Sneaker Blogs to Follow: Five Sites and What Each One Covers
Sneaker blogs are websites that publish release dates, news and buying guides, and five of them are worth reading to stay sneaker-savvy: Complex Sneakers, Hypebeast, Highsnobiety, Sneaker News and Kicks On Fire. All five run release-date pages in the copies we read. We checked each one on 7 October 2026 against its own pages, an archived copy or news reports.
- Complex Sneakers: part of Complex, which Wikipedia says was established in 2002 as a print magazine.
- Hypebeast: founded in 2005, according to the Hypebeast Group page, with a Drops page for releases.
- Highsnobiety: founded in 2005 and headquartered in Berlin, according to its company page, with a Drop Calendar.
- Sneaker News: founded in 2006, according to its About page as archived on 1 January 2026, with release-date pages and a database called Kicksfinder.
- Kicks On Fire: a copyright line starting in 2003 on its home page as archived on 27 December 2024, with a Release Dates page.
What is Complex Sneakers known for?
Complex Sneakers is the sneaker section of Complex, which began as a print magazine in 2002. Variety reported on 21 February 2024 that BuzzFeed had closed the sale of Complex to NTWRK.
The section’s front page is titled “Latest News, Release Dates & Guides”, and as of 7 October 2026 its lead stories include a buying guide, “Best Sneakers to Buy on Sale: October 2026”, and a release guide, “J Balvin x Air Jordan 4: October 2026 Air Jordan Release Dates”.
The buying-guide habit goes back to the magazine. Aaron Levant, whom The Hollywood Reporter called the new CEO of Complex in February 2024, said the print edition was half celebrity editorial and half a men’s buyers guide, “all about the coolest sneakers you could buy, the best streetwear”. Complex also runs Sneaker Shopping, an interview series with host Joe La Puma.
What happened to Sole Collector?
Sole Collector was a sneaker site that Complex Media bought in 2013 and later folded into Complex. Business Insider reported the purchase on 14 March 2013, and said the site had started in 2003 as an online forum and had grown to nearly 400,000 users by then.
In June 2023, Detailed reported that Complex had redirected SoleCollector to a directory on Complex.com at /sneakers, so the old site’s pages opened on Complex instead. We could not open solecollector.com on 7 October 2026 to confirm that the redirect still stands, so read it as a 2023 fact rather than a current one.
Readers who used its release listings can look at Complex’s guides, the Highsnobiety Drop Calendar and Sneaker News, all covered below.
Hypebeast covers more than sneakers
Hypebeast is a fashion and culture publisher, and sneakers are one of its sections. Its Footwear page describes Hypebeast as covering men’s contemporary fashion and culture, from streetwear and sneakers to art, design, music, entertainment and lifestyle, and its Drops page lists sneaker and streetwear releases.
The Hypebeast Group page says the company was founded in 2005 and became publicly listed in 2016. Its sister site Hypebae describes itself as covering women’s fashion, sneakers, beauty, sports, art, music and culture.
TIME put the site on its 50 best websites list for 2008, three years after the founding, under Hobbies and Interests:
Urban style hounds check HypeBeast every day for the latest news on limited-edition sneakers, hats, jeans, shades and other coveted bling.
Is Highsnobiety a sneaker blog or a fashion magazine?
Highsnobiety is a fashion and lifestyle media brand, so sneakers are one section of a wider site. Its company page says it was founded in 2005 by David Fischer, is headquartered in Berlin, and launched its print magazine in 2010 with quarterly issues.
For releases, the site keeps a Drop Calendar that, as of 7 October 2026, describes itself as “your go-to source for upcoming releases, exclusive launches, and limited-edition drops”. It also has a dedicated Sneakers section.
As of 7 October 2026 the front page promotes the Fall 2026 issue of the print magazine with a Shop Now button. The company page adds that it has offices in Amsterdam, London, Milan, New York, Los Angeles and Sydney, with around 200 employees in total.
What does Sneaker News offer?
Sneaker News is a New York sneaker media outlet that publishes daily coverage of releases. Its About page, archived on 1 January 2026, says it was founded in 2006 by Yu-Ming Wu. The title tag and meta description of that page say 2007, so treat the year as approximate.
Sneaker News’s About page says the site reaches over 20 million monthly readers, a self-reported figure that we could not check. It also names two properties in its network: Kicksfinder, a database of popular pairs with release dates and prices, and Jordansdaily, an Instagram page for Air Jordans.
The archived menu links to release-date pages, which is the part of the site we would use to check when a pair drops. We could only read the archived copy from 1 January 2026, so the live pages may have changed since.
What does Kicks On Fire offer?
Kicks On Fire is a release-focused sneaker site whose footer, in a copy archived on 27 December 2024, shows a copyright line starting in 2003. A copyright line is not a founding date, so we only say the site is at least that old.
That archived copy has a short menu: Brands, Release Dates, Shop, Top 100 and Sale. The brand list holds 19 names, including Nike, Adidas, Air Jordan, New Balance and Converse, and the release listing has tabs for new, popular, forthcoming and past pairs.
The brand filter and the Top 100 page both appear in that copy. Its What’s New blurb in that copy says the site covers the latest releases and exclusive drops from top brands like Nike, Adidas and Jordan. We could only read the archived copy, not the live site, so anything newer than December 2024 is unchecked.
Which sneaker blog should you read for which job?
The right pick depends on the job, and the table shows where each of the five stands on releases and where we read it.
Blog Start year Release listing What we read, and when Complex Sneakers 2002 (print magazine) Release guides in the Sneakers section Wikipedia and complex.com, 7 October 2026 Hypebeast 2005 Drops page Hypebeast Group page, 7 October 2026 Highsnobiety 2005 Drop Calendar Company page, 7 October 2026 Sneaker News 2006 Release-date pages and Kicksfinder Archived About page, 1 January 2026 Kicks On Fire 2003 (copyright line) Release Dates page Archived home page, 27 December 2024 The start years come from different kinds of evidence, so they are not equally firm. Hypebeast and Highsnobiety state theirs on company pages, Sneaker News states its year on an About page, Complex’s year belongs to the magazine rather than the sneaker section, and Kicks On Fire’s comes only from a copyright line.
Use Highsnobiety and Hypebeast for fashion context around a pair, Complex for buying guides and interviews, and Sneaker News or Kicks On Fire when you mainly want release lists. Whichever you choose, read a second source before you plan around a date, because release dates can move.
Where should you go after the blogs?
After the blogs, the usual next steps are a release calendar that you check on a schedule and the communities that share drop information. Our article on sneaker release calendars covers the first, and our list of sneaker influencers adds people to follow.
Some readers also join a cook group, a community built around sharing drop information, which we explain in our cook group article. If you want to see what a checkout bot does with a drop you read about, NikeShoeBot’s guides walk through it retailer by retailer.
This list covers outside sites only, because we cannot fairly rank ourselves against sites we did not write. Whatever you read, check the date on the page before you rely on it.
