Take an Official Look at the Nike Zoom Vomero 5 "Doernbecher"

Arriving as a part of a larger Doernbecher Freestyle XVIII Collection for 2023 is a special-edition Nike Zoom Vomero 5 designed by 11-year-old Jaren Heacock, an aspiring engineer, artist, and designer who was born with cleft palate, later undergoing complex procedures and speech therapy to become the articulate and inventive kid he is today. Each year, as part of an ongoing partnership that stretches back to 2004, a small group of patients from OHSU’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital are invited to create their own Nike products which are  auctioned at a fundraiser and sold to the public in limited quantities.

Inspired by the dragon, which is Jaren’s Chinese Zodiac animal, the upcoming pairs are found in a bright orange and yellow color scheme across mesh, rubber, and velcro uppers. The velcro panels allow for interchangeable patches of dragons, fire Swooshes and name tags of his brothers and sisters to be secured at various places on the sneaker. Jaren’s name is printed in his handwriting above the toebox while tongue tabs are mismatched with Team J, Minecraft head, and Dragon character accents. Rounding out the look are 8-bit firework graphics on the insoles and “Assembling the Future” text across the heel counter.

The Nike Zoom Veomero 5 “Dooernbecher” is set to release in the coming months via Nike and select retailers for $160 USD. more details on Heacock and his designs can be found on the Oregon Health & Science University website.

Elsewhere in footwear, a Jacquemus x Nike “JF1” is on the Way.