Sneaker News After millions of votes tallied through a rigorous two week tournament-style voting process, the Sneaker Of The Year champion has been named for the year of 2025. An undeniable icon. The grail of grails. The trailblazer of modern sneaker culture. Undefeated’s Air Jordan 4 — the first ever Jordan collaboration — has been voted the SNEAKER OF THE YEAR.
It did not have an easy path to top, taking down pre-tournament favorites such as Gamma Blue 11s, Nigel Sylvester’s Brick By Brick 4s, the Fragment/Travis AJ1, and the Neon 95s in the semi-finals. Millions of votes don’t lie.
Sneaker News Sneaker Of The Year 2025 Rankings
JORDAN
1. UNDEFEATED x Air Jordan 4
2. Awake NY x Air Jordan 5 “Racer Pink”
3. Travis Scott x Fragment Design x Air Jordan 1 Low
4. Nigel Sylvester x Air Jordan 4 “Brick by Brick”
5. Infinite Archives x Air Jordan 17 Low
6. Union Los Angeles x Air Jordan 1 “Chicago”
7. Air Jordan 5 “Black Metallic Reimagined”
8. Solefly x Air Jordan 3
9. Air Jordan 11 “Gamma Blue”
10. Air Jordan 5 “Tokyo23”
11. Air Jordan 1 Hi ’85 “Bred”
12. Chase B x Jordan Jumpman Jack
13. Air Jordan 10 “Steel”
14. Air Jordan 4 “Black Cat”
15. A Ma Maniere x Air Jordan 4 “Dark Mocha”
16. Air Jordan 3 “Seoul 2.0”NIKE RETRO
1. Nike Air Max 95 “Neon”
2. Tom Sachs x Nike Mars Yard 3.0
3. Nike Kobe 6 Protro “Jalen Brunson”
4. UNDEFEATED x Nike Air Max 95 “NYC”
5. Levi’s x Nike Air Max 95
6. Nike Air Foamposite One “Galaxy”
7. Yu-Gi-Oh! x Nike Air Max 95
8. Lil’ Yachty x Nike Air Force 1 Low
9. Nike SB Dunk Low “Rodeo”
10. Nike Air Max 1 “Donkey Kong”
11. Nardwuar x Nike SB Dunk Low
12. Nike SB Air Max 95
13. Nike Air Max 90 “Grateful Ducks”
14. LAAMS x Nike Air Force 1 Low
15. Kobe x Nike Air Force 1 Protro
16. Patta x Nike Air Max 90 “Waves”NEW MODELS
1. Converse Shai 001
2. Nike Ja 3
3. Nike GT Future
4. Nike Pegasus Premium
5. Nike A’One
6. Air Jordan 40-16
7. adidas Harden Vol. 9
8. Zellerfeld x Nike Air Max 1000
9. New Balance Abzorb 2000
10. adidas Anthony Edwards 2
11. Reebok Angel Reese 1
12. Nike LeBron 23
13. Hyperice x Nike Hyperboot
14. New Balance Allerdale
15. Nike Vomero Premium
16. PUMA Hali 1OTHER BRANDS
1. Pharrell x adidas Adistar Jellyfish
2. Vans Old Skool 36 “Souvenir”
3. Action Bronson x New Balance 992
4. VandyThePink x ASICS GEL-Nimbus 10.1
5. Jaetips x Saucony Progrid Triumph 4
6. BBC Ice Cream Board Flip
7. Sony PlayStation x Reebok Pump Omni Zone II
8. Invincible x ASICS GEL-Nimbus 10.1 “404”
9. Joe Freshgoods x New Balance Abzorb 2010
10. Kith x New Balance 993 “Knicks”
11. Unheardof x adidas Adistar Cushion “Piggy Runner”
12. Sneaker Politics x ASICS GEL-Kayano 14
13. Hellstar x adidas Superstar
14. Bad Bunny x adidas Adiracer GT
15. JJJJound x Salomon XT-6
16. Kid Super x A Bathing Ape Sta
The best sneakers of 2025 spanned thirty-year-old shoes, rediscovered grails, exploded designs, and raffle-entry madness. The collaboration is as sturdy as ever, Retro footwear is still king, and the current crop of footwear designers employed by the big labels are doing their damn thing.
Simply put, 2025 has been one of the most memorable year in 21st century sneakers, and certainly the best of the 2020s decade. There is simply too much impressive work to fit into a Top 10 list, let alone finalize that list with months to go in the year.
The Sneaker News staff, an obsessed and diligent troupe of footwear explorers, decided to break down the year in kicks into four distinct categories: Nike Retro, Jordan, New Models, and Other. A total of 64 sneakers have been ranked (1 through 16 in each category), and we’re leaving it up to YOU to decide the victor. There are undeniably some that did not make the cut, but that just speaks volumes on how incredible the year was, and why 2026 should be look forward to with promise.
This is how we will decide: the Sneaker News SNEAKER OF THE YEAR full bracket will be revealed on December 22nd at 12PM ET. The FIRST ROUND begins on December 22nd at 1pm ET, and voting will be conducted on the @sneakernews Instagram Stories and @sneakernews on X.
SNEAKER NEWS SNEAKER OF THE YEAR VOTING SCHEDULE
FULL BRACKET REVEALED: December 22nd, 12PM ET
FIRST ROUND VOTING: Week of December 22nd, 1PM ET
SECOND ROUND VOTING: TBD
