Air Jordan x Dior Jordan 1 and Adidas x Prada Superstar have been some of the most talked about shoes ever released, crystallising the cross-pollination of streetwear and haute couture.
These types of sneakers are a perfect metaphor for what’s been happening in the industry over recent years; urban style and runway fashion are coming together in trainer form, and if the last 12 months are anything to go by, it only looks set to continue. Just check out Bode’s collab with Nike, New Balance’s ongoing hook-up with Aime Leon Dore or Asics getting into bed with streetwear labels like Kith and Hidden NY.
