One of Nike’s Most Anticipated Shoes of 2025 Disguises a Decade of Technical Innovation

Mission to Mars Yard.

Published February 18, 2025

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Updated February 19, 2025

T-minus seven-ish months. Nike’s next sneaker with Tom Sachs is official and it’s scheduled to arrive sometime in September, the artist and longtime brand collaborator confirmed on social media.

The shoe is called the Mars Yard 3.0 and rumors of its forthcoming release have swirled since last November, when a wear-test sample surfaced on the online marketplace Depop.

While that prototype was black, gray and devoid of branding, the finished sneaker shared by Sachs falls in line with the precedent set by the original Mars Yard from 2012.

tweet of black nike sneaker — A tweet from Brendan Dunne of *Complex*, showing a prototype of the upcoming Mars Yard 3.0.

That said, its color scheme may be the only thing it shares with the original.

tom sachs mars yard sneaker — The original Mars Yard released in 2012.

Techy updates

According to an illustrated graphic, the Mars Yard 3.0 will utilize a bevy of technological innovations that have come to pass over the last decade.

Perhaps the most notable of those include Nike’s React foam (the original featured unbranded polyurethane) and a carbon-fiber plate, tucked somewhere inside.

nike react foam — React foam has been a mainstay in Nike’s lineup since 2018.

It’s not clear, exactly, what purpose such a plate would serve in an everyday sneaker like the Mars Yard 3.0, presuming of course it’s not designed for active, high-output pursuits.

Plates are common in premium running shoes, though predominately used with softer foams to add stability and assist in responsiveness. Nonetheless, it’s a flashy detail that has become a technical feather in Nike’s cap since the advent of the Vaporfly and the countless super shoes that followed.

nike running shoes — Carbon-fiber plates are commonplace in running shoes, acting as a stabilizer for ultrasoft yet highly responsive foams like ZoomX.

Other details to be found on the Mars Yard 3.0 include durable TPU overlays on the toecap and heel, an open eyestay and a silkscreen-printed Swoosh logo. A men’s size 9 weighs in at 16.4 ounces (465 now).

Area of influence

When it releases, the Mars Yard 3.0 will represent Sachs’s first Nike collab since allegations of abusive behavior toward his studio staff surfaced in 2023. That said, the artist’s work has indirectly influenced other releases over the past year.

brown nike shoes — The C1ty isn’t a Sachs design, however, it borrows many elements from his General Purpose Shoe.

Nike’s C1ty sneaker, for example, utilizes many similar components to Sach’s General Purpose Shoe, including a molded cup sole, waffle bottom and microfiber ankle collar.

The wait has only appeared to deepen the public’s appetite for another Sachs and Nike collab, irrespective of the artist’s alleged transgressions. His Instagram post has been liked by more than 31,000 of his followers, with the comments overwhelmingly positive.

Let the countdown begin.