Nigel Sylvester’s Jordan 4 “Brick by Brick” release earlier this year was the top collaboration in 2025, according to a new report by brand tracking platform Tracksuit and Bimma Collab Consultancy founder Bimma Williams.
In the new 2025 Collab of the Year Report, Williams and Tracksuit said that Sylvester’s “Bike Air” universe “hums at a frequency [Jordan Brand] cannot generate on its own, the same way Michael Jordan made the Jordan 4 immortal with The Shot in ‘89.”
“When Nigel drove a giant brick truck through Nolita and shut the street down, it landed like a modern echo of the same message: I built this sh*t, brick by brick,” the report stated. “And in a year stacked with collaborations, he is the one who made Jordan feel dangerous again.”
You May Also Like
A few data points also prove Williams and Tracksuit’s declaration, with 86 percent of respondents saying the collab had a chemistry with a “strong fit,” and 77 percent saw the collab as “surprising.” Of those survey, 76 percent liked the collab and 69 percent said they would talk about it or share it.
According to Tracksuit, the study blends data from over 2,000 U.S. consumers with cultural insight from Bimma’s Collab Cousins, a global network of creators, journalists, strategists, and operators, to pinpoint what makes a partnership truly effective.
Tracksuit and Williams also developed the “COLLAB” Index, a scoring system designed to measure the cultural and commercial impact of brand partnerships. It combines Tracksuit’s consumer data with expert evaluations from Collab Cousins to create a unified score that reflects both what people felt and why it mattered.
The Index evaluates each collaboration across six dimensions that connect cultural resonance to brand growth: Chemistry, Originality, Legacy, Leadership, Audience engagement, and Brand energy.
“Sneakers combine design, identity and storytelling, making them a strong measure of what drives both hype and long-term brand equity,” Williams said in a statement. “Every drop is a live test of how a brand shows up in culture and what truly connects with audiences.”
Rounding out the top five collaborations of 2025, the report stated that the New Balance x Joe Freshgoods 992 “Aged Well” was No. 2, the Undefeated x Jordan 4 (2025 Retro) was No. 3, the Awake NY x Air Jordan 5 “Arctic Pink” was No. 4, and the Nike x A’ja Wilson “A’One” was No. 5.
Other highlights were the Converse x Shai Gilgeous-Alexander “Shai 1” at No. 6, the Nike x Tom Sachs “Mars Yard 3.0” at No. 7, the Bape x Kidsuper “A Super Ape” at No. 8, the Adidas x Pharrell Williams “Jellyfish” at No. 9, and the Nike x Yu-Gi-Oh! x Air Muscle 95 coming in at No. 10.
Aside from these rankings, Williams and Tracksuit gathered other key insights about the sneaker realm. Of these, the duo found that the highest-impact collaborations traded mass exposure for precision and authenticity.
The report also showed that representation drives resonance, citing the A’ja Wilson × Nike “A’One,” which scored exceptionally among women (80 percent likeability) and Black consumers (82 percent), proving that designing with communities – not around them – creates momentum.
“The strongest collaborations don’t chase virality. They build meaning,” Matt Herbert, cofounder of Tracksuit, added. “When brands design for the right audience with the right partner, they create depth instead of noise.”
