Zach Harris is a writer based in Philadelphia. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vice, Complex, High Times, and more. He is obsessed with skateboarding and bowling. He is still looking for his first 300. For tips, reviews, and anything in size 10.5 - zach.h@soleretriever.com
Creating movement out of a piece of static fashion, like a sculpture or a sneaker, is a tall task. For NYC-based fashion designer Melitta Baumeister, the challenge of crafting a running shoe that felt like it was constantly in motion was the inspiration behind her first collab with Nike, a hand-painted take on the Vomero Premium in orange and black.
The Melitta Baumeister x Nike Vomero Premium debuted at a New York City installation and performance in late October, and now we have more photos of the pair and a release date for the experimental colorway. Dipping the shoe in an orange base, the Baumeister colorway adds hand-painted black overlays across the entire sneaker in a style somewhere between charred soot and ink smudges. The shoe adds a black Swoosh and AIR logo to the side panel with Melitta Baumeister branding in white on top of it.
Melitta Baumeister x Nike Vomero Premium
“My team and I have taken the idea of ‘built for movement’ seriously, and instead of being stuck behind screens, we worked on it as we would on our sculptural dresses, using our hands and working directly with real materials,” Baumeister said. “The outcome is a hand-painted sneaker, each one slightly different from the other. That’s what the audience will notice first when encountering the Vomero: the layers of graphics and storytelling that reveal themselves on closer inspection. I love this aspect of engagement from different distances and angles. It gives depth and more space for the audience to explore and experience it.”
The Melitta Baumeister x Nike Vomero Premium will be released Spring 2026 through Nike and select retailers in-store and online. Available in unisex sizing, the retail price is set at $260. For all the latest Nike collab news and to be the first to find out the exact drop date for this pair as soon as we know, download the Sole Retriever mobile app.
