Image via Complex Original
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In 2021, Nike collaborating with streetwear brands has become the norm. Names like Supreme, Clot, and Undefeated have been adding to their catalogs of memorable Nike projects for years at this point. But 21 years ago, with the original release of its Air Huarache collab, Stüssy was the first.
A well-respected streetwear OG in its own right, Stüssy has faded in and out of the spotlight a handful of times throughout its four-decade history. Over the past two years, it seems to have righted the ship though, especially in the sneaker space. Consistent collaborations with Nike that have included everything from its take on the classic Air Force 1 to a retro release of the Huarache that started it all have reminded plenty of people just how good Stüssy is when it comes to crafting memorable product. And if the past few months are any indication, the output won’t be slowing down soon either.
With all of the brand’s current momentum, we decided to take a look back at Stüssy’s best sneaker collabs. Check out our detailed top 10 list below.
10.Nike All Court Mid
Year: 2010
As its footwear catalog proves, Stüssy has a tendency to select shoes from the Nike archive that are a bit unexpected when it comes time to celebrate a major milestone. Case in point, the brand’s decision to celebrate its 30th anniversary with a trio of All Court Mids in 2010. Incredibly similar to the much more common Blazer, the All Court Mid sets itself apart with a rubber toe cap. Black and white leather versions would be released to the public with the third blue canvas option being limited to friends and family. Each shared details like tan snakeskin Swooshes, SS logos on the tongue tag, three royal blue top eyelets, and a commemorative “XXX” marking on the insole. “Nike” etched across each heel tab in Stüssy’s signature font is the perfect finishing touch. Appropriately given the timeframe these dropped, the release was accompanied by a Nike Destroyer jacket and graphic T-shirt. —Mike DeStefano
9.Nike Air Force 1
Year: 2020
It only seemed right that a legendary brand in streetwear history would give its own take on a true Nike icon: the Air Force 1. Stüssy followed up its Nike Air Zoom Spiridon Cage 2 collab in late 2020 with a similarly styled duo of Forces. The black and natural hemp colorways featured Stüssy branding on the tongue tag, a faux fur heel with a Stüssy logo badge, and a woven toe logo. A large, tonal embroidered Swoosh served as a centerpiece of the design. The brand took the popularity of customizing its aforementioned project a step further in early 2021, teaming with Los Angeles’ Lookout & Wonderland, an art practice specializing in plant-based color, on five different hand-dyed colorways of its AF1 in blue, yellow, purple, green, and red. The five versions were created to represent each of its World Tour cities: New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, and Paris. —Zac Dubasik
8.Nike Dunk High
Year: 2001
Stüssy’s history of releasing special Nike shoes stretches back to before the time when Nike releasing special shoes with an outside entity was a common thing. In fact, the shoes widely considered the first Stüssy x Nike collaboration—we’ll get to those later—were less of a true partnership product and more of a store exclusive. The streetwear brand’s own descriptions of its Nike archive instead point to this duo of Dunks from 2001 as the “first official Nike collaboration with a clothing company.” The shoes introduced new materials to the Dunk, like ostrich and snakeskin, which were a rarity for the model at the time. They also helped introduce a new era of limited release where stores would trickle out pairs to eager consumers. The 2001 Dunk Highs were available only at the New York, London, Tokyo, and Los Angeles Stüssy stores, which dropped just 24 pairs each (12 of the black and 12 of the brown) per day until their stock was depleted. —Brendan Dunne
7.Nike Air Zoom Spiridon Cage 2
Year: 2020
The Nike Air Zoom Spiridon Cage 2 was originally introduced in 2003 as a specialty runner intended for the Japanese market, and designed to help keep marathoners’ feet dry. It was designed by Steven Smith, a sneaker industry journeyman who currently serves as design director for Kanye West’s Yeezy brand. While the sneaker was well-received and booked in at 800,000 pairs on pre-order, it was quickly forgotten and hasn’t exactly been a staple of sneakerhead and streetwear wardrobes in the years since, like many sneakers in the Air Max line or even the original Zoom Spiridn have. So, it came as a bit of a surprise that Stüssy would rekindle its footwear relationship with Nike on the model; at the time that images first leaked, a retro wasn’t even expected. The collab featured multiple colorways including a silver and black variation that looked like it could have been an OG, but it was the “Fossil” edition, and its ease of customization, that most captivated fans thanks to its natural hemp upper. —Zac Dubasik
6.Nike Air Huarache Light
Year: 2003
Stüssy’s work on the Nike Huarache is stuff of legend. While the first collaboration on the original version of the same came out in 2000, the streetwear brand also worked up a rendition of the Huarache Light that dropped in 2003. The sneaker was designed by Nike’s early pioneers of subculture cool, Fraser Cooke and Michael Kopelman, who helped start London sneaker boutique Footpatrol. While the Huarache collaboration takes on earth tones for its color inspiration, the Huarache Lights went brighter and bolder: There’s an orange and grey colorway and a black and green one, too. There’s also a sample version of the sneaker with the Stüssy logo on the lateral side of the upper. The Huarache Light is a sleeper of a silhouette, but the shoe had serious juice with runner collectors in the 2000s. It’s hard to top the original Ultramarine colorway of the shoe, but Stüssy comes close with these pairs. —Matt Welty
5.Nike Court Force
Year: 2005
Stüssy has been able to stamp its name on a handful of well-known Nike silhouettes, namely the Air Force 1 and Air Huarache, since both parties came together for the first time 21 years ago. The collaborative work between the respected streetwear OG and sportswear giant isn’t limited to just immediately recognizable retro silhouettes, though. One of the sleeper collabs between both parties is the quartet of Court Forces from 2005. The Court Force originally debuted in 1987, but unlike some of its ‘80s counterparts, it hasn’t had quite the same level of staying power. Nonetheless, Stüssy earmarked it to be the silhouette it would celebrate its 25th anniversary with. The streetwear brand made the high-top its own with suede uppers, premium crocodile leather overlays, its Tom Tom print covering the tongue, and its World Tour cities (New York, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles) typed across the heel in its signature typeface. This project would be the first time that Stüssy released a matching T-shirt with one of its Nike collabs. Given the Court Force’s irregularity in the marketplace these days, it’s unlikely these will ever get the retro treatment. Consider yourself lucky if you possess a pair in good condition 16 years later. —Mike DeStefano
4.New Balance MT580 'Real Mad Stüssy'
Year: 2003
Stüssy has a long history of collaboration with New Balance on the MT580. All of these projects have been Japanese exclusives made with partners Real Mad Hectic. The shoes have helped build a limited-edition New Balance hype in Japan that’s crossed over to the US and have been sought after by aficionados of the brand such as Burn Rubber co-founder Rick Williams. The first of these projects was a play on Stüssy’s Nike Huarache collaboration from 2000 that took both colorways and transferred them over to the MT580, a running silhouette built with stability in mind. The MT580 model was introduced in 1996, but this collaboration came out seven years later in 2003, which was still early on in the limited-edition sneaker world. The brown-and-tan and green-and-yellow colorways are nearly as good on the 580 as they are on the Huarache, and it will cost you around $2,000 in 2021 to secure a pair of these, if you can even find them. Hopefully, like the Huraches, these will see a re-issue, too. —Matt Welty
3.Nike Blazer Mid
Year: 2002
After getting a crack at the Dunk High in 2001, Stüssy got back to work with Nike in 2002 for two versions of the Blazer Mid. Built with premium leather uppers, the key feature of these pairs was their unique colorways. Coming in Cool Grey/Poison Green/Anthracite and Midnight Navy/Turbo Pink/Ivory styles, they were accented with Poison Green and Turbo Pink Swooshes and tongue and heel logos. These accent colors popped like highlighter streaks on the otherwise toned-down designs and left a lasting impression. The collaboration was the first Stüssy x Nike sneaker to ever re-release, although it did so in unexpected fashion. Rather than dropping through Stüssy, the two pairs (with the Midnight Navy’s accent tweaked to Solar Red) resurfaced in 2012 as exclusives to UK retailer Size?. The 2012 release was intended to celebrate the Blazer’s 40th anniversary and each colorway was limited to 500 units worldwide. —Riley Jones
2.Nike Air Huarache LE
Year: 2000 and 2021
Where it all started. People love using words like ‘’legendary’’ and ‘’influential’’ to describe sneakers, but that language is non-hyperbolic when it comes to the Stüssy x Nike Air Huarache. Considered by many to be the first streetwear/sneaker collaboration of its kind, the two-sneaker project from 2000 wasn’t a co-branded shoe in the sense we know today. Instead, it’s said that the colors were already designed by Nike and adopted by Stüssy in London as a limited-edition Quickstrike. They were released as a store exclusive, but in the early years of the sneaker internet, one thing led to another and people began calling them a collaboration. Official collab or not, it was an important project in that it paired Nike, largely looked at as a strictly athletic brand at the time, with Stüssy’s counter culture-leaning surf-meets-street aesthetic. It’s hard to emphasize now how big of a deal that was then, but just consider the fact that these Huaraches preceded any of the Supreme x Nike releases. It’s not a reach to say the Stüssy x Nike Air Huaraches helped pave the way for today’s collab-heavy scene and the likes of Off-White, Union, and Yeezy. —Riley Jones
1.Nike SB Dunk Low
Year: 2005
One of the greatest effects of the Nike SB Dunk craze in the early 2000s was how it helped establish legitimate connections between the streetwear and sneaker industries. It allowed burgeoning businesses like Diamond Supply Co. and Supreme a legitimate co-sign from Nike, a massive corporation that was used to speaking to those kinds of parties rather than speaking with them. The groups who consumed graphic tees and rare footwear had always overlapped, but a handful of the most important SBs made the Venn diagram shapes more official. It was inevitable that Nike’s partners in these efforts include Stüssy, the most venerated streetwear brand there is.
While the Stüssy x Nike SB Dunk Low, a Neapolitan ice cream flavored shoe with a cherry on top designed by Robbie Jeffers, did not induce the same serious hype as Dunk projects from Diamond and Supreme, it belongs in the same conversation. The 2005 shoe isn’t nearly as flashy as many of its contemporaries in Nike SB’s range, and spent a good portion of its life as one of the more accessible shoes from its era on the resale market.
A recent Travis Scott co-sign spoiled that, though, sending prices on the sneaker way up. His appreciation for it is not surprising—the Stüssy SB Dunk Low arguably established the palette the Houston rapper would go on to apply to his Jordan 1 collaboration. It’s also a non-official predecessor to the Ben & Jerry’s Dunk, a much wackier ice cream sneaker (no Pharrell). It works in the same way the heralded “Linen” Air Force 1 does, sliding in just enough pink to make the shoe striking but not overwhelming. Thanks to the recent uptick in interest around the Stüssy x Nike SB Dunk Low, what was once an underrated entry from SB’s golden era has secured its proper place decades later. —Brendan Dunne