The footwear obsessed folks over at Sneaker Freaker compiled Best of The Best 2007, a comprehensive analysis of the years coolest kicks. Although Adidas, Puma, New Balance and smaller more boutique brands like Visvim and Clae have had a solid year, Nike remains the most dominant player in the game.

Click here to read what some of the industries most prolific artists, designers, and brand founders had to say about their favorites of the year.

The AP’s predictions for sneakers/sneaker culture in 2008:

1. Overly flamboyant color-ways, polka dots and flashy materials will be out. The demand for simple, basic and more classic looking designs will return.

2. Brands will work hard to keep their prized designs off of streetwear/sneaker websites and rely more on organic growth and marketing. Nowadays, before a shoe is even available for purchase it’s been hyped to hell by all the mainstream blogs, ultimately killing its appeal within a few short hours. Senseless circulation of sneaker news will become frowned upon and the importance of analysis and commentary will return. Therefore Hypebeast, Formatmag, Highsnobiety and Slamxhype will all have to stop recycling each-others posts and actually generate content of substance.

3. Streetwear/sneaker culture as an industry will have to reevaluate what it stands for and how it positions itself within the fashion market. Brands will be forced to define their relevance through well-designed quality products and will no longer be able to rely solely on celebrity/fellow brand endorsements. Brand x brand collaborations are also tired and will likely be very unfashionable in 08′.

As of now, some of the most respected brands within the streetwear community are as bargain bin as FUBU was in the late 90’s. It’s time for some of the key players to step-up and invigorate the scene, otherwise streetwear will self-destruct and ultimately be remembered as a fad where young people dressed like clowns.

Those that want to succeed in the now overly saturated market will have to take it back to the basics. Large over sized logos, bright and bold colors and excessive pattern work are all out. High-quality crisp tees, well-fitted jeans, button ups and low-key neutral colors will all make a comeback.

Related Post: The Top 10 Sneaker Collaboration Commandments