The Best Sneakers of 2016

Nostalgia always wins, doesn’t it? No matter what era or year we’re in, there’s something about looking back (through rose-tinted glasses, mind you) and reminiscing on "simpler times” or the “good days.” Getting specific, we can’t seem to shake the year 2016 from our collective consciousness, and this has rung true since the clock struck midnight on December 31 and gave way to 2017. Now, literally a decade removed from the year that provided us with Pokémon Go, the first season of Stranger Things, Instagram Stories, La La Land, "The Life of Pablo," and so, so much more, we’re still hung up on 2016.

There’s now a new trend hitting social media with 2016 nostalgia-bait running rampant. Remember that poor-quality and deep-fried photo you have with your friends in high school or in your college dorm room? Well, everyone does now because feeds are filled with photo dumps of 2016-era camera rolls. That got the Sole Retriever team thinking, “What about the sneakers of 2016?” This was an era where adidas was climbing the mountain and set to overtake Nike thanks to Kanye West and his Yeezy brand, Pharrell and his Human Race NMDs, and the continued rise of the Ultraboost.

Hindsight is 20-20, and the atmospheric rise of hype surrounding The Three Stripes was not going to last, but there were other iconic sneaker moments. Nike finally released self-lacing Mags from Back to the Future Part II, Kith was the exclusive retailer to release the once-Japanese-exclusive Air Force 1 Linen, and Jordan Brand brought back the higher-cut patent leather on the Jordan 11s with a retro of the Space Jam colorway.

We only touched on a few moments above, but follow along as Nick Vlahos and Zach Harris explore the best sneakers of 2016, in no particular order. While you’re here, you can stay updated on all the happenings in 2026 (sneaker-related, of course) with the Sole Retriever mobile app.

Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG Bred

Classics will never go out of style. Jordan Brand could re-release the black and red Air Jordan 1 a hundred times over and people will still clamor for a pair. Well… In this current climate of 2026 getting a Jordan 1 to sell out is near impossible. However, back in 2016, you couldn’t keep pairs on shelves. The Bred (aka Banned) Jordan 1 returned for the first time since 2011 and was part of the new “Remastered” program to bring its shape a bit closer to the OG. Luckily, today we have the Remastered V2, which started with the Lost & Found colorway, and an ‘85 cut that’s nearly 1:1 with the Jordan 1’s shape from 1985. - Nick Vlahos

Acronym x Nike Air Presto Mid

In an era when the Presto ruled Nike’s retro running catalog and slipper-style sock shoes were all the rage, the Acronym x Nike Air Presto Mid checked all the boxes necessary for immediate hype. Sure, they didn’t quite hold up a decade later, but in a time before collaborators were routinely trusted to remix legacy silhouettes, Acronym’s work on the Presto brought a perfect mix of bright retro colors and tonal Health Goth pairs, taking Nike to the forefront of the sock shoe trend, however short that trend may have lasted. - Zach Harris

Pharrell x adidas NMD Hu

Pharrell is not new to the adidas hype machine. In a year when the BAPE NMD and Yeezy line brought adidas to unforeseen heights, Skateboard P was the third stripe of success, bringing his Human Race brand to the Boost market with the Pharrell x adidas NMD Hu, a series of monochrome tonal releases on a redesigned NMD silhouette with a plastic netted lace support at the rear and massive Human Race branding across the forefoot of the stretchy sock-like upper. Slip-ons with a squishy boost sole made by the man behind “Happy”? Yeah, these went insane in 2016. - ZH

adidas Yeezy 350

Sometimes Kanye can be ahead of the times, but his bar on the song “Facts” off The Life Of Pablo, “Yeezy, Yeezy, Yeezy just jumped over Jumpman,” did not age well at all. Jordan Brand is still kicking it and netting billions of dollars, while Kanye is now independent and virtually ousted from the mainstream fashion scene.

When the song dropped in 2016 (technically the original version with a different beat dropped at the end of 2015), Yeezy was definitely on the way to surpassing The Jumpman. You can thank the adidas Yeezy Boost 350, which became a certified hit upon release. There was a point in time where, if things played out right, the bar MAY have come true, but it did not. Honestly, looking at the original Yeezy 350 now, it’s wild that we collectively lost our minds at the sight of a pair back in the day. And that’s coming from someone who loves adidas Yeezy. - NV

Nike Mag

One of the shoes that turned the world into sneakerheads, the self-lacing Nike Mag from Back to the Future Part II finally realized the power lacing dream in 2016. The same year the Nike Adapt 1.0 was released, Nike teamed up with Michael J. Fox to raise funds for Parkinson's research, releasing 89 pairs of self-lacing Nike Mag’s identical to the look of the pair Fox wore in the film, complete with a button-powered lacing system. Released through an online drawing, the pair raised $6.7 million for charity and immediately became one of Nike’s most sought-after grails. - ZH

Fear of God x Vans

Before the fully flopped Fear of God x adidas collab hit the dustbin of time, and Essentials became the ubiquitous gym bro uniform, Jerry Lorenzo’s label was transgressive, bold, and still underground. When Fear of God teamed up with Vans for a collection of all-over print logo classics, including the best of the pack, black and white Era 95, the pairs sold out immediately and racked up crazy prices on the resale market. For longtime fans of classic Vans collabs like the WTAPS pairs, this was a return to form for the SoCal skate shoe brand and a start of something major for Fear of God. - ZH

BAPE x adidas NMD

A Bathing Ape in 2016 was in a much different spot than it is today. Founder NIGO had departed the brand years ago, but the Japanese streetwear titan’s relationship with adidas was hitting its high point. Couple the hype around BAPE with sneakerheads’ insatiable hunger for the NMD at this time, and you have a recipe for success. The BAPE x adidas NMD kept it simple with a green ABC Camo-covered upper, but it still garnered thousands on the aftermarket once it was released. BAPE still works with adidas today, though the duo is not dropping anything nearly as hype as the NMD. - NV

CDG x Converse Chuck Taylor

For years, you could not escape the Chucks with the hearts on the side. The eyeballs staring back at you from the sidewalk, a little crosseyed if they were fake, the CDG x Converse Chuck Taylor was an early arrival of the high fashion x low fashion collab crossover that has grown to dominate the industry. Putting instantly recognizable Comme des Garçons Play heart eyes on the ankle of the All-Star brought designer cred to a silhouette that has otherwise remained the same for decades. - ZH

atmos x Nike Air Max 1 Safari

Japanese sneaker boutique atmos had an incredible 2025 full of collab hits, but the store has been a force in the sneaker game for decades. Case in point? This 2016 atmos x Nike Air Max 1 Safari was a retro of an OG 2003 atmos Air Max 1 Safari collab. For the return trip, atmos added hairy suede to the toebox and an icy blue outsole underfoot, but otherwise kept the yellow and safari print mix with brown suede accents on the rest of the upper. Back in 2016, atmos had a retail presence in New York City and was getting ready to take over Ubiq in downtown Philly, but these days, the boutique is gone from the States altogether, with collab drops like these typically only releasing in Asia. Times sure have changed. - ZH

Nike Air Force 1 Low Linen (Kith Exclusive)

Kith and Nike joined forces for the first time in 2017 for an official collaboration, but a year prior, The Swoosh tapped the relatively new retailer with the task of dropping the Air Force 1 Low Linen. For those unaware, the Linen AF1 originally released as a Japanese-exclusive colorway in 2001, with the 2016 release at the Kith Miami store being the first time it was ever retroed. Fast-forward to 2026 and we have two recent releases of the Linen AF1, one in 1:1 fashion and another with a canvas upper. There are even plans for a Kith collab on the sneaker… only in kids' sizing. - NV

Nike Kobe Fade to Black Pack

April 13, 2016 marked the final day Kobe Bryant would step foot on an NBA court in his Lakers uniform. He didn’t go the MJ route and come back a few years later for a second go at it. His retirement tour was planned out from the start, with teams gifting him bottles of wine, pieces from the floor, and so much more. Snoop Dogg even gave him a custom Lakers-colored 1967 Pontiac Parisienne low-rider.

On the sneaker side of things, Jordan Brand gave Kobe all-white and all-black pairs of each Air Jordan, 1 through 30, but his friends at Nike Basketball crafted a special pack of shoes that we all had a shot at. The Fade to Black collection started with a crispy white Kobe 1 and worked down through all 10 other Kobe signature sneakers, each progressively getting darker and darker. A fitting send off for the Black Mamba. - NV

Air Jordan 11 Retro Space Jam

In November 1996, Michael Jordan graced the silver screen with Bugs Bunny and a Toon Squad to face off against the Monstars to save planet Earth. The Air Jordan 11s he wears in the film have subsequently been dubbed the Space Jam 11s, and we’ve had a few chances at them over the years. No, they didn’t release during the model’s original run. We got our first crack at the Space Jams in 2000, with a follow-up release in 2009.

To commemorate the film’s 20th anniversary, Jordan Brand brought back the Space Jam 11s in 2016, and used the sneaker to reintroduce the higher-cut patent leather that was lost to time over retro releases in the 2000s. Luckily, Jordan Brand is retroing the sneaker once again in 2026 for Space Jam’s 30th birthday. - NV

adidas Yeezy Boost 750 Grey Gum

We had to put the OG adidas Yeezy on this list somewhere. Yes, the model was technically first released in 2015, but 2016 was the last time we’d get the Yeezy Boost 750, even when adidas and Ye (though maybe he wasn’t involved?) spammed us with retros of classic colorways and the original 350. The Grey Gum colorway was also one of the cleanest, but unfortunately, it was still pretty limited. Even today, with the Chelsea boot era and FOG aesthetic that inspired this sneaker in the first place long-gone, the model commands a premium on the aftermarket that soars upwards of four figures. - NV

Air Jordan 3/Air Jordan 8 Kobe PE Pack

Earlier we mentioned Kobe Bryant’s retirement in 2016, but we didn’t mention what was probably the best part of his retirement tour for sneaker fans. In the 2002-03 NBA season, Bryant was a sneaker free agent and wore various sneakers from brands across the industry. He famously laced up the Air Jordan 3 and Air Jordan 8 in Lakers-themed colorways made for him by Jordan Brand, but once he signed to Nike the thought of the pairs ever being released were out the window. While yes, there are two-packs of the Jordan 3 and Jordan 8 Kobe wore floating around, they were produced in ultra-limited quantities for friends and family of Jordan Brand and Kobe. - NV

Supreme x Nike Air Max 98

Supreme has always stepped outside the box when it comes to collabs, and in 2016, the world’s most famous skate shop took things back to the late ‘90s with a random collaboration on the often-forgotten Nike Air Max 98 silhouette. Dropping in four colorways: a triple black, patent blue, patent red, and snakeskin and cream, the shoe was an unexpected choice that sent everyone but true Air Max heads looking through old Nike catalogs to find colorways of the silhouette they might have missed. At their best, sneaker collabs with culturally dominant brands like Supreme are made to remind sneakerheads of lost and forgotten models, and that’s exactly what the Supreme 98s did. - ZH

Krispy Kreme x Nike Kyrie 2

These days, with so many Kyrie Irving ANTA shoes coming out on the performance basketball and lifestyle side of the market, it can be hard to remember that Irving was once one of Nike’s brightest signature stars. The Nike Kyrie 2 featured a prominent forefoot strap for extra stability while crossing defenders out of their ankles and quickly became a favorite for kids and adults alike, crossing over off the court to the lifestyle side of things, too. And before the perfect Kyrie 3 Cereal Pack, the Kyrie 2 added an even unhealthier breakfast colorway, teaming up with Krispy Kreme for a white, red, and green colorway that was perfectly clean - no glazing necessary (skip to 1:17 in the video below to see the commercial Kyrie filmed for the colorway). - ZH

Nicholas Vlahos

Sneakerhead from South Florida who turned his passion into a career. When not writing for Sole Retriever, I enjoy attending concerts, catching the latest movies, and trying new food. Email: nick@soleretriever.com

Zach Harris

Zach Harris is a writer based in Philadelphia. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vice, Complex, High Times, and more. He is obsessed with skateboarding and bowling. He is still looking for his first 300. For tips, reviews, and anything in size 10.5 - zach.h@soleretriever.com