Following the release this summer of the much-awaited Mars Yard 3.0 — the third version of the NikeCraft Mars created in collaboration with American artist Tom Sachs — NikeCraft General Purpose has decided to launch the “Participation Shoe,” a new edition of the 2023 General Purpose Shoe (GPS), designed for users of the I.s.r.u. (In-Situ Resource Utilization) app who were unable to secure the Mars Yard 3.0.

To win access to the latest NikeCraft Mars model, Sachs devised a series of weekly challenges on the app aimed at encouraging the public to cultivate self-discipline and build new daily routines, while also collecting enough points to earn the right to buy or preorder the sneakers, scheduled for delivery in summer 2026. Yet, in a sporting gesture that overturns the usual logic of success and rewards participation, even those excluded from the Mars Yard 3.0 drop will now be able to take home a consolation sneaker.

The project reconnects with the original philosophy of the GPS, launched as a “boring” and democratic shoe. A statement that Sachs condensed into the idea of a radically simple sneaker, one capable of accompanying its wearer “for life.” The NikeCraft General Purpose Participation Shoe also comes in a retro-inspired gray palette, with red accents highlighting the I.S.R.U. branding and Sachs’s signature printed on the side, a direct mark of the artist’s hand.

A New York–based artist with a background closely tied to architecture and design, Tom Sachs approached the collaboration with NikeCraft as an extension of his sculptural research between space-age imagery, improvised engineering, and pop culture, creating shoes intended as everyday tools, “portable sculptures” to be inhabited with the body. As for the NikeCraft General Purpose Participation Shoe, it represents the first new iteration of the sneaker since 2023, the year in which the partnership between the New York artist and Nike was abruptly suspended following allegations that described his studio as a toxic and abusive workplace.