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My Top 10 Kicks of 2015 – TheShoeRestorer

This article first appeared on SneakerHistory.com


2015 was a great year for sneakers. Many brands put a stress on material quality and tons of great collabs dropped. Brands like Diadora and Karhu came out of the woodwork and Chef Rae his own sneaker to celebrate 20 years of OB4CL — although I’m much more excited for the sneaker that will commemorate Ghost’s Ironman (coming in 2016). All in all, it was a good ass year.

To preface my list, I saw a lot of the sneakers that released this year through writing on the site. My list is in no particular order and I didn’t cop all of these kicks — they’re just my favorite kicks to come out this year. The absolute greatest or most influential sneakers of 2015 are entirely different lists than this one. And to put everything on the table, I sold almost all of my numbered Jordans a long time ago and I have only one pair left, the 2014 Air Jordan II ‘Varsity Red’, so this list won’t feature much swoosh or JB.

I’m very excited to see what people thought were the best releases of 2015 so let’s get into it.

16 comments
  1. I love you list. IT’s so my style. The TOKEN Shaq’s, Barcelona’s Le Coq Sportif, Puma’s ,and the Premier x New Balance 998 PRMR. Now that is a list. Good stuff by Noah.

  2. Nice list. I’m glad more people have things other than Nike they’re excited for. Curry 1 low, Bloodbath,the Hallowed Pack Saucony, and the Jordan 14 low are some of the ones I liked this year. Also, even tho its a woman’s shoe the Doernbecher Air Max 90 Sasquatch Unicorn idea was friggin adorable.

  3. Nice list, i can’t relate much to those shoes because most of the shoe I buy are Bball shoes, but I do agree with boost though, that cushion is just amazing,

    That shoe at link number 6,

    Talk about limited, wonder how they distribute the sizing, say 5 pairs of size 9 and 5 pairs of size10, or was it made to order,

    Wonder how much it cost.

    1. I was thinking about that too (the sizing)! I believe the shoe retailed for somewhere around $250. And I mean they obviously had to do only men’s sizing but I bet they didn’t go past a size 12 or 12.5.

  4. Pretty awesome list since I’d expect most others to be dominated by recent ball shoes — which in all fairness, is the core nautre of WearTesters. But having a list dedicated to the broader spectrum of sneakers is nice.

    Also cool to see which bball pairs Noah liked with heavier regard to aesthetic.

    1. I judged all the basketball shoes based on everything our writers have said. I’ve read ALL and watched ALL of the WT reviews. Without playing in every single one, I can only make a partially informed decision, but I think that BB brought amazing tech in 2015. Often, it was on par and better than what most of the popular brands do.
      The list was so stressful to make, it took me about a week to get it down to 10. But I’m so glad I get to discuss it with y’all!

      1. Similar story to you, I really didn’t have a chance to sample much for the year. In fact most of my pick-ups this year were yesteryear stuff on discount, so I could mostly judge by others’ input (which typically happens to align with whatever firsthand experience I had/have) and inferring from “on paper”.

        Of the 2015 stuff, I only picked up the Rose 6. Love it but I get why you picked the UltraBoost. The Rose is the best Boost example for basketball (arguably the best cushion for the year it seems), but I’m aware the UltraBoost runs a more “true”, full setup to really showcase the technology.

        If I had to be hypothetical, the Soldier 9 probably would’ve ended up on my list. The emphasis on fit counts a lot for me, and then factor in outdoor usability, and relative affordability…it sounds like a strong package.

  5. 5. Curry one low ‘friends and family’
    4. Jordan 1 Chicago
    3. Air Force one high wheat
    2. Jordan 4 Oreo
    1. Saucony x ubiq shadow master ‘Atlantic tide’

    I have copped 1 and 3, got 1 for 65 bucks off of ubiq when they had a 50% off deal on collabs.

  6. Great list bro! Some real gems here. Always good to see people letting others know there is WAYYYY more out there than JB and Nike. #Salute

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