Summary
- Nike x Melitta Baumeister Rift Rocker: $220 in Black (IQ8101-001) and Yukon Brown (IR3982-200), women’s sizing
- First sold on the designer’s site November 5; wider release November 12 via SNKRS, NikeLab Paris and Shanghai, Dover Street Market
- Full capsule: reversible puffer with a banana tote insert, track jacket with detachable balaclava, boned track pants, split-toe tabi socks
Most Nike collaborators recolor a shoe. Melitta Baumeister rebuilt one by hand. The German-born, New York-based designer — a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner — started her second Nike collection in clay, sculpting the sole of the new Rift Rocker in her studio until it looked like something pressed into shape by thumbs, and then built an entire head-to-toe wardrobe around it.
A Rift, exaggerated
The base is the Air Rift, Nike’s split-toe oddity from 1996, and Baumeister leans into everything strange about it. The split toe stays, but the open forefoot is closed with a tongue and laces; distressed, patinated leather layers over a neoprene-like upper under a grosgrain strap. Underneath sits the clay part: a chunky rocker sole with deep Swoosh impressions pressed into its side, a translucent outsole and a custom MB traction pattern over footprint graphics. An eye motif hides on the heel and insole. Two colorways — Black/White (Style code IQ8101-001) and Yukon Brown/Light Iron Ore-Black (IR3982-200) — in women’s sizing, $220.
The clothes are just as sculpted
The apparel runs on the same logic. A reversible puffer hides hand-drawn graphics, opens at the underarms and carries a banana-shaped insert on an elastic strap that unfolds into a tote. The track jacket twists its proportions and adds a detachable ribbed balaclava and a clay-molded Swoosh at the back of the neck. The track pants are boned so the legs hold a curved shape at rest, with a clay carabiner and her signature nose-shaped keyring. Split-toe tabi socks finish the system. The campaign, fronted by artist Kembra Pfahler, treats the whole thing as performance art — which, honestly, it is.
Release Details
- Model: Nike Rift Rocker x Melitta Baumeister + apparel capsule
- Style codes: IQ8101-001 (Black/White) / IR3982-200 (Yukon Brown)
- Release date: November 5, 2026 (designer’s site) / November 12, 2026 (wider)
- Price: $220 (apparel priced separately)
Where to Buy
Also available at Dover Street Market.
Get release alerts — join the STATION newsletter (form in the footer).
Follow @stationdailymag on Instagram for daily heat.
Read next: Carhartt WIP and Nike are back after eight years: the Goadome Low pack and a full apparel capsule, November 12 • Union’s Dunk Low Natural Selection goes wide November 13: three colorways for $130
