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Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman’s hand-built Moon Shoe has been the subject of reinterpretation, taking on new life through a collaboration between Nike and French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus, who has reimagined the iconic silhouette for a new generation.
Jacquemus’ vision for the iconic racing shoe
Sleek and fashion-forward, the new sneaker bridges performance heritage and style with speed and sophistication, capturing the same relentless drive that defined its earliest incarnation: a racing shoe named for the crater-like imprint it left with every step during testing for the 1972 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.
The restyled Moon Shoe captures the look and feel of the original icon (Nike’s first to incorporate its famed waffle sole innovation) while adding modern touches that elevate the silhouette and stay true to the brand’s running DNA.
Today’s Moon Shoe features a ruched nylon upper and a Nike Grind outsole that blends the silhouette’s racing origins with a modern ballet aesthetic, creating a contemporary, low-to-the-ground torpedo shoe that reflects both the simplicity of Jacquemus’ Parisian design philosophy and the dynamism of Nike’s sport heritage.
“Three years ago, when I visited the Nike archives, I first came across the historic Moon Shoe. I saw a unique, minimal running shoe that was both timeless and modern in its simplicity and execution. I knew it was an opportunity to create a new story and reshape it in the Jacquemus way.”
Simon Porte Jacquemus
The silhouette features a leather Swoosh and heel counter, and Jacquemus logos adorn the tongue, heel and sock liner. In a nod to the model’s history, the shoe comes in exclusive co-branded packaging that harks back to Nike’s earliest heritage as Blue Ribbon Sports.
The history behind the icon
The original Moon Shoe was born from Bowerman’s search for a lightweight traction solution that could give track athletes better grip without weighing them down. He was struck one morning by the grid pattern of his wife’s waffle iron, with its raised squares resembling the exact geometry he’d been chasing, and he poured liquid rubber into the small kitchen appliance to create a new kind of sneaker sole, resulting in an early prototype of what would become the Moon Shoe.
While a small batch of early models debuted at the 1972 U.S. Olympic trials, the Moon Shoe never went to market. Its DNA was quickly adapted, however, into the 1973 Oregon Waffle and the 1975 Waffle Trainer, the latter of which became Nike’s first blockbuster success, giving athletes improved grip and redefining expectations of running shoe performance.
The Moon Shoe nowadays
Today’s Moon Shoe is the fourth footwear collaboration between Nike, Jacquemus and his eponymous fashion brand, following the Nike x Jacquemus Air Max 1, J Force 1 and Air Humara. Most recently, the partners joined forces to create an unmissable expression of sport and style through a summer 2024 collection and campaign featuring the city of Paris and Nike’s portfolio of athletes as the ultimate muses.
The contemporary Moon Shoe, which first debuted during Jacquemus’ spring 2025 runway show in Paris, is offered in three distinct styles for its commercial release: the Jacquemus-exclusive Alabaster colourway, alongside Off Noir and University Red. In March 2026, new editions of the Nike x Jacquemus Moon Shoe were released to the public, now including three new seasonal colourways: brown, sail and pink.
