I don’t like NMD’s particularly. Well, I actually dislike most of them; I feel like they are a lower level Yeezy Boost 350 aimed at people who couldn’t get their hands on the Yeezy. This is a clever step for Adidas to take of course, but it is obvious what they are doing. It’s only the third shoe Adidas have released featuring a full Primeknit upper and Boost technology. Behind the Yeezy 350 and Ultra Boost, both of which are hugely successful.
But my dislike for the theory behind the sneaker and the connotations it carries doesn’t stop me from making one of the versions my favourite sneaker so far this year. So how can I have such conflicting opinions? Well, the NMD City Sock has no laces for a start; and it has a very individual colourway and pattern. If you aren’t aware of the NMD City Sock, below is a picture:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BC-z6FBriTc/?taken-by=adidasoriginals
It came out amongst all the other NMD’s on a pretty typical weekend; every weekend seems to have an NMD release this year. But this NMD, along with the Chukka Boot version, is very different to all the rest and really deserves more attention. It really is a full Primeknit upper; no laces or extra detail apart from one Yeezy-inspired Suede patch on the instep.
So why is it better than everything else released this year? Well what new silhouettes have released this year? Well there’s the NMD City Sock, NMD Chukka and the NMD Runner (different to the Primeknit version). There haven’t been any other new silhouettes that have been huge. Nike has largely been lazy and just used Air Max Day as an excuse to put out more mediocre sneakers. The Air Max 1 Safari that got released was nothing special due to the lump of fur all over it and the Air Max 1 Kumquat used that desirable mini-swoosh to drive sales.
All of that; the Adidas innovation matched by Nike doing very little is what makes this my sneaker of the year so far. But we are only a third of the way through the year. A lot can change by the end of the year.
The Asphalt 