From casual sneakerheads to industry vets, we’re always excited when we find out one of SoleSavy’s members is doing interesting things within the culture. Today, we wanted to share one of these stories in particular.
SoleSavy member Hannah Trimor is a 24-year-old healthcare worker based out of Milton, Ontario. In addition to running a sneaker customization business on the side, she is also one of the few lucky people chosen to be a Wear Tester for the Tom Sachs x Nike Mars Yard 2.5.
For the uninitiated, Tom Sachs is a visual artist from New York whose oft-kilter sculpture work draws influence from the realms of popular culture, space exploration, and 20th-century counterculture movements. His art graced countless galleries and exhibitions throughout the globe for the better part of three decades. In 2012, Sachs revealed a collaborative partnership with Nike, thus giving the visionary artist widespread exposure to an entirely new audience. The most beloved creation from Sachs x Nike’s partnership has to be the series of NikeCraft Mars Yard sneakers.
Following the debut of the NASA-inspired Mars Yard 1.0, a new version, the Mars Yard 2.0, was released in 2017 with sturdier materials and a slightly higher production lot. The Mars Yard 2.5 was further iterated upon a year later with the release of the Mars Yard Overshoe. Equipped for more inclement weather, the boot/sneaker-hybrid was given a few tactile upgrades, most notably a more rugged outsole and the addition of an all-white, Dyneema®️ fiber shroud enveloping the shoe underneath. Those customizers adventurous enough to remove the Overshoe’s covering are greeted with a slightly revamped Mars Yard 2.0 (2.25 perhaps?) that’s ready for the rough terrain.
The next shoe in the series, the aptly named Mars Yard 2.5, was revealed earlier this year through an exclusive “Wear Tester” program. The general public was tasked with submitting a 1-minute video explaining why they should get the chance to wear test the prototype sneaker, with 150 people selected for the initial phase of testing.
After a few weeks, participants mailed their shoes back to Nike, after which the shoes were analyzed, cleaned, disinfected, and mailed off to another 100-or-so participants for Phase 2. Some of the more notable names chosen for Phase 2 include Devin Booker and Virgil Abloh.
Hannah Trimor, was one of those lucky people chosen for this next step in the Sachsian experiment. We had a chance to chat with Hannah over Zoom to discuss her experience as Phase 2 begins to wind down. Her pair was initially wear-tested by an “Arthur” from France, whose name is written on the insole. She tells us all about the weekly team conference calls where Sachs would assign a series of physical and mental exercises meant to train the mind and body. Challenges ranged from moving 100 objects one place to another to something as innocuous as reading before bed.
While this may appear a little strange for what seemed like it would be a simple sneaker test, the shoes themselves are just one part of a larger cultural venture that Sachs has been through throughout his career. Sachs’ work with the Swoosh has always sought to marry conceptual art with aesthetically pleasing and utilitarian design from the jump. The testing process of the Mars Yard 2.5 is sure to bring great innovations to whatever is next from the Tom Sachs x Nike camp.
We’re excited to give everyone a closer look at the intricacies of this shoe and the details of the exclusive Wear Tester program. The full interview with NikeCraft Wear Tester Hannah Trimor is available here via the SoleSavy YouTube channel.
