Nike’s world’s most boring sneaker

Nike ran a full-page advertisement in Sunday’s New York Times print edition to promote the NikeCraft General Purpose shoe, its latest collaboration with Tom Sachs, a New York-based artist. The ad called the sneaker “boring” and said it was something not many advertised products are.

Don Draper-esque, the rest is a text-heavy, retro ad that protests the tendency of sneaker fans and companies to make footwear more than its primary purpose, which is to protect your feet from the ground. Instead, the General Purpose Shoe is “A do more sneaker.” A sneaker that is own-less. The sneakers pictured above the disyllabic header, much in the spirit real-life Mad Men-era advertiser David Ogilvy’s 1960 “Lemon” Volkswagen campaign, are a pair well-worn sneakers. This counterpoints the usual fresh-out-of the-box sneaker ad. Sachs said that keeping the shoes on a shelf is “my worst nightmare” and that he would never wear them.

The advertisement claims that the most remarkable thing about the General Purpose Shoes–(cheekily abbreviated “GPS”)–is their unremarkability. Sachs stated in a Nike press release, “The GPS is an instrument to be the best version of yourself.” They have an understated quality. They are meant to do all of the things you do and tell your stories. A sneaker that is about the journey, rather than the destination. The GPS will be available in a neutral Studio color, with cobalt-blue pulltabs and a gum midsole. They will be available at the NikeCraft website starting June 10, priced at $109.99.

Of course, Nike is the sun in the Big Sneaker universe, and became the company it is by helping invent the notion that sneakers aren’t boring, or even merely utilitarian–instead, that sneakers are statement pieces made not only to be worn but seen, and coveted. Sachs partnered first with Nike to create the Mars Yard Shoe in 2012. This sneaker was inspired by Sachs’s passion for space travel and the exceptional purpose of being able to withstand Mars-simulating environments. It became a footwear grail on Earth despite its lofty goals. StockX has a few pairs for sale at four- to five-figure prices. It seems that the GPS is meant to be different. Sachs stated in a press release that he was involved with Nike at the beginning because he wanted to create a sculpture that could be worn by everyone. It’s a tool that can be used every day. it’s democratic.”

According to a Nike press release, “If the Mars Yard” was designed for space-going scientists. Its kin, the NikeCraft General-Purpose Shoe (GPS), finds it footing in everyday life and can be worn in conversation with the $1,850 “destroyed Balenciaga sneakers.” Sneaker culture holds a mirror up to itself, asking questions about the objects we lust after, why we do so, and how they are used or preserved. It is up to you to decide if you want to get yours out of the box.