Nike gave Melitta Baumeister a lump of clay and a head-to-toe brief, and she came back with a reversible puffer that hides a banana. The German-born designer (and 2023 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner) has a full Nike x Melitta Baumeister apparel capsule plus a brand-new shoe, the Rift Rocker, per WWD. It hits her own site November 5, then SNKRS, the NikeLab stores in Paris and Shanghai, Dover Street Market and select retailers on November 12.
The lineup is a puffer coat, a track jacket, track pants and split-toe tabi socks. The puffer is reversible, with removable sleeves and collar and a banana-shaped insert on an elastic strap that holds a tote bag. Baumeister's reasoning is perfect: Nike doesn't usually sell accessories with apparel, "but if you attach it to the garment, it counts." The loose track jacket comes with a detachable ribbed balaclava and a clay-molded swoosh on the back of the neck, and the track pants get boning, a warped zipper and a clay carabiner with a nose-shaped keyring. Yes, a nose.
The Rift Rocker keeps the Nike Rift's split toe, adds a distressed leather upper and sits on a chunky rocker sole shaped to look like sculpted clay. "Sneakers often just look like they come out of a 3D printer," she told WWD, "so I really wanted to bring back the feeling that everything is put together by hands." This is her second run with Nike after last year's Vomero Premium and Pegasus Premium colorways, and the first time she's designed the whole look.
Our take: most designer x Nike capsules are a colorway and a hangtag. This one is weird on purpose, and that's the point. The Rift Rocker looks like a shoe someone pressed into shape with their thumbs, which is basically what happened. Pricing hasn't been shared yet, so we'll update this when it is. Until then, start practicing the tabi sock walk.
At ONENESS: the Baumeister pieces aren't in our store, but her Nike story started with the Vomero. Shop the Women's Nike Zoom Vomero 5 'Pure Platinum', the Nike Sportswear Windrunner, or browse the full Nike collection.
Photos via WWD (Rift Rocker courtesy Nike).
Sources: WWD (Oct 23, 2026: Nike x Melitta Baumeister puffer coat, track jacket, track pant, tabi socks and Rift Rocker; reversible puffer with removable sleeves/collar and banana-shaped tote holder; track jacket with detachable balaclava and clay-molded swoosh; track pants with boning, warped zipper and nose keyring carabiner; Rift Rocker split toe, distressed leather upper, rocker sole; designer's site Nov 5, then SNKRS, NikeLab Paris and Shanghai, Dover Street Market and select retail partners Nov 12; prior Vomero Premium and Pegasus Premium; images).
