The 10 Most Anticipated Sneaker Releases Still Coming in 2026
The back half of 2026 is about to run the sneaker calendar into the ground, and honestly, we're not mad about it. Between anime crossovers, a 30th-anniversary movie tie-in getting the full retail treatment twice, a rookie signature debut, and Jordan Brand doing what Jordan Brand does every holiday season, the next four months are stacked. We went through the calendar and pulled the ten drops we're actually circling, ranked by how much noise they're going to make when they land. If your Nike account isn't already logged in on three devices, get on that now.
10. Air Jordan 4 “BIN 23”
Closing the year out is the most expensive shoe on this list, and it's not close. The Air Jordan 4 “BIN 23” drops December 26 for $355, wrapped in a Fauna Brown suede and premium leather build that leans full Wild West — layered brown tones, Gym Red accents, a wax-seal stamp on the heel, laser-etched tongue detailing. Jordan Brand is keeping this one to roughly 2,300 pairs, which is the whole point of a BIN 23 release: it's not for the timeline, it's for the collectors who already know what this is. Grail energy, priced like it.
9. Air Jordan 3 “Santa”
Jordan does Christmas better than almost anybody in the game, and the “Santa” AJ3 dropping November 21 for $215 proves it again. University Red upper, white accents on the tongue and midsole, that elephant print wrapped subtly around the toe and heel. The real flex is inside the shoe — special insoles depicting Santa climbing through a chimney in an Air Jordan 1, pulled straight from a vintage 1985 Nike Christmas ad. That's the kind of archival detail that separates a real holiday release from a lazy red-and-white paint job.
8. Air Jordan 5 “Halloween”
October 17, $220, and yes, it glows. The Air Jordan 5 “Halloween” goes full black suede up top with glow-in-the-dark green hitting the Jumpman logos, the embroidered 23 near the heel, and the Nike Air branding on the back — and the translucent outsole glows right along with it. Picante Red cuts through the shark-teeth midsole for contrast. This is a shoe built for a very specific kind of person: the one who's still going to be wearing Jordans on October 31st and wants them to actually match the holiday.
7. Nike Caitlin 1 “Mint”
We don't have a confirmed retail date on this one yet — Caitlin Clark posted it herself on Instagram on August 21 and the sneaker internet hasn't slept since. Mint green on the toebox fading into racer blue toward the heel, a multi-Swoosh logo mixing chrome, mint, and gold, a matching mint outsole. Whether “Mint” ends up a full release or stays a player exclusive, the Caitlin 1 line launching October 1 is already one of the bigger sports storylines of the year. This will elevate the shit out of women's basketball sneaker culture, and we're here for every colorway leak between now and launch.
6. Air Jordan 4 “London”
Jordan Brand's City Series has been quietly one of the best things they've done in years, and “London” might be the hardest entry yet. Dropping this fall for $220, it's a weathered black upper with Red Bark, Dark Smoke Grey, and Hemp running through worn-in suede and nubuck. The heel tab swaps “AIR” for “LDN,” the inner tongue reads “No Excuses,” and it ships with a custom Nike LDN hangtag. This is a shoe that understands the city it's named after instead of just slapping a flag on a colorway.
5. J Balvin x Air Jordan 4 “Lemonade”
J Balvin's Jordan run has always been about color, and “Lemonade” turns it all the way up — an all-yellow AJ4, his signature face logo on the heel, louder than anything he's done with the silhouette before. This one lands fall 2026 for $225 through select retailers and Nike.com. Say what you want about musician sneaker collabs saturating the market, but Balvin's Jordans have consistently been collectible instead of forgettable, and this is arguably his boldest one yet.
4. Air Jordan 9 OG “Space Jam”
September 19, $215, and this is the shoe Michael Jordan actually wore in the movie. The Air Jordan 9 OG “Space Jam” returns for the film's 30th anniversary in White/True Red-Black — white leather upper, black nubuck on the mudguard and collar, True Red hitting the Jumpman, the tongue branding, and the 23 on the heel. Jordan Brand rebuilt it to authentically replicate the original construction instead of phoning in a modern reissue, and for a silhouette this tied to a specific cultural moment, that attention to detail matters.
3. One Piece x Nike Air Max Plus “Devil Fruits”
Anime and streetwear have been circling each other for years, and this is one of the collabs that actually gets it right. Nike's Air Max Plus “Devil Fruits” collection pulls three colorways straight from the source material — Gomu Gomu in Space Purple and Atomic Green for Luffy's rubber powers, Mera Mera in Brilliant Orange and Kumquat for Ace and Sabo's fire, Ope Ope in Very Berry for Trafalgar Law. Each pair is $180, SP-designated, rolling out through SNKRS and select shops starting in September. If you grew up on One Piece and grew into sneakers at the same time, this collection was made for you specifically.
2. Air Jordan 11 “Monstars”
Space Jam turns 30 this year and Jordan Brand is treating it like the milestone it is. The Air Jordan 11 “Monstars,” also known as “Green Screen,” drops November 16 for $255 in a full green suede build with a glow-in-the-dark outsole — a direct nod to the actual green-screen setup used to film the movie before the Monstars were animated in. Special insoles, themed branding, full 30th Anniversary Space Jam packaging. The Concord and Bred 11s get all the attention every retro season, but this is the one that's actually rooted in the story behind the film, and that's what makes it the standout of Jordan's Space Jam push this year.
1. adidas x Pokémon 30th Anniversary Collection
Nothing else on this list is touching the scale of what adidas is doing with Pokémon. Twelve pairs. Multiple silhouettes. Superstars done up in Pikachu, Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard. A Samba OG, a Spezial, and a ZX 8000 all built around Mewtwo. An Adistar XLG 2.0 for Gengar, Adistar Control colorways for Gastly, Haunter, and Rayquaza, even an F50 boot getting the Rayquaza treatment. Prices run $110 to $180 across the board when it drops in September, with apparel releasing alongside it. This isn't a shoe, it's an entire collection built for a generation that grew up catching them all and never actually stopped. 1000% the biggest sneaker moment of the fall, no debate.
That's the run-in to the holidays. Bookmark this, come back in a few months, and see how many of these you actually copped versus how many you just watched sell out on the timeline.
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