Everybody’s gotta start somewhere. For Nike, it all began with a waffle iron. In 1972, Bill Bowerman, the iconic Oregon track coach and Nike cofounder, used the humble kitchen appliance to mold the rubber soles for an innovative new running shoe. He dubbed his handmade creation the “Moon Shoe,” thanks to the astronaut-esque imprint that the outsole pattern left in the dirt. A dozen pairs of the nylon kicks were cobbled together for use in the 1972 US Track & Field Olympic Trials, and the rest is history: Two years later, Nike launched the Waffle Trainer, the commercially-available spin on the Moon Shoe that eventually helped turn the sportswear upstart into global behemoth.
Despite its importance to sneaker history—and its absurdly high value on the secondary market, with one 1972 pair selling at auction in 2019 for a whopping $437,500—Nike has only seen fit to rerelease the Moon Shoe once, in 2004. This year, however, that’s all about to change.
After initially teasing them on the runway in January, frequent Nike collaborator Jacquemus officially unveiled its brand-new take on the Moon Shoe earlier this week in New York. First reported by StockX’s Brendan Dunne, the silhouette will be released in three simple, classic colorways: black, red, and cream. Each version features a gum outsole and a scrunchy nylon upper. The ultraslim, low-slung runner’s re-release feels like perfect timing given the recent rise of the designer torpedo sneaker.
For Jacquemus, the shoe feels right in line with the Parisian label’s aesthetic and serves as a serious step forward in its partnership with Nike. Oftentimes, when the Swoosh reintroduces an archival model through a major designer collaboration, it’s a sign that shoe will play a big role in the brand’s plans for the next couple years. (See: Bode’s monumental launch of the Astrograbber last year.) Whatever the coming months has in store for Nike, Jacquemus, and teh Moon Shoe, expect it to be big.
Release details for the Jacquemus x Nike Moon Shoe are sparse at the moment, but all three colorways are expected to launch later this fall.
