The Most Unnecessary Lifestyle Colorways for Basketball Sneakers

Year: 2007

Nike scored a minor hit in the 2000s with the Zoom BB, a shoe that was heralded as a sleek performer. That was pretty much the only thing it had going for it though, and a brown suede upper sure didn’t carry the silhouette to a life off court.

Year: 2008

The Air Force 25 actually looked more like a lifestyle sneaker than a modern performance model when it released in 2008. So when a blitz of NBA team-based colorways dropped, it made sense on paper, until you took into account the even bigger onslaught of actual Air Force 1s at the time, which any self-respecting sneakerhead choose over the AF25 for casual wear.

Year: 2012

It’s almost shocking that the Air More Uptempo was able to make a comeback and have the success it’s enjoying today after this House of Hoops-exclusive disaster. At the rate the new colorways are coming though, it’s probably only a matter of time until this one is one-upped.

Year: 2005

Make no mistake, a wheat colorway can work on a hoops shoe. But rather than the buttery nubuck the style is known for, this Total Foamposite Max had a sheen more reminiscent of smeared peanut butter.

Year: 2012

When the best compliment you can give a shoe is that from afar, it might look like an Air Jordan 7 covered in fake Gucci print, it's probably reflective of an idea best left on the drawing board.

Year: 2016

It’s difficult to call a sneaker premium when the cost-cutting split in the leather made it hard to tell if you were looking at the lateral or medial side of the shoe.

Year: 2013

When you think of NBA players and style, Derrick Rose isn’t one of the first names to come to mind. That’s not a criticism of Rose, but it did make for a surprising choice when Adidas dropped this high-fashion take on his signature basketball line. Jeremy Scott never made less sense.

Year: 2016

While we can appreciate the storytelling behind the “Dress Code” Question Mid, what we can’t co-sign is the look of throwing all of the elements of an early 2000s outfit onto a single sneaker.

Year: 2015

Thanks to its sheer size, the Air Command Force is a tough look to pull off, period. But dressing it head to toe in bleached denim leaves one with few options, other than leaving it on the shelf.

Year: 2017

There’s no doubt that the Zoom Flight 95 has a cult following among fans of ‘90s basketball sneakers. The problem is that none of them were looking for the model to come back in a lifestyle colorway that looks like it was inspired by a Band-Aid.