If you’re a streetwear fan it’s safe to assume 2022 has been incredibly kind to you. From dope sneakers to hot apparel drops, our favorite brands delivered consistently throughout the year for the first time in a minute. After two years of pandemic-induced uncertainty, in 2022 streetwear has felt truly vital.
From big brands like Supreme and Adidas to smaller labels like A Ma Maniére and Cactus Plant Flea Market, all our favorite brands brought their A-games to the table this year — producing all sorts of unexpected brand collaborations and team-ups, sure to level up your wardrobe and have you looking like the freshest person in the room. Whether you’re looking for new apparel to elevate your style or completely change your look or a fresh pair of kicks that’ll have everyone from sneakerheads to casual fashionistas drooling with envy, these collaborations represent the best 2022 has had to offer.
Supreme x Burberry
Any ideas you have about Supreme being a subversive and rebellious youth brand, get rid of them. That’s not what Supreme is anymore, the brand is far from its roots, ditching endless drops of graphic t-shirts for high-end brand collaborations.
It’s sad to see the brand stray so far from its roots (though this isn’t the first time,) but you know what? It also totally works. This is the most vital Supreme has looked in a while and if they have to link up with high-end luxury brands to do it, who cares?
The collection featured jackets, shirts, hats, slides, and luxurious silk pieces, all dressed in Burberry’s iconic color palette with minimal Supreme branding throughout. We never thought we’d see the day when you could buy Supreme branded silk pajamas or that silk pajamas would ever be considered streetwear in the first place, but hey, welcome to 2022.
Shop the Supreme x Burberry collection at your favorite aftermarket site.
Bad Bunny x Adidas Blue Sky Forum
For just over a year now, Adidas has been linking up with Bad Bunny for new iterations on the Forum, Response CL, and Powerphase silhouettes, but this summer’s sky-blue Forum is the best the collaboration has ever looked. Inspired by the beaches and blue skies of Puerto Rico, the Blue Sky Forum featured a low-rise chunky silhouette with a stylish buckle in a monochromatic colorway.
The sneaker sported a mixed leather and suede upper with Bad Bunny iconography on the tongue logo. If Adidas is looking for a replacement for Ye (and we’re sure they are) they might already have it in Bad Bunny. He’s only dropped four sneakers with the brand, but each has been better than the next.
We’re excited to see how this collaboration continues to grow.
Pick up a pair of Bad Bunny x Adidas Blue Sky Forums at aftermarket sites like GOAT.
Cactus Plant Flea Market x McDonald’s
Cynthia Lu’s Cactus Plant Flea Market is one of the hottest brands right now. Beloved by everyone from Frank Ocean to Playboi Carti, few brands in 2022 are quite as beloved by the hype beasts as CPFM — to the point where it feels like each new collection from the brand is an instant hit. Case in point, the latest collection with McDonald’s.
Dropped as part of McDonald’s Adult Happy Meal promotion, Cactus Plant Flea Market made four figurines that retranslated classic McDonald’s characters in CPFM’s unique aesthetic, and while the toys were hyped and are currently selling on sites like eBay for jaw-dropping amounts of money, the real highlight of the collection was the apparel.
The Apparel collection consisted of long-sleeve shirts, t-shirts, hoodies, and sweaters with simple McDonald’s graphics designed by CPFM. It’s the coolest McDonald’s has ever looked in the fast food brand’s entire history and serves as a testament to the power of Cynthia Lu’s design philosophy.
Shop the Cactus Plant Flea Market McDonalds capsule at aftermarket sites like StockX.
Palace x New Balance 580
Palace and New Balance are two brands that are absolutely killing it in 2022, so it’s only natural that the two entities teamed up. For Palace’s first team-up with New Balance, the brand didn’t just drop a new 550 or 990 and call it a day. They could have, and it definitely would’ve sold out, but instead, the brand did something big and we appreciate them for that — they revived the 580 silhouette.
The 580 was a staple of New Balance’s catalog in the ‘90s but the sneaker silhouette had been forgotten until Palace stepped in. For Palace’s 580 the entire upper was draped in hairy suede with a speckled midsole and vintage-inspired dual branding. It opened the gate for even more 580s, including last week’s Stray Rats take on the shoe, which is also pretty notable. We have to give the spot on our list to the OG though.
If the 2010s were all about Supreme and Nike, then the ‘20s belong to Palace and NB.
Find the Palace x New Balance 580s at aftermarket sites like GOAT.
Prada x Adidas Re-Nylon
Prada and Adidas have been working together for a while now, and for the two brand’s third collaboration they dropped an expansive 21-piece collection that consisted of athleisure-inspired basics done in Prada’s high-end minimalist aesthetic.
While the rest of the fashion world prioritizes loose and baggy silhouettes, Prada and Nylon kept things clean and sharp with stylish bucket hats, zip-ups, long jackets, and sleek sneaker silhouettes. The collection is named for the use of Re-Nylon, a new fabric out of Adidas made from recycled plastic waste collected from oceans, fishing nets, and fiber waste that can, according to Adidas, be recycled indefinitely.
We always champion sustainability in fashion, but what makes this collection truly special is that each piece was crafted in Italy by actual Prada artisans.
Shop the Prada x Adidas Re-Nylon collection at aftermarket sites like StockX.
Yohji Yamamoto x New Era Autumn/Winter Collection
Streetwear isn’t what it used to be. What was once a style aesthetic primarily focused on dope graphic t-shirts and hoodies has since become interchangeable with the sort of stuff you’d find on a New York Fashion Week runway. So anytime a brand reaches back into the roots and offers something simple, it catches our attention, like Yohji Yamamoto’s Fall and Winter collection with New Era.
Ironically, Yohji Yamamoto is the type of brand that helped to elevate streetwear into high fashion, but the brand has always had an appreciation for the simplicity of early streetwear and in linking up with Buffalo-based headwear brand New Era, the two brands were able to pay homage to streetwear’s roots with a collection of simple baggy graphic t-shirts and hats.
The t-shirts were inspired by Yamamoto’s take on the mikaeri-bijin artwork of the ukiyo-e woodblock artists of Japan’s Edo period retranslated through a more contemporary lens.
Shop the Yohji Yamamoto x New Era Fall/Winter 2022 Capsule collection at the Yohji Yamamoto webstore.
Balmain X Barbie
Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling has put the famous doll back in the spotlight and the fashion world was quick to use that as an opportunity for a grip of Barbie-inspired clothing collections. The best collection so far has been by way of French luxury brand Balmain, who teamed up with the people at Mattel for a 50-piece collection of ’90s-inspired fits dipped in Barbie pink colorways.
The collection features everything from men’s silk suits, to bodycon dresses, jackets, pants, and accessories printed with Barbie-inspired fonts and a whole lot of pink. A notable thing about this collection is that it’s probably the only Barbie-branded thing to be decidedly unisex in its branding.
Shop the Balmain x Barbie collection at aftermarket sites like StockX.
Moncler x Hiroshi Fujiwara Maya 70 Jacket
In celebration of Moncler’s 70th anniversary, the outerwear brand has been linking up with labels and designers to redesign its iconic glossy Maya puffer jacket. The brand first linked up with Palm Angels’ Thom Browne, but the most notable new take on the jacket comes by way of Fragment Design’s Hiroshi Fujiwara.
You may know Fragment Design as the brand behind Travis Scott’s best Jordan collaboration, and they’ve brought a sporty approach to Monclear’s Maya puffer by infusing it with a varsity-jacket-inspired look, altering the silhouette by giving it a sleeker shape.
It’s a radical reimagining of a classic jacket that actually manages to improve on the original design, which is no easy feat when you’re talking about the very puffer jacket that made puffer jackets cool in the first place.
Buy the Hiroshi Fujiwara x Moncler Maya 70 Jacket at aftermarket sites like StockX.
A Ma Maniére Air Jordan 2 Airness
Watch out Union, A Ma Maniére is coming from your crown as the best Jordan collaborator. The Atlanta-based brand has consistently dropped some of the best Jordan collaborations to date and this year’s Air Jordan 2 Airness is the best the silhouette has ever looked. The sneaker delivers on the original concept of the Peter Moore-designed sneaker by giving this ahead-of-its-time silhouette the full luxury treatment.
Featuring a premium leather upper with quilted lining and a faux snakeskin midsole, the A Ma Maniére Air Jordan 2 Airness is the most luxurious the sneaker has ever looked, and since the original concept of the shoe was to create something that Michael Jordan could rock on the court and at the golf club, we feel like this sneaker truly delivered on the original idea dreamed up by the late Moore. We only wish he was still around to see it.
Find the A Ma Maniére Air Jordan 2 Airness at aftermarket sites like GOAT.