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Shop Fall 2025’s Hottest Nike P-6000 Styles
We said what we said: 2025 is the year of the retro Nike sneaker, confirming fashion insiders’ quest for hearty doses of nostalgia when it comes to what they’re putting on their feet this fall. But it doesn’t take a thorough examination of the iconic brand’s “New & Featured” section to get a firmer understanding of the Y2K-inspired sneakers style-savvy shoppers are gravitating to these days; instead, a trip down memory lane (precisely six years back) to the release of the Nike P-6000 style in particular is the first step to grasping how and why it became one of the leading retro runners of the year.
Taking on the best traits of Nike’s early aughts releases — specifically the Pegasus 2006 and Pegasus 25 — it’s not exactly the kind of low-profile, slim-fit sneaker that’s been gracing the street styles of everyone from Jennifer Lawrence to Gigi Hadid as of late. The Nike P-6000 is a chunky dad shoe through and through, but there’s nothing grandfatherly about it. A ventilated mesh upper is made attractive with strategically placed leather panels (both real and synthetic); a foam midsole grants the kind of cushioning that can allow you to walk all day in a new city; and a rubber outsole is guaranteed to provide the pavement-gripping, responsive traction Nike’s lifestyle and technical footwear is known for.
All of these attributes, alongside the retro-futuristic vibe the shoe brings to life and the variety of iterations it’s now offered in, make the Nike P-6000 silhouette a hot commodity on urban streets and in A-listers’ closets. Online, TikTokers rave about how true-to-size it is; applaud the style’s mid-range price point that eliminates barriers to entry into the universe of flattering-yet-functional footwear; and add their own unique touches vis-à-vis pearl shoe charms and the like. On Reddit, a happy reviewer (whose sentiment is echoed across the platform) says the P-6000 is “the most comfortable shoe [they] own.” And Pinterest girlies are doing God’s work by blessing us with outfit inspiration that tends to prioritize the sneaker in metallic silver: artfully pairing the everyday stepper with tenniscore ensembles, denim maxi skirts, and flowy trousers fit for autumn’s temperatures. If you needed a sign from the universe to start wearing bulky-slash-sporty kicks with more feminine sartorial choices, let this be that very sign.
On the note of the aforementioned A-listers, Shay Mitchell posted Instagram photos on multiple occasions in which she wore the shoe with white socks and black leggings for workouts, as well as alongside an outfit featuring a simple white T-shirt, dark pants, a crossbody bag, and a baseball cap, nailing the star-off-duty look. Suki Waterhouse, too, strolled around in the P-6000’s all-white style with jeans and a button-up, and Kylie Jenner chose the shoe in a pure white colorway to round out her gym attire.
Shay Mitchell posing for a mirror selfie in the midst of a workout, donning none other than Nike’s P-6000 shoe in white and green. Though her exact pick is not available online, a close match can be found in the form of the “Metallic Silver/White/Green Strike/Black” style.
Courtesy @shaymitchell
It’s important to note that a lot of similarities have been identified between the Nike P-6000 shoe and the brand’s Zoom Vomero 5 (a more lifestyle-leaning offering in the über-popular Vomero franchise), including overall durability, an early-2000s aesthetic, and leather accents. What puts the Nike P-6000 ahead, though, is its lack of plastic caging — something that adds extra weight to its counterparts and might not feel as organic to the overall design.
The style gets updated with new colorways like clockwork: never a bad thing if you’re the kind of person who’s wont to own multiple versions of the same shoe, as our editors do when it comes to the P-6000. The hit “Metallic Silver/Sail/Black/Metallic Silver” for example, has a silver-toned toe cap and heel that provide an opaque contrast to the metallic stripes sitting on top of their mesh base. In 2023, this manifestation got a bit more hushed appearance-wise, with Nike making the finish less shiny and thus more in line with the quiet-luxury trend taking over fashion back then (as it still continues to do in the present day). That same year, lovers of the brand’s “Athletic Department” family were happy to receive the sneaker in “Coconut Milk”: punctuated by a few pops of medium blue, as well as the collection’s branding on the insole. Even more recently, we were treated to a vibrant red take on the P-6000 (no longer available to shop online) and a black-slash-pink style named “Pink Blast,” which can still be scored on alternative retailers’ sites.
Nike’s older sneaker models dating back to the ’70s, à la the highly acclaimed and editor-loved LD-1000, were crafted with athletes in mind but slowly eased their way into popular culture as styles anyone could wear — without having a marathon-qualifying mile time. The P-6000 differs in that, from the get-go, it was made to honor the needs of the average consumer. This means that, while the shoe can be donned for light jogs if your heart desires, you’ll get most use out of the its comfortably lightweight nature during casual, everyday pursuits. A “Metallic Summit White/Pure Platinum/Wolf Grey/White” pair can go well with your corp-core pants and blazer getup, later adding some edge to the LBD you wear when meeting friends for post-work drinks. Similarly, on weekends, the “Light Violet Ore/Dark Raisin/Platinum Violet/Black” variation will be the conversation piece that takes you from the pilates class to the farmer’s market to the date night with your beau — seeing as how it’s not an eyesore in the least and infuses much-needed pastel color (light purple is a fall 2025 trend!) into otherwise muted ‘fits.
The P-6000 has also been acting as a kind of carte blanche for other designers’ and brands’ signature touches. Case in point is the Toronto-based sneaker boutique Makeway’s “Party-6000,” which is widely believed to be the P-6000’s sexiest release yet: benefitting from transparent overlays on the upper and orange-and-blue touches, while keeping the same bouncy cushioning Nike fans adore.
Whether you can’t get enough of Y2K-era metallics or simply need a wear-everywhere sneaker in a classic white, there’s a Nike P-6000 out there waiting for you. Make room on the pedestal, Cortez: this cool kid on the block has catapulted to fame and isn’t about to slow down its meteoric rise in the footwear industry. If you’re ready to score the runner, act fast, as many of the best colorways’ sizes are already gone for good.
Shop More Nike P-6000 Styles
Nike P-6000 “Denim” Sneaker in Worn Blue/Ashen Slate/Diffused Blue/Soft Pearl
Nike P-6000 Sneaker in White/Platinum Tint/Black/Picante Red
Nike P-6000 SE Sneaker in Light Violet Ore/Dark Raisin/Platinum Violet/Black
Nike P-6000 SE Sneaker in Metallic Silver/White/Green Strike/Black
Nike P-6000 SE Suede Sneaker in Hemp/Sanddrift/Metallic Silver/Black
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Meet the Author
Stacia Datskovska is a Senior Commerce Writer at WWD and FN. Previously, she worked at ELLE DECOR as an assistant digital editor, covering all things luxury, culture, and lifestyle through a design lens. Her bylines over the past five years have appeared in USA Today, Baltimore Sun, Teen Vogue, Boston Globe, Food & Wine, and more. Prior to joining ELLE DECOR, Datskovska learned the ins and outs of e-commerce at Mashable, where she tested products, covered tentpole sales events, and curated gift guide roundups. She graduated from NYU with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and international relations. Datskovska regularly reports on new footwear releases and archival, iconic styles both.