Eastside’s Zero Gravity Nikes Tell Their Story Right Down to the Sole

A golf shoe’s outsole usually has a practical brief. In Eastside Golf’s Zero Gravity collection, it also has a narrative job: leaving a mark. According to the brand, its Nike Infinity G leaves a Swoosh in bunker sand, while the Air Max 90 G leaves ESG. Co-founder Olajuwon Ajanaku connects those imprints to a footprint on the moon—a small, unusually golf-specific expression of the collection’s space theme.^[1]

That detail comes from an October 19 feature by Tony L. Starks in Eastside Golf’s own publication. Its account of the collaboration is most interesting as a description of design decisions: how an idea survives the journey from seasonal concept to something worn on a course. Co-founders Ajanaku and Earl Cooper describe roughly 18 months of development before a shoe reaches the public, with Nike and Eastside exchanging and refining concepts.^[1]

The starting point, Ajanaku says, is the story rather than a colour combination. Nike may offer lifestyle and golf silhouettes; Eastside then considers how a model’s history, materials and colours connect with the intended message. For Zero Gravity, the wider Fall 2026 apparel programme supplies the plot: earth-toned Ground Control gives way to ascent and, finally, arrival in space. The footwear is conceived as the destination of that sequence.^[1]

Two ways to wear the idea

The two models divide the same visual vocabulary differently. Eastside describes the Air Max 90 G with galaxy-inspired patent leather, repeated debossed script, reflective accents and metallic gold hardware against a predominantly black upper. A Swingman occupies the tongue; a custom heel badge turns a golf ball into a moon. Rather than relying on one large collaboration logo, the design distributes its identity across finish, lettering and illustration.^[1]

The Infinity G puts more of the imagery underneath. Its textured dark upper carries reflective Swooshes, gold eyelets and coded Zero Gravity markings, while a translucent purple outsole reveals stars and a Swingman constellation. Eastside calls this the more performance-driven treatment, although the account supplies no comparative testing. The clearer distinction is visual: the Air Max uses conspicuous surface decoration; the Infinity reserves a substantial part of its story for the sole.^[1]

The smaller details give the concept a personal register. Both sockliners carry a canvas-style tribute to Ajanaku’s late father, whom he credits with encouraging an independent, unburdened approach to life. Outside the shoes, a silver case references equipment and luggage from 1970s space missions, with Swingman-constellation tissue inside. Packaging extends the fiction; the insoles explain why weightlessness matters to the designer.^[1]

Eastside’s larger claims deserve a different reading. Ajanaku credits the brand with helping bring sneaker culture into mainstream golf and cites an approximately $5,000 value for its original Air Jordan IV collaboration. Neither cultural influence nor that valuation is independently established in the feature. The useful lesson here is narrower: judge Zero Gravity by how coherently its choices connect. The bunker imprint, concealed constellation and personal sockliner offer specific things to examine without needing a resale figure to make them interesting.^[1]