Nike’s Record-Setting Moon Shoe Is Coming Back

Sneaker industry sources tell Complex that Nike is planning a retro release for its ancient “Moon Shoe,” an early Nike runner from 1972 that set a then-record-high price for sneakers sold at auction in 2019, when a vintage pair went for $437,500 at Sotheby’s. Nike has reissued versions of the Moon Shoe before—there was a release in 2004 that differed significantly from the original, and the bastardized Moon Crepe from 2009—but the upcoming retro is a truer recreation of the ‘72 shoe.

The Nike Moon Shoe retro could land as early as Holiday ‘25, which would put its release between October and December, but the sneaker’s release window is subject to change.

Nike will release a standard, inline Moon Shoe as well as a collaboration on the model with French fashion label Jacquemus, which quietly debuted the project at its Spring 2025 runway show in Paris on Jan. 26. Jacquemus did not announce the sneakers, but models at the show wore what appear to be the retro of the original colorway and the Jacquemus iteration.

Nike confirmed to Complex that Jacquemus will be working on the Moon Shoe.

The Nike Moon Shoe was a creation of Bill Bowerman, the sneaker brand’s co-founder. It is a foundational Nike design, the first to use Nike’s waffle pattern for traction. The shoe’s nickname comes from its distinct sole tread, which Bowerman created by pouring rubber into a waffle iron. The resulting rubber nubs on the bottom of the shoe would leave a clear imprint in the ground, like those left by Apollo 11 astronauts landing on the Moon in ‘69, just a few years before Bowerman’s innovation.

It’s unclear if the reissue of the model will be billed as the “Moon Shoe,” which was more of a nickname than an official designation.

While the Moon Shoe is a decades-old model that hails from Nike’s first years as a fully-fledged company, it’s an appropriate sneaker for the moment. Footwear brands are betting big this year on the continued popularity of slim, low-profile cuts, meaning that the Moon Shoe’s racing flat silhouette is on trend. The shoe has clearly already made its way to the moodboard of at least one designer brand—Maison Margiela just released its $820 “Sprinter” sneaker, which is a near replica of the Moon Shoe sans Swoosh.