Have Collaborations Lost Their Meaning?

When did everything become a collab? Sneakers, streetwear, luxury fashion, tech, fast food, and so on. And when our Sneaker of the Year list came out filled with nothing but collabs, you guys cooked us for it. Maybe points were made. But now we're making collabs out of the collabs, and so I have to ask: when did we lose the plot?

A collaboration is about two parties coming together to create something new. But somewhere along the way, we went from collaborating on ideas to collaborating on audiences. Because when you start seeing a chicken wing on a Croc or an Aaliyah x Sacai collab in 2026, you have to ask yourself, who the f*** is this for?

Think about Virgil Abloh's Nike "The Ten" or his Ikea collab. Both brought fresh perspectives to everyday products and challenged how we looked at them. They weren't just products, they were cultural moments. And no, every collab doesn't need to be groundbreaking. But make it make sense. Nike teaming up with TDR, a Bronx-based creative studio, on a Goadome Low makes sense. But why is there a Gap x Los Tacos collab? Margiela and Supreme? Makes sense. But did we need Supreme and Fiji?

Some of the best collabs right now are coming from smaller brands and independent creators, people who are actually bringing fresh ideas to the table and giving us something and someone to root for again. We've become so obsessed with two names coming together that we stopped asking what they're actually coming together to do. Collabs used to be about creative visions coming together, and now it's about customer bases coming together to sell more product.

But as consumers, we're part of the problem too. We complain about oversaturation, then turn around and buy the next drop. It’s why a Kirkland Dunk released at Costco is reselling for up to $1,000. At some point, we stopped buying the product and started buying the fact that it was a collaboration. And that's why it won't stop. The drops will continue, they'll sell out, and brands will make their bread. But selling out doesn't automatically mean something matters.