Nina Chanel Abney's Elevated Air Jordan 2 Capsule Ignites This Week's Best Footwear Drops
Stone Island’s New Balance FuelCell RC Elite V2 collabs, the Supreme x Vans Skate Grosso Mid assemblage and more are also dropping.
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All of the fireworks shows and barbeque cookouts surrounding the celebrations of Fourth of July have now concluded, and we’re now headed into the first full week of the new month. As usual, sneaker brands such as Nike, Jordan Brand and Converse have got a fresh assortment of new colorways in their cannon to launch out this week, but before we dive into those, let’s first do a quick summary of all of the biggest sneaker news from last week.
On HYPEBEAST‘s Sole Mates front, we had the opportunity to sit down with Pandu Polo, one of Indonesia’s biggest sneaker aficionados, to discuss sneaker culture in his country as well as his love for the UNDEFEATED x Nike Dunk High NL. For news, Nike made a splash last week as well with new unveilings as we captured the first looks of the HUF x Nike SB Dunk Low collection, Social Status announced release info for its Air Max Penny 1 iterations and Union LA unveiled two more Cortez team-ups. Jordan Brand teased a handful of eye-catching installments as the Air Jordan 1 Utility Stash “Quai 54” emerged, a grayscale Air Jordan 1 KO offering appeared and detailed shots of the Air Jordan 1 High OG “Twist 2.0” popped up.
Exciting items from the adidas family also trickled out. The Three Stripes brand officially announced its highly-anticipated adiFOM Q model, previewed an Orketro collaboration with Sean Wotherspoon and showed off new collaborations with Craig Green for his SS23 show. Other enticing footwear products that were brought up include that of the COMME des GARÇONS HOMME x New Balance 550 in “Black,” Sneaker Freaker, atmos and ASICS’ GEL-LYTE III OG “Alley Cats” collaboration and New Balance’s newly-crafted Clog.
All caught up? Perfect. Sift through this week’s best releases here below, and be sure to browse the HBX online store for more footwear styles.
Nike Air Bo Turf
Nike
Nike
Nike
Release Date: July 6
Release Price: $140 USD
Where to Buy: SNKRS
Why You Should Cop: The 80s and 90s was an era known for its incredible athletes, and one of the most respected two-sport players during this time was Bo Jackson. He was an absolute beast on the gridiron, but also showed off his impressive skills on the baseball field. And Nike is honoring him with the reincarnation of his Air Bo Turf — a model that first debuted in 1992. The low-cut kicks are equipped with lockdown cables on the lateral and medial panels and arrive embellished with 34” hits on the heels of the right shoe to call out his jersey number while his signature motto “Bo Knows” shows face on the insoles.
Nike Air Jordan 1 Low FlyEase “Bio Hack”
Nike
Nike
Nike
Release Date: July 6
Release Price: $130 USD
Where to Buy: Nike
Why You Should Cop: Jordan Brand has a penchant for referencing its previously used color schemes to fashion modern iterations. In 2020, the brand introduced an Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG “Bio Hack” makeup, and this multi-colored ensemble has been summoned once again to fit the Air Jordan 1 Low FlyEase. The handicap-friendly installment mimics everything to a tee from the green midsoles to the navy and brown overlays to the teal toe boxes and silver Swooshes.
New Balance 990v2 Made In USA “Sea Salt”
New Balance
New Balance
New Balance
Release Date: July 7
Release Price: $195 USD
Where to Buy: New Balance
Why You Should Cop: After getting an initial release through an Aimé Leon Dore raffle, the New Balance 990v2 Made In USA “Sea Salt” is now gearing up for a wider release. The Teddy Santis-designed offering is fashioned with smooth leather overlays that are supplied with its titular shade as well “Rain Cloud” accents that are sprinkled to the toe boxes, N logos and heels. Creamy hits are applied to the midsoles, tongues and laces to provide somewhat of a vintage look and feel.
A-COLD-WALL* x Converse Sponge Crater “Dark Grey”
Converse
Converse
Converse
Release Date: July 7
Release Price: $110 USD
Where to Buy: SNKRS
Why You Should Cop: Clogs continue to soar in popularity, and because of this, sportswear brands have been one-by-one buying into the movement with their own renditions. And the latest to jump on the wagon is Converse who has, in partnership with with A-COLD-WALL*, fashioned its own Sponge Crater model. Samuel Ross once again lends his contemporary design expertise to the One Star brand to create a new model with a knitted base, spandex collar and an egg-crate style traction pod.
New Balance 990v2 Made In USA “Black”
New Balance
New Balance
New Balance
Release Date: July 7
Release Price: $195 USD
Where to Buy: New Balance
Why You Should Cop: A flurry of 990 colorways continue to spew out from the New Balance team thanks to the mind of Teddy Santis. His creative direction over the brand’s Made in USA collection has been extremely well received thus far, and this week he’s adding a 990v2 “Black” colorway with creamy white accents to the mix.
NOCTA x Nike Hot Step “Triple Black”
Nike
Nike
Nike
Release Date: July 6
Release Price: $180 USD
Where to Buy: SNKRS
Why You Should Cop: After dropping his seventh studio album HONESTLY, NEVERMIND and making a surprise appearance at the Backstreet Boys concert in Toronto, Drake is now capturing your attention once again for his footwear collaborations. The OVO rapper is giving his fans another shot to cop his NOCTA x Nike Hot Step “Triple Black installment which initially dropped back in March. Everything from the stealthy uppers to the metallic Swooshes to the tongue’s NOCTA branding are kept intact.
Supreme x Vans Skate Grosso Mid
Supreme
Supreme
Supreme
Supreme
Release Date: July 7
Release Price: TBC
Where to Buy: Supreme
Why You Should Cop: Supreme and Vans continue to build upon their expansive collaborations catalog this week as they have just announced their latest Skate Grosso Mid collection. Three colorways are included in this launch, all of which feature original bullet hole artwork by Nate Lowman. Contrast stitching, Grosso tongue tags and the usual Vans tags also make their way onto the shoes.
Nina Chanel Abney x Air Jordan 2 Collection
Nike
Nike
Nike
Nike
Nike
Nike
Release Date: July 8
Release Price: $225-$250 USD
Where to Buy: SNKRS
Why You Should Cop: AThe Air Jordan 2 is having the biggest year it’s ever had thanks to the array of collaborators that have been granted the access to rework it. And this week, African American contemporary artist Nina Chanel Abney gets the chance to introduce not one, but two fresh takes of the AJ2. The sleek shape of the ‘86 icon is retained, however Abney smoothes out the collars and quarter panels to create more of an understated-yet-elevated look.
Stone Island x New Balance Tokyo Design Studio FuelCell RC ELITE V2
Stone Island
Release Date: July 8
Release Price: $225 USD
Where to Buy: HBX
Why You Should Cop: After linking up last Fall, Stone Island and New Balance Tokyo Design Studio are reconvening to produce two FuelCell RC Elite V2 colorways. Each is treated with knitted uppers and rely on on bold neon accents to do most of the heavy lifting. Like its predecessor, Stone Island’s compass rose dons and a New Balance graphic decorate the upper.
Nike Dunk Low “Lisa Leslie”
Nike
Nike
Nike
Release Date: July 9
Release Price: $130 USD
Where to Buy: SNKRS
Why You Should Cop:
When talking about the greatest legends of the WNBA, you always have to include Lisa Leslie in the conversation. The two-time champion transcended the game exponentially and so Nike has decided to honor her with a special Dunk Low colorway to mark her anniversary of becoming the first woman to dunk in a WNBA game. The forthcoming makeup is done up in Los Angeles Sparks colors of purple and gold and comes complemented with a teal check. In addition, a “9” adorns the heel to call out her jersey number.
