While they are not true performance models, Murphy-Reinhertz is hopeful that actual astronauts will wear them. Still, the Space Hippie offering is decidedly more futuristic, less cartoony and light in the way the Mars Yards were. (The Off-White x Nikes from designer Virgil Abloh, a Sachs fan, also deserve some credit here for normalizing imperfections in hype footwear.) Look at the Mars Yards and the Space Hippies side by side and the lineage is apparent, from the bulky soles to the low-sitting Swoosh marks. The Space Hippies are raw and look almost unfinished, like the Mars Yards before them, which left exposed foam on their tongue. "That idea of what Tom Sachs embraces in his art-the bricolage and how do you work with these materials that are there locally," says Murphy-Reinhertz, framing the influence, "and then also celebrating these elements of human ingenuity, like the space program." ![]() The sneaker sparked a trend of astronaut-inspired designs that continues with the Space Hippie. In 2012, Sachs released his first Mars Yard shoe, a slow-burning collaboration that came back in 2017 to become one of the most sought-after Nikes of the last decade. Of course, one cannot discuss space-age footwear without mentioning Tom Sachs, the NASA-obsessed artist and close friend to former Nike CEO Mark Parker. Don't be surprised if even more models find themselves in this celestial setting going forward. ![]() It looks like other sneakers are planning to embark on this journey, too-leaked images from May show what appears to be an Air Jordan 1 made in the vein of the Space Hippies. ![]() Murphy-Reinhertz calls the Space Hippie project "the next evolution in the sustainability journey," one informed by updated metrics that take into account every component of the sneaker. Timely though they may be, the shoes are not without precedent for Nike, which pushed hard into environmentally friendly sneakers in 2005 via its Considered line. "It's been really good, but it's also been this strange new world." "I'm spending most of my days in a basement here with a pile of shoe parts, and we're designing in a whole new way," says Murphy-Reinhertz. As the brand prepared to roll out the Space Hippie collection this year, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, delaying the shoes and sequestering the designers responsible for them in their respective homes. Right when Nike moved to release this product encouraging creation in a closed environment, much of the world's population started staying inside and closing off its environment as much as possible. The approach of making shoes using only what's at your immediate disposal turned out to be darkly prescient. Nike's approach was to bring this idea of being stranded among the heavenly bodies with little to work with back down to Earth, where we are reminded with increasing frequency that we may just be another rock in space with finite materials to draw from. Think of them as the sneakers Matt Damon may have made for himself in The Martian, were he not so focused on potatoes. The shoes are imagined as the work of an astronaut who can't rely on a resupply mission. The idea of reusing the limited materials at one's disposal is embedded in the design. To the dismay of sneaker resellers, Nike will not double-box the pairs it sells, meaning it may make moving them on the secondary market more difficult if they arrive with shipping labels printed directly on the repurposed cardboard box. ![]() It's changed how we approach putting product together."Įven the Space Hippie packaging has a concession for the environment. "It's changed the way we look at materials, it's changed the way that we look at the aesthetics of our product. "I'd say Space Hippie attacks the villain of trash," said John Hoke, Nike's chief design officer, in a Nike News piece in February.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |