After officially cutting ties following a fruitful collaborative relationship earlier this year, Nike and Tom Sachs look to be back in cahoots, according to sneaker leakers.
However, this is a good reminder not to take these kinds of rumors at face value.
Purportedly official images of a new look General Purpose Shoe have now surfaced just months after both Nike and Sachs announced that their NikeCraft collaboration was over, around the same time that reports of alleged abuse within Sachs' studio also came to light.
Nevertheless, here we are, less than six months later and sneakerheads are salivating at the prospect of the Nike x Tom Sachs collaboration returning with the impending release of a previously-leaked “Summit White” General Purpose Shoe.
They are misinformed, however: Highsnobiety has learned that the Nike x Tom Sachs collaboration is not returning and rumors of the white GPS sneaker's impending release are false.
Nike hasn't quite closed the door on ever reuniting with Sachs. When announcing the pair's split, the sportswear giant released a statement to Highsnobiety that simply read: "We are not working with Tom’s studio at this time and have no release dates planned.”
Tom Sachs' rep declined to comment on the situation when Highsnobiety reached out for comment back on May 9. The following day, Sachs himself released an open letter categorically denying the alleged abuse accusations.
The General Purpose Shoe, or GPS for short, is a sneaker focused on accessibility. Since Nike and Sachs began issuing the "boring" silhouette in 2022 (a drop that, ironically, was extremely hard to cop), the GPS has sold out almost instantaneously on every release.
"To some the GPS still represents an elite shoe that will be impossible to get, but we want our community to know that the GPS is here to stay,” Sachs told Highsnobiety in an interview in 2022.
“It’s been crafted for a wider audience, for seasons to come. This is not a men’s shoe, or a women’s shoe; this is a universal shoe."
The news that Nike and Sachs were going their separate ways came just weeks after the release of the “Field Brown” colorway, a drop which too flew off the shelves in no time at all.
That being the case, from a sales standpoint, the fact that Nike and Sachs could have rekindled their collaborative love affair seems like a no brainer. Yet this big of a u-turn so soon after cutting ties would leave unanswered questions.
This article was updated to reflect the fact that Nike and Tom Sachs are not reuniting.
