Sneakers That will play a major role for the rest of 2020.

It’s been a scintillating start to the sneaker scene in 2020. Air Abloh took flight with the Jumpman yet again, Travis Scott mainlined the Nike SB Dunk resurgence, and adidas revealed their wild new ‘Preserved Pair’ packaging: the ‘can-idas’. It’s only May, but these are the sneakers we think will play a major role for the rest of 2020.

Nike Air Zoom Spiridon Cage 2

Launching back in 2003, the Nike Air Zoom Spiridon Cage 2 still looks like it’s forged from liquid steel, the ultra-modern, teched-out silhouette as relevant as its ever been.

Galvanised by the recent link up with Orange County’s streetwear superstars Stussy, the Air Zoom Spiridon Cage 2 was first brought to life by the inimitable Steven Smith, the legendary designer behind some of the most experimental sneakers on planet earth. The Spiridon is an obscure, metallic beast, roaring into 2020 with turn-of-the-century optimism and unapologetic bravado.

Lace ‘em, or get out of the way.

New Balance 827

The chunk-wave may (finally) be slowing down, but nobody told New Balance. Linking up with Teddy Santis’ Aimé Leon Dore, the niche New Balance 827 silhouette stomped back onto the scene this year, the old-school runner raiding a late 1990s wardrobe for approval. Taking aesthetic cues from Santis’ love of vintage apparel, the link up has provided one of the more visceral collaborations of 2020 so far, the irreverent palette mixing up hues of buttercup and petrol, cornflower and scarlet.

New Balance now look set to drop some feisty 827 GRs in response to the high-quality collaboration, reviving some impressive OG colourways for the occasion.

If you’re going to keep it running thick in 2020, make sure it’s from the New Balance vault.

The Air Jordan 5

Celebrating its 30th rotation of the sun this year, the Air Jordan 5 still soars across the cultural pantheon.

Recently reworked by Virgil Abloh’s all-conquering Off-White label, the Jumpman’s fighter jet has all the right moves in 2020, the ‘Fire Red’, ‘Alternate Grape’, and ‘Top 3’ colourways all paying homage to the silhouette’s thundering DNA. With rumours of another Off-White collaboration on the way, the Air Jordan 5 could reach dangerous levels of altitude in 2020.

adidas Yeezy Foam Runner

Scoffed at by parts of the Internet when it first emerged on the feet of Kanye’s daughter, North West, the Yeezy Foam Runner has maintained a giant wave of influence despite still not getting an official release. Seemingly torn from the interstellar reveries of Ridley Scott, the Yeezy Foam Runner looks like an alien fossil buried deep in the cosmos.

Labelled by skeptics as glorified Crocs, the trailblazing Yeezy Foam Runner instead breaks new ground for a sneaker economy too often relying on consecrated retros or celebrity ‘collaborations’.

Perhaps most importantly, the Foam Runner initiates an important conversation about sneakers and sustainability. With plans to move Yeezy HQ to a 4,000 square metre ranch in Wyoming, Kanye West intends to cultivate a hydroponic farm and manufacture foam from algae.

‘They remind me of when Tinker was making all these crazy Jordans’, A$AP Ferg told Sneaker Freaker last month. ‘The sneaker world fell in love with these spaceship-looking shoe designs.’

Indeed, it might be time to board Kanye’s ship – the man’s evidently on the ultralight beam.

Nike SB Dunk High

While we sit back and watch the Air Jordan 1 Low face-off against the Nike SB Dunk Low for cultural supremacy in 2020, expect another design to keep popping up over the next few months: the SB Dunk High. Nike’s SB Dunk line have been generating colossal mainstream appeal again this year thanks to the likes of Travis Scott, Frank Ocean, and PJ Tucker all sporting ‘golden era’ SB colourways. Now, it looks like we’re getting some more high top iterations of the SB Dunk, the utterly cooked Nike SB Dunk High ‘Watermelon Cough’, the ‘Spectrum’ Easter treat, and Oskar Rozenberg’s shark-Swooshed SB Dunk High all paving the way for a huge 2020.

The Air Jordan 1 drops Low, and the Nike SB Dunk gets High!

Watch this space!