For those who attended the Agenda Trade show last week in Las Vegas, you saw our installation of our picks for the best collaborations that happened last year.
The Agenda Trade Show is a forum for the most inspired in the streetwear and action sports industries to unite. Lines speak for themselves and buyers are not intimidated by the usual overwhelming tradeshow experience. From the garage-run lines on the verge of explosion, to the well-established elite, Agenda caters to the needs of buyers and brands that exist on a higher level of design and aesthetic. With a strong emphasis in style, art, music and culture, the Agenda experience is as much a lesson as it is a tool. SLAMXHYPE, together with Agenda, displayed the best efforts in the industry.
BEST RETRO’D COLLABORATION – ALIFE X REEBOK ‘RE – UP’
When this shoe originally came out in 2006, with a scarce 48 pairs, shoe collabs weren’t even really a thing yet. ALIFE was always a brand that pioneered change and advancement in the space, and this was one of those moments. Re issuing these classics in sneaker history is a big deal. It’s not only letting those who wanted it in the past get their chance, but also showing how long ALIFE has been in the game.
BEST TRIPLE LABEL COLLABORATION – ADIDAS X MAHARISHI X UNDFTD
While double labels make for great collaborations, its always interesting when three brands come together and create new product. The 3way collabo that brought the UK brand Maharishi to work with the Los Angeles brand Undftd and Adidas was special in its military meets streetwear aesthetic. The lineup included everything from outerwear to sweats, bottoms and accessories, which all feature maharishi’s signature camouflage motifs and Undefeated’s bold graphics.
BEST POP UP SHOP – CNCPTS X NEW BALANCE
This was without question the best pop up. If anyone knows CNCPTS, they know they’re heavily a Boston based boutique. When they announced they were opening a space in New York City, it really shook the ground. It meant something big was going to happen, and it did with the Rosés. The Rosé 997 was the first release utilizing the space, and it was executed perfectly. They served Rosé do everyone who came, and the space was totally built out for the sneaker (as they have been with every new release in that space).
BEST BOOT COLLABORATION – BBC X TIMBERLAND
It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Timberland was going to be apart of the best boot collab. Out of all the collabs they did last year, this one they did with Pharrell and the BBC boys stood out the most to us. It’s the contrast of work and class. Tims are a piece of footwear that any person can wear, doesn’t matter about race, class, or gender. The Timberland 6″ Boot is arguably one of the most well received articles of footwear to ever hit the market. There’s people that wear them to red carpet events while at the same time someone is throwing them away because they have worked them to death. Making a wing tip brogue rendition perfectly displays this contrast. It’s actually quite genius.
BEST ACCESSORY COLLABORATION – FRAGMENT DESIGN X BEATS BY DRE
Fragement Design touched a lot last year. Out of everything this Beats By Dre and Fragment Design team up to releasing a pair of audio accessories that includes the new Solo2 headphones & Beats Pill speaker was the best touch on the Dre headphones. Both feature a primarily white color-way with accents of chrome, making it more of piece of jewelry vs a set of electronics.
BEST USE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY – T.S.P.T.R. X PEANUTS COLLECTION
An acronym of ‘Truth Symmetry Pleasure Taste Recognition,’ from “father of modernism” Louis Sullivan’s principles of design, British label TSPTR killed it last year with their rendition of Snoopy and the gang. A lot of brands worked with the Peanuts license last year (Coach Bape, MTTM), but these guys knew what they were doing and created a collection that included jackets, shirts, caps, sweatshirts, socks, totes, a collaborative bag with Topo Designs, and even a baseball pennant. They dived in deeper with the IP than anyone else and owned it.
BEST T-SHIRT COLLABORATION – NATUREL X STAPLE “Till Death” TEE
Staple collaborated with current “IT” illustrator/artist Naturel in what we believe was the perfect tee using one of the world’s most known logo, the Jump man. The Naturel twist was perfect, he turned Jordan into a skeleton, stripped him of his sneakers and gave him red Timberland boots, and instead of a basketball the skeleton carried a bunch of red roses. To further tie-in the Jordan sneaker story the shirt was printed with all-over gray specs which to us was another subtle nod to the Jordan brand’s cement accents. Genius? Clever? We say both and a perfect tee that sums up our love for kicks and timbs.
BEST HAT COLLABORATION – MIGHTY HEALTHY X KEVIN LYON “ROTTEN APPLE” 5 PANEL
Being New York based we are a bit biased when it comes to products with a New York theme or in this case one that also references a Nas lyric and what we all know about this great city (that it can be rotten). Using the artist Kevin Lyons to design a limited hat that pokes fun at our corrupt city, is damn near perfect.
BEST CAPSULE COLLABORATION – FUTURA X CROOKS & CASTLES “LEWDS” COLLECTION
The tragic passing of Crooks & Castles marketing director Lewds yielded inspiration for a perfect capsule collection with the legendary graphic designer and OG painter, Futura. The coming together of the brand with the graffiti/design icon is enough to eclipse all other collections but the execution was tasteful, clean, and classic. Futura’s handstyles graced the garments in just the right places giving it an athletic and moto feel while still keeping the Crooks & Castles identity intact if not further strengthening their ascension into street wear royalty.
BEST OVERALL SNEAKER COLLABORATION – BLACK SCALE X ADIDAS
The collaboration between Black Scale which we see as a bit of dark brand with occult leanings and the athletic giant was perfect in the delivery of color (purple, red, white, green, black) and camo patterns in the ZX7000 silhouette. The sneaker looks mean. Add to that the clean take on the Consortium Forum with lots of white contrasted by the red camo toe and you have another bold statement in footwear. Not too many brands were so bold in pushing camo and color and for that we salute this release.
BEST OUTWEAR COLLABORATION – SUPREME X CHAMPION
Almost everything that Supreme touches seems to turn to gold and this release is no different. Working with Champion the brand released this collaborative reversible jacket with one side heavy on the camo tip and the other side on the athletic tip – basically the best of both worlds.