Why no one agrees on the Sneaker of the Year 2025?

2025 didn’t have one "winner"

Every year, “Sneaker of the Year” should be a fun debate. In 2025, it became a stress test for sneaker culture.

Some lists leaned on resale data. Others leaned on “vibes.” Others went full personal taste. And that’s exactly why people got mad: when the culture is fragmented, any single crown feels unfair.

But 2025 was also a very important year for the sneaker industry. Not because one sneaker dominated everything — but because the market itself changed direction. Nike started a reset. Performance brands kept growing. Resale showed signs of life again, but only for the right stories. Retailers shifted their bets toward slim silhouettes and running DNA. And big retail consolidation reminded everyone that distribution still matters.

Instead of forcing one “SOTY,” let’s break down the sneakers and trends that shaped 2025.

1) The "cooler hype cycle" is real — and it changed how people shop

If you’ve been in sneakers long enough, you know the pandemic era was not normal. Almost everything sold out. Resale premiums were everywhere. People bought pairs just because they assumed they would go up.

By 2025, that era feels far away. Hype didn’t disappear — it became selective.

That matters because when hype is selective, brands can’t rely on endless retro drops and random colorways. Consumers are harder to convince. And the market starts rewarding two things again:

- wearability (shoes people can actually live in), and
- meaning (a story that makes sense).

This is why “Sneaker of the Year” became so controversial: the culture doesn’t move in one direction anymore.

2) Nike’s 2025 reset: back to sport, back to marketplace reality

Nike’s biggest storyline is not one release — it’s strategy.

Nike appointed Elliott Hill as President & CEO effective October 14, 2024.
Whether you love Nike or not, Nike’s decisions shape the entire sneaker economy: wholesale partners, pricing, product flow, and what gets cultural attention.

What “reset” looked like in 2025 (in plain English):

A) Rebuilding wholesale partnerships
Nike spent years pushing DTC (direct-to-consumer). In 2025, we saw stronger signals that Nike is also rebuilding key wholesale relationships and reach. A concrete example: Nike planned to resume direct selling on Amazon after leaving in 2019, alongside marketplace adjustments and price changes.
That’s not a “hype move.” It’s a distribution and market-share move.

B) Protecting brand value (less discount dependence)
A big part of Nike’s value comes from perception: premium brand, premium storytelling. If everything is always discounted, culture weakens. Multiple reports in 2025–2026 frame Hill’s plan around sharpening product, marketing, and marketplace execution — and not relying on promos as the main lever.

C) Sports performance energy again (especially running)
Running is one of the clearest places where Nike can win without needing “hype.” It’s frequent purchase, large audience, and performance credibility. Reports on Hill’s changes highlight running momentum as a key bright spot.

Nike examples that fit the 2025 mood
2025 rewarded Nike most when Nike leaned into product + story + scarcity — not mass output. The whole conversation around “less random releases, more meaning” is exactly the point BoF makes with its examples (like limited runs and story-driven drops in Jordan/Nike categories).

3) Resale in 2025: not dead, just honest again

If your mental model of resale is still 2020–2022, you’ll misunderstand 2025.

In 2025, resale looked more like this:

- Most pairs do not explode.
- Premiums exist mostly when a shoe has scarcity + story (or a moment).
- The market is less about “easy flips” and more about “real demand.”

A useful snapshot comes from StockX’s 2025 reporting: ASICS sales up 45% YoY, and the GEL-1130 Black/Pure Silver as StockX’s best-selling sneaker of 2025.
That’s a resale platform telling you: the “runner aesthetic” is not just a trend — it’s what people are actually buying and wearing.

This is also why certain releases in 2025 could still command big premiums: not because the entire market was hot, but because a few releases cut through.

Takeaway: resale is no longer the engine of the whole culture — but it’s still a strong signal of where motivation and attention are concentrated.

4) The market isn’t “Nike-only” anymore — and that changes SOTY forever

One of the most important cultural changes of the last couple years is that people don’t need Nike to be excited.

Nike still leads in total gravity. But the culture now has real secondary stars. When that happens, “SOTY” turns into a fight, because different communities care about different lanes:

- collector lane
- performance lane
- women’s trend lane
- fashion lane
- skate lane
- basketball lane
- “quiet luxury runner” lane

And those lanes don’t always overlap.

That’s also why the “Nike bias” complaint became louder. If a list over-indexes on Nike/Jordan, it can feel disconnected from how the broader market actually moved.

5) The mainstream shift: football + running silhouettes took over daily wear

If you want the “why” behind 2025, don’t start with collabs. Start with what normal people bought.

BoF’s chart using Circana data shows a strong shift (Jan–Oct 2025 YoY):
football-inspired up, running-inspired up, while basketball and skate decline.

The important insight is not just “football is up.” It’s what football-style shoes represent:
- slim profile
- easy with almost any outfit
- lighter on foot
- more “walkable all day”

Running adds the comfort and performance signal. Together, football + running create the perfect 2025 mainstream formula: sleek + comfortable + versatile.

6) On’s rise: the premium performance-lifestyle brand that scaled

On is not just a hype brand — it’s a business story with numbers.

Full year 2024: On reported CHF 2,318.3m net sales, up 29.4% reported (33.2% constant currency), with 60.6% gross margin and CHF 242.3m net income.
That’s huge growth at premium positioning.

Q1 2025: On reported record net sales of CHF 726.6m, up 43.0% YoY (40.0% constant currency).
The release also breaks down strength across both DTC and wholesale — meaning it wasn’t just one channel doing the work.

Q3 2025: On continued to show strong momentum, reporting Q3 net sales growth and continued DTC/wholesale expansion.

Why On fits 2025 so well:

- It sits right at the intersection of performance credibility and clean everyday styling.
- It benefits from the market shift toward “one shoe you can wear everywhere.”
- Retailers can stock it confidently because it’s not dependent on limited drops.

Why “Cloud 6” matters in this conversation
Even BoF’s Trendalytics chart shows retailers increasing inventory on Cloud 6 — that’s a signal of where stores expect demand.

And On positions Cloud 6 as refined everyday comfort: a new sockliner for easier step-in, wider opening, and Speedboard engineered for all-day support.
That’s very aligned with 2025 demand: not a crazy collab, not a museum retro — just a shoe built for daily use.

7) Retail consolidation: Dick’s + Foot Locker and what it signals

One of the biggest structural stories of 2025 was retail consolidation.

Dick’s announced plans to acquire Foot Locker for $2.4 billion.
Reuters notes Foot Locker operated about 2,400 stores across 20 countries, and the deal was framed as a way for Dick’s to expand internationally and deepen sneaker presence.
Reuters later reported the acquisition was completed in September 2025.

So what’s the impact — and what does it prove?

A) This isn’t only a US story
Foot Locker’s footprint is international (20 countries per Reuters/AP), so consolidation impacts global distribution and brand strategies.

B) Retail wants scale again
For years, the story was “brands go DTC, retail loses power.”
This deal suggests the opposite can also happen: big retailers can rebuild leverage by combining scale, data, and distribution.

C) It signals sneakers are still strategically important
Companies don’t do multi-billion acquisitions in “dead categories.”
They do it when they believe they can reshape the market: better inventory control, better brand relationships, better store concepts, better global execution.

D) It reflects the new reality: fewer, stronger partners
Brands can’t treat every store the same anymore. Retailers can’t rely on endless hype. The market is moving toward fewer platforms that can execute well.

8) What “Sneaker of the Year” really means after 2025

2025 proved “SOTY” isn’t one definition anymore. It depends on the lens:

- If you care about resale heat: you’ll pick a shoe that created real premium.
- If you care about mainstream adoption: you’ll pick football/running icons.
- If you care about innovation: you’ll avoid retros completely.
- If you care about culture moments: you’ll follow storytelling and community impact.

And that’s why the debate was so loud: people aren’t arguing about one shoe — they’re arguing about what sneakers are supposed to be in the first place.

The healthiest sign is that people still care

The best takeaway from 2025 is not a single winner.

It’s that sneaker culture is still alive — just more mature:

- cooler hype
- more selective excitement
- stronger demand for comfort and function
 -and more room for brands outside Nike to win

If you want a simple prediction: 2026 will keep rewarding the same formula — wearability + story + performance credibility, with fewer “guaranteed” hype hits, but bigger wins when everything aligns.

Sources: Business of Fashion, Reuters, StockX, investors On Running, Business insider, news Nike.