Bill Bowerman made the first Moon Shoe in 1971 by pouring rubber into his wife’s waffle iron. The result was a sole with exceptional traction that he handed to runners at the U.S. track and field trials, helping establish a design that would become one of the foundational artifacts of what eventually became Nike. One original pair sold at Sotheby’s in 2019 for $437,500, setting a record for the highest price ever paid for a sneaker at auction at the time. The shoe was never intended to be a cultural object. It was designed to make runners faster. Fifty-five years later, Nike has brought it back in collaboration with Jacquemus, with LISA of BLACKPINK leading the relaunch campaign, a choice that says plenty about where the Moon Shoe sits in the cultural landscape of 2026.
LISA has become one of Nike’s most visible cultural ambassadors this year. She fronted the NikeSKIMS Spring 2026 campaign in January, shot in Paris and directed by Sergio Reis, and has since appeared across Nike x Jacquemus Moon Shoe imagery on her social channels. Following her Best Pop win at the MTV Video Music Awards for “Dream,” the October 1 Moon Shoe release places one of music’s most recognizable figures at the center of one of the year’s most closely watched footwear relaunches. Shot against a simulated lunar backdrop, the campaign places LISA on a gray moon surface beside a Nike flag, transforming the shoe’s humble origin story into something that feels distinctly closer to science fiction.
The Shoe and Its Significance
The original Moon Shoe’s waffle sole remains one of Bowerman’s defining contributions to running footwear. The 2026 version retains elements of that early design language while reshaping the silhouette for a contemporary audience. Its low-profile construction, exposed traction details, and vintage athletic character all reference the prototype that helped establish Nike’s early identity.
Jacquemus, the French house founded by Simon Porte Jacquemus, brings a very different sensibility to the shoe. Clean lines, precise proportions, and a distinctly fashion-oriented approach allow the Moon Shoe to move beyond its original performance context and into everyday styling.
That tension is central to the collaboration. The Moon Shoe was born from a very specific moment in running history, but Jacquemus has helped reposition it as a fashion object without completely stripping away the details that made the original significant. It is an approach that has become characteristic of the partnership, which has previously reworked familiar Nike silhouettes through a more minimalist and directional lens.
The J Force 1, for example, introduced a distinctive construction to the Air Force 1 in 2024, establishing a visual language that carried Nike’s familiar design codes into Jacquemus territory. The Moon Shoe represents a different proposition altogether. Rather than reinterpret a globally familiar lifestyle sneaker, the collaboration reaches back to one of Nike’s earliest and most historically important designs.
Why LISA Fits the Campaign
Nike signed LISA as a global ambassador in January 2026, and the partnership has quickly developed across fashion, sport, and entertainment. Her NikeSKIMS campaign, appearances connected to the Jacquemus collaboration, and the Moon Shoe launch have given the relationship a sustained presence rather than making it feel like a one-off celebrity endorsement.
LISA’s background as a performer, dancer, rapper, actress, and the first K-pop solo artist to headline Coachella in 2025 also gives the campaign a connection to movement and performance that fits the Moon Shoe’s history. The original was created for athletes, while LISA represents a contemporary generation of performers whose careers increasingly overlap music, fashion, and global pop culture.
The styling reinforces that shift. In the campaign imagery, LISA wears red color-blocked looks against the Moon Shoe’s more muted, track-inspired palette. The contrast creates a deliberate visual divide between the shoe’s athletic past and the fashion context in which it is being presented today.
That is the story behind the relaunch. The Moon Shoe has gone from a piece of experimental running equipment to a collectible, archival design, and now to a contemporary fashion collaboration. LISA becomes the bridge between those worlds.
Where to Shop the Moon Shoe
The Nike x Jacquemus Moon Shoe launches globally on October 1, 2026, through nike.com. Given the attention surrounding previous Nike x Jacquemus releases, the collaboration is expected to attract significant interest when it goes live.
The partnership has already demonstrated its ability to turn familiar Nike designs into highly visible fashion releases, with earlier collaborations generating strong demand across retail and resale markets. The Moon Shoe carries an additional layer of appeal because of its place in Nike’s history and the mythology surrounding Bowerman’s original waffle-sole experiment.
More than five decades after Bowerman poured rubber into a waffle iron, the Moon Shoe has arrived at a very different destination. Its original purpose was simple: help runners go faster. In 2026, Nike and Jacquemus are asking it to do something else, move seamlessly between running history, fashion, and contemporary pop culture.
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Featured image: Nike
