By Tony L. Starks
Eastside Golf has never waited for permission to enter a new space.
That spirit has carried the brand from the golf course to the center of sneaker culture, producing collaborations that do more than place a logo on an existing silhouette. Each release has added another chapter to a story - one rooted in golf, shaped by culture and designed to expand how both can look and feel.
“Sneaker culture made its way into mainstream golf – and honestly, I will say, I think we played a big part in that,” Eastside Golf co-founder Olajuwon Ajanaku said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever said that out loud.”
It is a bold statement, but one backed by a growing catalog of shoes that have become genuine cultural currency. Ajanaku still points to the original Eastside Golf x Air Jordan IV as a personal favorite. Its tongue replaced the familiar Jumpman with Eastside Golf’s Swingman, immediately signaling that this would be a different kind of collaboration.
“Anytime I go anywhere and wear those shoes, they’re just like, ‘Yeah, I’ve never seen those,’” Ajanaku said. “To know they’re worth about $5,000 now, I mean, it’s next level.”
The new Nike Air Max 90 G x Eastside Golf and Nike Infinity G x Eastside Golf continue that lineage as part of the Zero Gravity Collection. But before either shoe reaches the public, each begins as an idea held closely for roughly 18 months.
Eastside Golf co-founder Earl Cooper compares it to making a movie.
“It’s like being at an exclusive premiere, finally getting a chance to see the film and you’re sitting next to the main actor,” Cooper said. “It’s like thinking, ‘Oh man, I hope they love this scene,’ but you don’t know until it goes to the box office and gets the reviews. By the time that happens, God willing, we’re working on another shoe.”
The long lead time creates its own kind of anticipation. The team lives with a design well before anyone else knows it exists, protecting each detail from leaks while imagining how people will respond when the finished product finally steps into the light.
“That’s a cool element – to be able to work on something so far in advance, love it and keep it coveted,” Cooper said. “Then you get the opportunity to see people’s reaction.”
For Ajanaku, the development process always starts with the story. Nike may present a selection of lifestyle and golf silhouettes, but choosing the model is only the beginning. From there, colors, materials, heritage and performance must connect to a larger idea. Eastside and Nike exchange concepts, rework designs and continue refining until one direction clearly separates itself.
“It’s always about story, how the story syncs up,” Ajanaku said. “The colors, what they mean, the history behind the actual shoe, how that matches to what we’re talking about in the story, the marketing for it – and then being able to associate it with the game of golf.”
That commitment has connected every Eastside Golf footwear release, from the original Air Jordan IV through the 1961, Red Clay and Everyone’s Game collections. The Eastside x Nike Air Take Flight collaboration then carried the journey through the clouds. Zero Gravity goes farther.
This time, Eastside Golf is launching into the stars.
From Ground Control to Zero Gravity
The journey begins before the shoes arrive.
Eastside Golf’s Fall 2026 apparel collection establishes the setting through three connected drops. First up, Ground Control opens on familiar terrain: roots, preparation and the launching pad. Earth tones and the brand’s Course Camo print keep the collection close to the ground, capturing the quiet work that happens before liftoff.
The second and third drops begin The Ascent – a self-made orbit built without permission or gatekeepers. That visual separation is intentional. Eastside starts rooted to the game and to culture, then rises.
The second Zero Gravity drop represents disruption: Eastside rose without asking. The third represents arrival: A view from the top, weightless entry into the stars.
That final stage culminates with the Nike x Eastside Golf footwear collaboration. The shoes are not an isolated release added to the end of the season. They are the destination the entire collection has been moving toward.
“Zero Gravity is being weightless,” Ajanaku said. “It’s not letting anything hold you down. You’re floating, you’re on your own time and you’re in space getting it. You’re doing your own thing and moving on your own time.”
The concept is personal, but it translates naturally to golf. Zero Gravity is the feeling of finding a flow state during a round – free from the last mistake, the next consequence or anything beyond the shot directly in front of you.
“When you’re weightless through the round,” Ajanaku added, “you’re not letting anything hold you back. You’re not thinking about anything. There’s no bad shots. All you’re focused on is, ‘I’m going to make this shot.’”
Designed for Another World
Both shoes translate that weightless mentality through a space-inspired palette filled with shades of black and purple, as well as reflective and metallic gold elements. Yet each silhouette carries the story differently.
On the Air Max 90 G, galaxy-inspired patent leather adorns the shoe with a repeated, debossed Eastside Golf script embedded in the finish. Reflective accents flash against the predominantly black upper while metallic gold hardware adds light and contrast. The tongue bears the golf Swingman and the heel introduces an entirely custom collaboration badge. Within the artwork, a golf ball becomes the moon – a clear meeting of the game and the world it opens up.
The Infinity G takes a sleeker, performance-driven approach. Its textured dark upper features reflective Swooshes, metallic gold eyelets and coded Zero Gravity markings. Beneath the shoe, a translucent purple outsole reveals stars and a Swingman constellation, extending the story into a place most people may never notice until the shoe is lifted from the ground.
The outsoles also turn an ordinary golf-course moment into part of the narrative. Step into a bunker wearing the Infinity G and the shoe leaves a Nike Swoosh in the sand. The Air Max 90 G leaves ESG behind.
For Ajanaku, it is the equivalent of touching down on the moon and placing the first footprint on its surface.
“You have landed on the moon and you step onto the surface,” he said. “You’re leaving your imprint the same way we’re leaving it in that bunker.”
Even the packaging completes the mission. The shoes arrive in a silver case inspired by the luggage and equipment carried during 1970s space missions. Inside, tissue paper patterned with a constellation of Swingmen surrounds the footwear. The experience is designed to feel less like opening a traditional shoebox and more like unpacking equipment prepared for launch.
Perhaps the most meaningful detail, however, sits inside both shoes.
The sockliners feature a canvas-style tribute to Ajanaku’s late father. It is a quiet personal signature and a reminder of the person who encouraged him to live freely, do things his own way and refuse to be weighed down by distractions.
“He’s on the insole of the shoes for a personal touch because he always wanted me to be weightless,” Ajanaku said. “You’re doing it your way. You’re living your life and making sure you’re doing it your way, not letting anything hold you back. That’s what he would’ve wanted.”
That idea gives Zero Gravity its real force. The collection may look toward the stars, but its meaning is grounded in something deeply human: the freedom to trust your own direction.
Eastside Golf began this seasonal journey with its feet planted firmly on home terrain. It moved through preparation, disruption and ascent. Now, with two new Nike silhouettes and a story carried through every surface, stitch and footprint, the brand has reached another level.
The view is different from up here. So are the possibilities.
