Salehe Bembury Rejected Nike to Bet Big on His Own Brand, SPUNGE

Whether or not you follow sneakers closely, you've likely seen one of Salehe Bembury's designs out in the wild or on a social media feed. The 39-year-old creative from New York City has become a staple within the space, boasting a resume with stops at Payless, Cole Haan, Adidas YEEZY, ANTA, and Versace. His work with New Balance and Crocs, however, has helped him and his collaborators explode in popularity while establishing a distinct aesthetic he's exploring further through his own brand, SPUNGE.

On Wednesday, Oct. 8, Bembury took to Instagram to announce his label's first footwear design: the Osmosis. In his own words, SPUNGE "exists to create the kind of freedom I was always searching for. A space to explore, experiment, and evolve." The Osmosis has been developed in partnership with Violet St, a Los Angeles-based company that helps creatives with the infrastructure required for footwear production.

Up to this point, Bembury has had access to some of the industry's top factories and manufacturing lines through his handful of partnerships, but he's betting on himself with SPUNGE. The LA-transplant could have gone the NikeSKIMS or Fear of God Athletics for his own project, but that would've restricted his work; Bembury told Sam Schube of the Wall Street Journal, "It’s always an honor to work with brands, but I don’t necessarily get to bring to fruition exactly what I’d like. My own brand will be 100% my vision. I will get to build the community that I want to build, and have the conversations that I want to have and tell the stories that I want to tell."

The WSJ story also reveals that Bembury was approached by Nike, Inc. over the last few years to work together. A Swoosh-backed SPUNGE might've been on the table, but it seems the Beaverton, Oregon company wanted the Syracuse University alumnus to work with LeBron James and Converse in a capacity that goes beyond a one-off collaboration.

Specifics about a timeline aren't provided by the story, but it's possible the SPUNGE-frontman could've work on marquee products like the Nike LeBron 23 and Converse SHAI 001, two performance-basketball sneakers that've quickly won over audiences.

Bembury has been in partnership with PUMA Hoops since at least July 2024. He might've been shopping around the idea of working on basketball footwear with one of the industry's big brands before then, but Nike, Inc. likely required exclusivity, barring the 39-year-old from continuing to work with Crocs and every other partner.

In June, ahead of the 2025 NBA Finals, PUMA unveiled the Hali 1, the debut signature model for the Indiana Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton. The shoe was spearheaded by Salehe Bembury. Although the design was built to exact specifications from Haliburton, it also features a number of details that consistently appear in Bembury's work—mainly nods to the natural world.

SPUNGE aims to continue exploring these references across a number of different product types.

The world may never know what a Nike, Inc.-backed design by Salehe Bembury looks like, but SPUNGE and other work by the Los Angeles-resident provides a glimpse into the mind of one of the sneaker space's most sought-out minds.

The first drop for SPUNGE Osmosis took place over the weekend, with more products set to go live via beaspunge.com throughout the remainder of the year.

The "shoe to do stuff in" is priced at $150 and launched in "Malawi" (Blue/Orange), "Yukon" (Brown/Mustard), "Mung" (Green/Tan/Orange), and "Slaw" (Purple/Green) color schemes. Expect future drops to further reference nature.

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