Are Shoe Collaborations Dying?
The decline of popularity of shoe collaborations
Shoe collaborations have been an integral part of the growth of sneaker culture, playing an integral part in throwing sneakers into the fashion mainstream. Ever since people started caring about the running shoe on their feet brands have been doing creative collabs to keep us stepping into our favourite kicks. This has come in many forms, with brands such as Supreme being the first to ever do a collab with Nikes Dunks, releasing the Dunk “Black Cements”, which have become sneaker royalty. In turn they boosted the popularity of the Dunks as well, nowadays you can’t go 100 metres without seeing a Dunk somewhere.
There are plenty of other examples of this, I think the most important in modern history being “The Ten” by Virgil Abloh and Nike. “The Ten” changed what it meant to be a sneaker collab, releasing right at Off-Whites peak in popularity, these ten shoes were unique in what they did with the models. They were not simply cool colourways or maybe a new logo. On the contrary they were generally white or black or an already established colourway but had been Ablohfied. He kept the changes to a minimum, yet created something brand new, giving each shoe a postmodern look to them. Taking popular models and even one of Nike’s most iconic shoes he used his 3% rule to distinguish these designs into something new.
These shoes were pivotal in Nike establishing themselves as the top shoe brand. Yes, Nike has been massive for as long as I have been alive but at this point in time Adidas had been catching up. The ultraboosts were one of the most popular shoes I’ve ever really seen, Nike was flailing to catch up. This collab changed that, suddenly everyone I knew was talking about it. People who had worn Gazelles all their life were downloading Stock X to find a pair of Chicago 1’s (to sadly find they had to sell their phone to afford them). Within a year most people I knew had gone from Ultra Boosts or Air Force 1’s to Jordan 1’s, which had specifically gained the most from the collaboration, being the clear centre piece of it all.
I’m saying all of this not just to reminisce of what was, but to highlight the impact a creative shoe collaboration can have on a brand and just one what people are wearing without us realising it. Thats why it is sad to see that this creativity is dying. Less actual creatives, or designers are being used for shoe collaborations, instead we are getting hordes of people from outside the design space getting involved in sneaker collabs.
The worst culprit of this is Drake. Drake has had many sneaker collabs and now even has his own shoe, the Nike Hot Step 2 X NOCTA. You might like this shoe, it isn’t horrendous looking, but the design choices are so lazy its hard to not yawn at them. The latest release of this collaboration is a yellow colourway. What does the colour yellow remind you of? Bananas? They’re yellow I guess. Well if you saw some bananas would you think of the NOCTA’s? Drake thinks you would because the marketing for this shoe has been putting NOCTA on banana stands???
This is beyond lazy, especially when you realise they aren’t the first ones to do this. Amine did this already with his sneaker collab! Amine’s made a lot more sense, his label is called Club Banana, his shoes also do look more like bananas and aren’t just yellow? This collab also only happened a year ago so its not as if Drake has waited to steal someone else’s idea.
Obviously, it is no surprise that Drake has opted for a quick cash grab with his Nike collab but that does not make it any less worrying. As pointed out by Bimma Williams in his COLLAB X LAB show he does on Instagram, this might be more of a sign of where the sneaker industry is heading. In January of this year Nike is reportedly cutting 2% of its total workforce (or over 1500 jobs) due to a lowering demand of their shoes. Phase 2 of this plan is already in place with around 750 people losing their jobs in Oregon.
This is part of Nike’s overall plan to save money and boost “innovation”. This innovation is leaning on the ‘Air’ series as a crutch to bring the brand back to its powerhouse status. Except, the first roll out wasn’t a major success. The first shoe in this “multi-year innovation cycle” was the Pegasus 41, which released in June of this year. Releasing at £154.99, the Pegasus didn’t manage to sell out on release day, something which earlier iterations had consistently been doing on Nike’s raffles. Yet, running has become more popular than ever, especially elite running, with the growth and rising trends of run clubs taking over peoples mid-20’s.
However, the Pegasus 41’s saw a rise in sales with the release of the electric pack. A series of shoes that all got a unique vibrant-orange spotted colourway, which was featured on any relevant Nike silhouette. This pack debuted at the Olympics and was worn by every Nike athlete. Great marketing mirroring Nikes strategy in 2012 and 2016.
This goes to show how far a little creativity can go when trying to sell shoes. Yet, this does not take much effort and - importantly - money to execute. It does say to us Nike recognises the importance of interesting design and marketing in selling their shoes but are only willing to invest if its cheap and easy. Nike has not made it this far by following this pattern which is what makes it sad to see and it is reflecting in what people want.
New Balance are currently (in my opinion) running away with their collaborations the past year however, this has been brewing since 2019. 5 years ago New Balance began their relationship with Teddy Santis and his brand Aime Leon Dore, a high-fashion, streetwear brand based in New York which is meant to epitomise Queens life. This partnership started with new iterations of the 997 but it is their work on the 550’s that brought them above just niche sneakerhead knowledge. If it was not for Teddy Santis the 550’s may of been lost to history. He happened to come across them in a Japanese men’s fashion magazine and asked for the details of the shoe, but New Balance in America had gotten rid of all the blueprint’s. This forced them to travel to Japan to find someone with an original pair so they could deconstruct the shoe and make them again.
They were succesful, and with Santis’ simple but effective colourways, leaning into a vintage aesthetic and promoting them as collegiate pieces they were immediately a hit. They became the go-to shoe for your favourite influencer, barista, old Japanese couple, anyone and everyone was wearing these shoes throughout 2020-21. Even now they are surviving the Samba onslaught. The theme here is the simplicity of it all, Santis knew to capitalise on the lack of Dunks available to people at the time and gave people a slick alternative, but the more muted colourways opened the door to a new market Nike was nit hitting. Nike kept it vibrant with the Dunks and people were moving away from that style, with more people wearing worn, vintage clothing the 550s offered a comforting refuge. A style which was clean but not so eye-catching it was all you could look at.
This idea is so simple but New Balance probably would of never revived the 550s without Santis, and they would of never gotten such traction without him either. New Balance know the importance of having other creatives around them and so made Santis the creative director of there Made In USA line, making their relationship permanent.
Seeing brands like New Balance thrive is a sign that people are getting tired of lazy collaborations. Nike’s collaborations are a sign of the larger problem. They believe they can get by with big names and no creativity, but this comfortable position was created by the creative minds who took risks within the brand. These risks are now being done by others like New Balance and its bearing fruit. New Balance is focused on creating timeless pieces to build a solid foundation, they are leaning into creativity and working with designers to keep pushing the brand further. This has reflected in their popularity, more people are wearing New Balance than ever and less people are talking about Nike.
Of course Nike is still a behemoth in fashion and sneaker culture, that will probably never change, but there is cracks and they will only get wider the more Nike decides to earn quick profits. Considering Nike earned $33.1 billion in shoe revenue in 2023, a $10 billion increase from 5 years ago, quick profits and layoffs leave a sour taste in peoples mouths. It may not play out right now but people are turning on Nike, seeing them make more money each year yet claim they are losing profits and making “necessary” cuts in order to push the brands creativity isn’t fooling anyone. Especially when your big releases are the NOCTA and a reimagined Jordan 1? Which looks the same. It is getting old and people are catching on.
Lovely piece, a nice break from the chaos of the world (trump). Also drake can get in the bin