NikeSKIMS gives Rift Mesh a bubblegum-pink Psychic Pink makeover

Bubblegum pink is the real stress test for NikeSKIMS. The Rift Mesh had already arrived in three safer shades, Black, Velvet Brown and Archaeo Brown, but Psychic Pink pushes the split-toe silhouette into louder territory, where a collab starts to look less like a celebrity side note and more like a sneaker people build outfits around.

NikeSKIMS is calling the shoe the first-ever NikeSKIMS sneaker, and that matters more than the color name. The model is built on Nike’s Air Rift, the split-toe design that first launched in 1996 and drew on Kenya’s Great Rift Valley fault line, with input from barefoot long-distance runners in Kenya. Nike later re-released the Air Rift in 2015, which gave the shape a second life as a cult lifestyle shoe before SKIMS took it over and stripped it into breathable mesh, a hook-and-loop strap, a cushioned sockliner and a rubber outsole.

The Psychic Pink version lands May 14 at $150 in U.S. women’s sizing, and Nike’s own NikeSKIMS landing page labels it a New Color as part of the broader summer studio edit. That timing is smart. The first run was all restraint and tonal ease, the kind of release that slips neatly into athleisure and quiet luxury wardrobes. Psychic Pink changes the read completely. It has more visual noise, more shelf presence and, crucially, more streetwear tension. The shoe now has to work with baggy cargos, cropped knits and jersey, not just coordinated sets.

That louder finish may also change how the market sees it. The original NikeSKIMS announcement generated $6.1 million in media impact value in its first week, a reminder that this partnership already travels well beyond SKIMS loyalists. But black and brown sneakers tend to behave like wardrobe tools. Pink sneakers behave like statements. In resale terms, that usually means more speculative energy, especially when the color feels tied to a moment rather than a basic.

Kim Kardashian has said the Rift felt like a reimagining of a 1990s icon, and that she wanted it to feel minimalist, sleek and flattering. Psychic Pink tests that promise in a different key. It keeps the clean, sculpted shape intact, but gives the shoe enough attitude to read inside streetwear, where being noticed is part of the point. If NikeSKIMS is going to become more than a novelty, this is the kind of colorway that proves it can.