“Competition drives innovation” is often a truism, but we’ve been the idiom bear fruit throughout 2025 in the realm of low-pro sneakers. A rare trend that’s managed to unite the general public and sneakerheads, footwear brands across the industry have scrambled to put their best foot forward, resulting in new products in a wide spectrum of forms, from the New Balance 204L to the adidas Taekwondo to the PUMA H-Street. Already holding several acceptable embraces like the retro Superfly or the Astra Ultra, Nike continues to flood the zone with the Nike Shox Z.
It’s an almost paradoxical proposition, leveraging maximalist Shox technology for a slim-soled sneaker, but that’s exactly what you get with the Shox Z. In truth, it’s kitten heel inspiration that allows for that contradiction to coalesce, curving up at the rear while allowing a minimalist cushioning platform to sit unadulterated under the toe. Clearly the wavy countours of the Nike Shox TL serve as a jumping-off point for this model, but you can also look to older products like the Shox NZ in informing this design.
We’ve been beating the drum on this when other similar formal-meets-casual silhouettes have surfaced, but it’s another moment where the breakout success of the New Balance 1906L is particularly instructive. We can expect similar for the shoe at hand, but even if that model wasn’t without its detractors, its overall wide acceptance illustrates how consumers are more willing to accept radical, mashup designs.
We don’t currently have a concrete debut date for the Nike Shox Z, but you can generally look forward to a Fall/Winter 2025 introduction. MSRP will likely hover around $140.
In another building story out of Beaverton, Barcelona joins up with the Mamba for the latest Kobe Air Force 1 collab.

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WHERE TO BUY
After Market
See More Sizes
- M 4.5 / W 6
- M 5 / W 6.5
- M 5.5 / W 7
- M 6 / W 7.5
- M 6.5 / W 8
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- M 8 / W 9.5
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- M 9 / W 10.5
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- M 10.5 / W 12
- M 11 / W 12.5
- M 11.5 / W 13
- M 12 / W 13.5
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Written by
Matt Varga, Junior Editor
Matt Varga is an Editor at SneakerNews. Initially earning a degree in Video Arts and Technology, he got his start in video editing and writing in the music world — primarily on hip-hop and electronic. A long-standing interest in sneakers led him to switching over to footwear. An avid collector, his favorite sneaker of all time comes down to either the Air Jordan 1 “Black Toe” and Air Jordan 5 “Laney,” his first ever pick-ups. When he’s not writing, you can find Matt cooking, traveling, attending concerts and when weather permits, on the handball court.