Footpatrol London | Shoe of the Year 2021

Another year done… Now that we’re nearly at the end of 2021 we sat down with some of TEAMFP to discuss the hot topic of ‘Shoe of the Year’. For this, we didn’t sit down and discuss the most hyped releases of the year, we discussed what our individual picks were. Now this may have included the most hyped releases but it also gave the team an opportunity to showcase a unique insight to their individual tastes and what makes a sneaker great to them. For what felt like a quieter year as a whole in terms of launches compared to 2020, we were still greeted with numerous stand out performers that once again took us to a new level.

Notably, we saw Nike take a new spin on their collaborations. With regular collaborators to the table such as Sacai, Union LA, Aleali May and Off White we saw the introduction of three way collaborations with the likes of Sacai teaming up with CLOT, UNDERCOVER and Fragment Design for individual takes on the LDWaffle.

Another strong year for New Balance with the return of collaborations from Salehe bembury and jjjjound. All whilst producing stand out inline performers like their 2002R Protection Pack proving ever popular and was a recurring feature on our staff rotations throughout the year. This year also saw the return of the 990 story with New Balance revisiting V1, V2 and V3 so far.

Adidas continued their partnerships throughout the year with Sean Wotherspoon and the likes of Human Made and Pharrell Williams being main focus points. YEEZY continues to be a fan favourite with new and old iterations of the 350 proving a forever popular silhouette and with the introduction of more FOAM RUNNER colour ways and the likes of the 450, we’re excited to see what Kanye has up his sleeve for 2022. Notable mention from the Footpatrol team has to be the South Park ‘Towelie’, a unique collaboration that ended with a visually perfect product.

We also wanted to take this moment to once again pay tributes to one of the greats, Virgil Abloh. Someone who inspired many, Virgil was always looking for ways to help provide a voice for all. Virgil was a true and rare visionary who had such a huge impact on our world and was someone who was constantly innovating and working to improve the industry. Our thoughts and condolences continue to go out to his family and those closest to him. Thanks for providing us with many memories, you’ll never be forgotten.

With all that said, take a look at some of our teams picks below and let us know what you thought!

Alice: UNDEFEATED x Nike Dunk Low