In the age of the algorithm, the right sneakers can go from relative obscurity to industry darlings overnight. First they might show up on the feet of a celebrity exiting Sushi Park, then in a few well-curated moodboard shots. And once a handful of high-profile unboxings hit the timeline, it’s all over—a new It sneaker is born. If you don’t own a pair (or three) of them already, you probably know the biggest ones of 2023 by name: the Samba, the Gel-Kayano 14, the Mexico 66.
If the thought of accidentally Spiderman-memeing yourself is enough to send you spiraling, the cure for your anxiety is pretty simple: Mix it up! These days, there’s an endless amount of kicks to choose from, and the state of personal style is more expansive and experimental than ever. Trends come and go, but we’d be hard-pressed to identify a pair of sneakers that can’t be freaked in a way utterly distinct to you—provided, of course, you know where to look.
Which is where the five eagle-eyed kicks obsessives below come in. The Sneaker Industrial Complex works harder than Kris Jenner, and keeping up can feel like a full-time job. So to clue you in to the silhouettes worth keeping an eye on in 2024, we rang up a who’s who of experts to weigh in on the lesser-known (and entirely new) models posed to make a splash in the coming months. Act fast: If these guys are right, and they usually are, it won’t be long before the cat is out of the shoe bag.
Jian DeLeon, Men’s Fashion Director at Nordstrom
As the Men’s Fashion Director for a retailer with hundreds of locations across the country, Jian DeLeon is afforded a fairly unique perch to spot macro trend developments as they happen in real time. Last year, DeLeon noticed shoppers swapping their dad sneakers for lower-profile styles like the Adidas Samba and Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66. It’s a natural pendulum swing, he says—“When you can’t go bigger, go smaller.” To distinguish yourself from the TikTok crowds, he recommends plucking a more obscure model from the Adidas archives, like the still-buzzy Handball Spezial, or turning to a brand like Autry, the recently-revived indie footwear imprint.
DeLeon is quick to note that heftier running shoes aren’t going anywhere—they’re just a little techier than the dadly cloud-gray silhouettes that saturated the market a few years ago. The appetite for a romanticized version of late 90s, early 2000s style—as articulated by the rom-coms of the era or, as DeLeon notes, old pictures of JFK Jr.—has buoyed the profile of shoes like the Asics Gel-Kayano 14 and the New Balance 580v2. If you’re looking to steer your sneaker rotation off the beaten path, he recommends the trail-brown New Balance 610v2 or Merrell’s funkified 1TRL Moab.
Max, Co-Founder, @Mom_And_Dads_Stock
Plenty of digital archivists spotlight running sneakers from decades past, but the Berlin-based duo behind @mom_and_dads_stock routinely unearth some of the trippiest bygone silhouettes in sneaker history. Max, the account’s co-founder—first name only; this is serious business—has amassed a captive audience of around 30,000 sneaker buffs, who share a penchant for performance-oriented kicks otherwise lost to the annals of time. Think of a grandpa stretching in the Brooks Ghost 7, “or the mid-40s guy on his everyday run around the park in the Asics Gel-Kayano 16,” he says. In the moment, “you might have been, like, ‘nice one,’ then forgot about it the next minute.”
You can buy all of the pairs Max posts on his page, but the sneakers that pique his interest today share a spiritual kinship with those styles, from Asics’s collaborations with Cecile Bahsen and Andersson Bell to the recent JW custom GT-2160. Sneakers have changed a lot in the last couple of decades, but the best way to one-up your fellow ‘heads is evergreen: Score a pair they don’t have—or don’t have the gumption to wear.
Sam Le Roy, Creative Lead, Hartcopy
Part of Sam Le Roy’s gig as the creative lead for Hartcopy—a sneaker-focused Instagram page founded by Tim Suen in 2020—is choosing which kicks are post-worthy and which aren’t quite worth his time. There’s no scientific method to his selection process, but it’s made him hyper-aware of just how many different options are available today. The upside? Honing a unique sense of style is a few educated clicks away. “I think we’re now seeing that anybody can wear any kind of shoe,” he says.
To differentiate your rotation, Le Roy suggests asking yourself what “peripheral options” exist outside of the buzzier models on the market. That might be as simple as swapping a Samba for a Gazelle, or opting for Mizunos over Asics. (Mizuno, in particular, boasts an expansive archive of volleyball silhouettes, whose influence Le Roy has clocked in some of the year’s funkier releases.) One out-there pair he’s expecting to take off this year? The Puma Mostro. Puma first introduced the silhouette in 1999, and in January its slim profile, spiky soles, and velcro uppers will hit the shelves again. “It’s just…weird” Le Roy says. In 2024, weird is a very good thing.
Eugene Lardy, Founder, Streetwear Night Live
Eugene Lardy is a hard-boiled product obsessive who shares his favorite gear via daily dispatches on Twitter and a weekly newsletter on Substack. Lardy is a modern-day jack-of-all-jawnz, but his taste skews outdoors-y: taped seam jackets, swishy pants, and naturally, trail-ready sneakers.
Hiking shoes have long since made the leap from mountain to Main Street, but Lardy’s got his eye trained on a specific subcategory known as “approach shoes”—less bulky silhouettes designed to provide all-day comfort and maximum traction on rocky terrain.
To start, Lardy points to a duo of Italian Alps-born options. There’s Scarpa’s fresh-looking (and fresh-sounding) Mojito, which boasts a dainty, bowling shoe-adjacent vibe. Then there’s ROA’s Cingino—a discreet silhouette from a red-hot brand with no shortage of Vibram soles in its line-up and collaborations with the likes of JJJJound, Aries, and A-Cold-Wall* under its belt. Per Lardy, the Cingino doesn’t just look different from every other silhouette on the market—it’s a lot more comfortable than most of them, too.
Deon Point, Creative Director, Concepts
For over 25 years, Boston-based boutique Concepts has been one of the coolest places in the world to satiate your sneaker fix, and creative director Deon Point has been there for the majority of its run. Point has seen his fair share of trends come and go, but what stands out to him today is how much youngsters pine for the ‘90s. “The oversized look is, in my opinion, good,” he notes, “but sometimes a little bit out of control.”
If you enjoy retro sneakers but aren’t ready to fully embrace the JNCO renaissance, check out one of Point’s favorites, the Air Max 180—a style with plenty of retro bona fides that isn’t quite as bulky as its counterparts. “I’m curious to see the reaction,” he says, regarding Nike’s upcoming re-release of the shoe later this year. “It came back once or twice before, but I think this time it’ll have a lot more success.”
Nostalgia is always a potent force in the sneaker space, but there are a handful of brand new silhouettes striking a chord with Concepts shoppers. New Balance’s WRPD Runner first dropped in August 2023 and, though it offers the heft necessary to anchor ultra-wide jeans and sweats, it comes wrapped in a modern, futuristic-looking package. Also, Point says, it’s just super comfortable: “We often refer to it as an airport shoe.”
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