When he was still designing Number (N)ine, Takahiro Miyashita produced only a handful of shoe collaborations, including a pair of Converse Weapons and some Ubiq sneakers. However, immediately after he restarted as TheSoloist., Miyashita linked up with adidas Originals and his friend Kazuki Kuraishi (of KZK and The Fourness) to produce three skate-inspired adidas sneakers. The sneakers shared the same motif of premium grey suede uppers over chunky off-white soles. Miyashita still occasionally creates and revises sneakers under the name Sand.W.Man, a project he does alongside Nonnative designer Takayuki Fujii. Their take on the Reebok Exo-Fit featured a similar premium suede upper and a chunky midsole, further demonstrating Miyashita’s preference for chunky sport sneakers.

The big sneaker companies all have several long-running designer collaborations, such as adidas’ Y-3 and Stella McCartney lines, and Puma’s McQueen, Mihara Yasuhiro and Chalayan collaborations. Taka Hayashi’s Vans collabs have quietly continued for over a decade now, emphasizing the Japanese designer’s Native American-inspired takes on both classic and original Vans’ models. Hayashi designed an entirely new model for this release, the TH Chukka Nomad LX, which, aside from featuring pony hair, was a design reminiscent of the Clark’s Desert Trek with an embossed midsole. The designer also revised the Court Lo Strap and Court Hi LX with patterns and premium materials. While the FBT is often most sneakerhead’s go-to example of Native American-inspired sneakers, Hayashi has been ingraining Vans silhouettes with personalized references to moccasins and tribal patterns for years.

Italian brand Missoni lacks the universal name recognition of peers like Prada and Gucci, but makes up for it with its textile and print focused, understated collections. Its collaborations with Converse included several iterations of Chuck Taylors, but Missoni’s take on the Converse Auckland Racer was the most exciting of the bunch. Utilizing one of Converse’s lesser-known silhouettes, the fashion house decked out the uppers with layered, textured knit fabric. The result was an exceptionally wearable but wholly original take on a classic. The three colorways ran the gamut from loud to muted, and bolstered by the sleek shape, they made for a supremely versatile sneaker. The same year that Ronnie Fieg was debuting vaunted Asics colorways like the “Flamingo” Gel Lyte III, these quietly exciting running sneakers sat on shelves.

Too many Japanese brands have produced too many underappreciated sneakers. Nonnative alone has collaborated with over a dozen shoe companies in the past few years, with New Balance being a consistent collaborator. The “Coyote” is remarkable for its bizarre features alone – the hairy suede uppers and New Balance Minimus sole executed in Vibram would be abnormal on their own, but in the context of the New Balance MNL 710 hiking shoe, the sneaker only gets weirder. The earth tones and sleek silhouette keep the Coyote from being completely unwearable; indeed, in a post-Visvim world, it’s not that crazy to imagine these being worn with some jeans and a tee. However, this shoe was too weird for most Western retailers to pick it up, relegating it to being all but ignored by most people outside of Japan.

This unique collaboration went entirely unnoticed when it was released. A brilliant capsule collection released in coordination with industrial designer Tom Dixon, adidas produced a unisex line of transformable travel wear. Every item, from the shoes to the clothes, was collapsible and featured intelligent design choices like taped seams, ripstop fabric and reversible patterning, making the line ideal for the urban nomad. This might be the most extreme example of a collaboration pushing both parties out of their comfort zone: Tom Dixon had never done clothing before, and adidas was better known for sportswear and sneakers than for travel garments and tailored, modern garments. This collection didn’t include any traditional sneakers, but is notable for the inspired designs that have yet to be rivaled by other adidas collabs. The footwear that spawned from this partnership had more in common with traditional hardbottoms—save for the adidas-inspired captoe detailing and adidas tongue branding.

Another example of designers taking extreme liberties with shoe collabs is this release from Christopher Shannon. First seen in his Spring/Summer 2016 runway collection, this series of chunky hiking-inspired sneakers was released with workwear brand CAT. Although this wasn’t Shannon’s first revision of CAT’s shoes, this was his first take on its sneakers. The bold colors and striking details, like the cutouts on the black model, put the model in a similar space as the comparatively quirky and chunky Raf Simons x adidas Ozweegos. The intimidating retail price ($434 at retail) made them a hard sell, and unfortunately for this partnership, the craze over ugly sneakers hadn’t quite hit its stride yet.

This brief collection barely scratches the surface of underrated sneaker collabs. As kicks become just as relevant as what’s hitting the runway, there’s a constant stream of new shoes, new sneaker drops and more limited items being released. With so many collaborations being produced every year, it’s only too easy for some to slip under the radar. Not to mention, many of these low-key collaborations are expensive, hard to find, or both. At the end of the day, people who value quality and originality over hype have plenty of options to work with, it’s just a matter of seeking out the sneakers that you want.