From introducing his Nike Air Max 97 in 2017, to joining PUMA in 2022 and then dropping a nostalgia-fueled collab between his fashion label Mains x Kickers, the artist’s footwear history is full of great products and fun moments.

Whether you’ve been paying attention since Skepta was cooking up custom Air Max 180s in London’s Nike Kitchen, managed to grab the Sk Air Max 97s on launch day, or worn your PUMA Skope into the ground, this listicle is a brief look at his journey so far.

An absolute impeccable start to his shoe career, some would argue this was Skepta at his best. Inspired by trips to Morocco, as well as his love for the Air Tuned Max “Celery”, the Air Max 97 was experiencing a huge resurgence at the time, with this Sk edition representing team UK in such excellent fashion.

The launch party saw the likes of Asap Rocky, Virgil Abloh and Goldie, all turning up in support of Skepta and his first Nike. While some may have confused the enormous Sk AIR logo on London’s streets as the next project from Mayor Sadiq Khan, what followed was arguably the UK’s best Air Max collaboration. Sadly, I never managed to land a pair, but for those who did, I know a cherished story comes boxed up with it.

The creation of the Skope was an enormous milestone for Skepta, making this his first signature silhouette. Getting your own shoe is no walk in the park, a level of access that brands only give to their most serious partners, especially if that person isn’t an athlete. That’s exactly why Skepta’s x PUMA Skope Forever has to be right near the top of the list.

Putting in the work, the UK artist headed out to the PUMA HQ in Herzogenaurach, including trips to Japan to consult with some serious tastemakers. Inspired by PUMA’s PG Mesh, Centaur King and others, the Skope was stitched together with a host of intricately creative decisions. Besides what the shoe represents, the Skope also looks great, which no amount of story telling can bypass.

This was Skepta’s third Nike collaboration and one that seemed to be everywhere after it dropped in 2019. The Shox TL was having a huge moment at the time, so when Skepta dropped his version, you would often spot the red Shox units among the sea of triple black pairs.

An ode to his younger self, this was for the version of Skepta that appeared in the 2003 edition of RWD magazine, posted up in front of a North London tower block in his pair of Megaboings. The Corteiz x Nike Shox R419 that dropped in 2026 only adds to London’s lineage within the series, forming another chapter that only complements Skepta’s collaboration.

The collaboration between Skepta’s fashion label Mains and Kickers was a project no one saw coming. We first got a glimpse of this creation at the Mains Season 2 collection, where models were seen walking down the runway in the Kickers Mules samples.

The newly designed Kick Mule and Kick Hi represented a school shoe-meets-high-fashion dream that Skepta had chalked up. Having worn Kickers throughout his years as a student, the artist fed his inner child once again, putting together a school canteen-style pop-up at Shoreditch’s Truman Brewery. This project represents the creative span that Skepta possesses, as well as his ability to bring those ideas to life.

The main source of inspiration for this second collaboration was Sid Vicious’ padlock chain, a piece that signified love in Skepta's mind. This “summer shoe” dropped on the 19th of May 2018, releasing through a Sneaker Stash hunt in Paris before getting a wider global online launch. Skepta paired these with a white Nike tracksuit that released alongside the shoes, a distinct part of his ‘tracksuit mafia’ style that he was known for throughout his late 2010s era.

Finding the Skepta Air Max 97/BWs for a reasonable price was difficult, and as a result became one chapter of his footwear catalogue that most fans unfortunately missed out on. The campaign for these involved taking the Eurostar with 30 of his friends & family to Paris, the city that hugely inspired his creativity throughout the prior years. If you managed to grab these and they’re still icey-white, all I can say is fair play.

The mid-version of the Skope took on a more Gorpcore approach than the initial low-cut version, showing off just how much range Skepta’s new silhouette really had. Both the campaign and the way Skepta was rocking them revealed that the Skope could naturally flip between the city and the Peaks.

The Skope Forever Mid was also a first for Skepta, in so far as he hadn’t tackled anything other than low-cuts in his previous catalogue. The brown edition arrived with orange lacing and a supple leather upper, arguably one of the better colourways out of his PUMA collaborations. Yet, looking at the selection of Skope Mids, his ability as a colourist also shines through.

The Tailwind was the last hoorah between Skepta and Nike, an interesting end to a partnership that started off so strong. Dropping both a “University Red” and “Bright Blue” version, the Air Tailwind V took design cues from a butterfly metaphor that had interested Skepta. The upper took the form of a butterfly’s wing, reflecting the creative birth that the insect’s lifecycle can symbolise.

Although people were split on whether they enjoyed the inspiration behind the shoe, the Tailwinds themselves looked sick. A lesser-known part of this capsule came via a feature from UK rapper Dave, who helped debut Skepta's “Bloody Chrome” Nike Phantom GT. So if you owned a pair of the Sk football boots, you can count yourself among a small group of people...especially if you had tekkers in them.

The “Never Sleep On Tour” Air Max Deluxe was an interesting addition to Skepta’s library of Nike trainers. The Air Max Deluxe retro had been received tentatively by sneakerheads, putting the artist at a slight disadvantage from the get-go. I do not doubt Skepta’s tour-related antics have resulted in a lack of shut-eye over the years, but the inspiration for this Nike project seemed to come more from a brand brainstorming reason than from the artist himself.

For a handful of fans, this Skepta x Nike Air Max Deluxe might rank slightly higher on the list, and granted it’s one of his most wearable editions, but for the majority, it seems to lack a great story.