Dive Brief:

• Nike and Tiffany announced a collaboration on Tuesday that includes a special-edition shoe and several sterling silver accessories, all set to drop on March 7, according to details emailed to Retail Dive.
• The sterling silver accessories include a whistle, shoe horn, shoe brush and dubrae, and range in price from $250 to $475. The Nike x Tiffany & Co. Air Force 1 1837 shoe, which is made from black suede and features a Tiffany blue swoosh and silver detailing, will sell for $400 and is available in sizes 3.5M to 18M.
• The accessories will be available on Tiffany’s website, while the pair of shoes will sell through Nike’s SNKRS app, select Nike wholesale partners, and at two Tiffany stores in New York — the company’s SoHo location and its Tiffany Flagship Next Door.

Dive Insight:

Nike has cinched another collaboration with a major name in the retail industry, and it is certainly generating buzz. However, much of the conversation online about the athletic brand’s tie-up with Tiffany is focused around how the collaboration could have been done better. 

The Air Force 1, in particular, has come under fire. As-is, the shoe is a simple black with a turquoise blue swoosh mark. Many observers on Twitter circulated designs made by artificial intelligence or other creatives that, in their opinion, would have better encapsulated the brand identities of Nike and Tiffany. Several of the alternative designs feature Tiffany’s iconic shade of blue throughout the silhouette, or include a nod to Tiffany’s jewelry roots with silver accessories or rhinestone-esque detailing.

Comments on Nike’s Instagram post announcing the collaboration, which the two retailers touted as a “legendary pair,” included multiple people questioning the color choice of the shoe and more than one commenting that the box was better than the product. Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the response to the shoe or if there will be additional products produced from the partnership in the future.

Many of the Air Force 1’s available for sale on Nike’s website are listed at between $110 and $130 at full price, meaning the limited-edition Tiffany shoe is well over a 200% markup.

At $29 billion, footwear made up over half of Nike’s total brand revenues last year. The retailer has invested in the category and the community around sneakers in particular, through its SNKRS app, which gives customers access to exclusive drops. Nike has also planned a broader stand-alone presence for its Jordan brand: a new Jordan concept in Milan opened in December.

In apparel more broadly, Nike has invested heavily in virtual goods with the launch of a marketplace to trade and collect virtual products. The company also released a new material in September aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of its production process.