generic Nike’s Upcoming ‘Link’ Sneaker Is Entirely Glueless
Nike’s latest shoe — the “Link” — is glueless and designed for disassembly.
Debuting in June, the three-part Link (put together like interlocking puzzle pieces) will be part of two footwear model releases showcasing Nike’s innovative strides on its circular design pathway. Any Nike store offering the Recycling & Donation service can take back the shoes, although given the brand’s stance on durability — it’s unlikely that will happen anytime soon. The shoes stand up to the same wear life as conventionally manufactured ones.
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In the meantime, customers can anticipate the arrival of Link’s second model.
The latter advancement, dubbed “Link Axis,” features 100 percent recycled polyester in its Flyknit upper, 100 percent recycled thermoplastic polyurethane tooling and 20 percent recycled TPU content in its shell caging, made possible by scrap airbag material.
The first Link release in June will retail for $225, while the Link Axis, which is on display at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, will arrive in 2023.
Rather than traditional cut-and-sew methods employed in the Link, the Link Axis is engineered with a precise fit from the team behind it all.
For this, Nike’s ISPA team (with ISPA standing for improvise, scavenge, protect, adapt) was put to the task. As with other efforts under Nike’s net-zero journey under “Move to Zero,” like Nike’s Space Hippie shoe that uses upcycled manufacturing waste, the design philosophy challenges creators to experiment, break molds and reimagine products.
Nike also has explored interlocking designs in past footwear renditions like the 2003 Presto Clip and, on the rarer side, the 2005 Zvezdochka (currently with an asking price of $1,071 on StockX), the latest shoes line up more squarely with Nike’s ambitions.
Acknowledging the progress over decades, Nike’s Darryl Matthews, vice president, catalyst footwear product design, told WWD: “What we see in common is a willingness to question even some of our very basic assumptions about what constitutes footwear: what a shoe can look like, how it’s made, what it’s made from and what the experience of wearing it can be. Both projects demonstrate how circular design thinking can lead us to new places that then move the world forward.”
Matthews added that ISPA hopes to “galvanize” greater creative experimentation across Nike Design and beyond.
Courtesy Nike
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