The UK and Spain get both colourways on SNKRS the same morning, seven hours before the US. Nike lists Melitta Baumeister’s women’s Air Rift Rocker for Thursday, November 12, in Black and White and in Yukon Brown, at $220 in the US.
A 1996 split toe, reshaped in clay
Nike says the Air Rift came out in 1996, shaped with input from Kenyan barefoot distance runners. The name refers to Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. Nike says its split toe gives articulation between a runner’s first and second toes, for a more natural stride.
Baumeister told Complex in October: “The Rift was always on our mind.” She called the split toe “already strange and sculptural”. “We sculpted the midsole by hand in clay,” she said, and that clay form became the new rocker sole.
Nike calls her a New York-based fashion innovator who started her label in 2013. Their first chapter together was a set of hand-painted Vomero Premiums, shown in October 2025.
Patina, a strap and an MB sole
Nike’s listing describes patinaed leather over a neoprene-like upper, closed with a grosgrain strap across the forefoot. Moulded, clay-like Swooshes sit on the toe tip and on the laces. Underneath, a translucent outsole carries an “MB” traction pattern over footprint graphics.
How to get a pair
Both colourways are first come, first served on SNKRS in all three markets, in women’s sizes. In the US, the black pair is on Nike’s SNKRS listing and the brown pair has its own launch page, with the same day and price. In the UK it’s on Nike GB, and in Spain on Nike Spain.
On November 8, Nike’s stock feed already had every size of the black pair loaded in the US and in Europe. More from the brand on our Nike page.
