Nearly one year after Nike announced its new partnership with Kim Kardshian-founded intimates and loungewear company Skims, the duo’s first footwear offering comes into focus.
Debuting later this month, the two powerhouse companies are introducing the NikeSkims Rift shoe. The style is an updated take on Nike’s Air Rift, split-toe running silhouette originally launched in the ‘90s.
Released in 1996, the debut Nike Air Rift was the first time the Swoosh used the split-toe design in a shoe, which was inspired by Kenya’s Great Rift Valley fault line, the company noted.
Designed with input from barefoot long-distance runners in Kenya, the split helped conform to the runner’s first and second toes, encouraging a more natural motion with every stride, Nike noted. The Nike Air Rift has since been revived as a coveted lifestyle silhouette, receiving its first re-release in 2015.
In its newest version, Nike boasts “sleek new design changes” to the silhouette with key features including the signature tabi toe, a single strap across the midfoot, a minimalist midsole inspired by the Rift’s original focus on barefoot running and a textured logo outsole.
“There’s something so powerful and beautiful about a ballet flat, which is why reimagining the Nike Rift for the first NikeSkims sneaker felt perfect,” Kardashian, said in a statement on Wednesday. “The Rift isn’t just a shoe – it’s a ‘90s icon that women everywhere have fallen in love with. Together with Nike, we focused on creating a version that feels minimalist, sleek and flattering.”
The NikeSkims Rift Mesh.
Courtesy of Nike
The duo added that they will offer additional footwear in future seasonal collections and will also continue to innovate and expand product offerings in each collection.
First revealed last February, the announcement of Nike’s partnership with Skims garnered immense public interest – generating $6.1 million in media impact value in the first week, according to Launchmetrics.
NikeSkims made a splash when it finally debuted pieces from its collaborative collection during a presentation performance at the New York Public Library in September. And on the company’s first quarter earnings call in September Nike chief executive officer Elliott Hill told analysts that the collaboration is “another opportunity to bring something unexpected to a new consumer.”
The NikeSkims Rift Mesh.
Courtesy of Nike
This launch comes just weeks after Hill told analysts that Nike is “in the middle innings” of its comeback, adding that various areas of the business are in different phases of turnaround.
Net sales in the second quarter at the Beaverton, Ore.-based company tallied $12.43 billion, up 1 percent from $12.35 billion on a reported basis and flat on a currency-neutral basis. But net income fell 32 percent in the period to $792 million from $1.16 billion in the year-ago period.
The NikeSkims Rift Mesh releases in North America on Jan. 26 across Nike.com, Skims.com and select retail locations.
The NikeSkims Rift Mesh.
Courtesy of Nike
The NikeSkims Rift Mesh.
Courtesy of Nike
The NikeSkims Rift Mesh.
Courtesy of Nike
