Salehe Bembury Named a 2026 Instagram Rings Winner

Salehe Bembury is a 2026 Instagram Rings winner, and he said so himself on October 29, 2026: "Truly honored to be recognized as a 2026 Instagram Rings winner. Grateful to be among such an inspiring group of creatives." The designer behind the Puma Hali line and his own SPUNGE label got the news on a day when his second SPUNGE shoe, the Lumina, was also going on sale, and that overlap says more about how he works than the award does.

Rings Is a Jury Prize, Not a Follower Count

Instagram Rings is the platform's creator award, now in its second year after a first edition in 2025. The 2026 panel was announced with Donatella Versace, A$AP Rocky, FINNEAS, Chloe Zhao, Emily Adams Bode Aujla, Mikaela Shiffrin, OSGEMEOS, Adam Mosseri, Charm La'Donna, Eva Chen, Will Welch, Isamaya Ffrench, Vikas Khanna and Jack Edwards, and reports say each judge nominated creators and then voted to pick the recipients.

Reports differ on how many people win this year, with some saying the pool grows from 25 to 50 and others still describing 25, so the safest statement is that Bembury is among the group Instagram named on October 29. The first edition's winners received a physical gold ring designed by Grace Wales Bonner, according to Gulf News, so a footwear designer joining a list built around a ring made by a fashion designer is a small continuity worth noticing.

Bembury tagged his thank you as a Meta partnership post. That is consistent with his feed: on October 1 he posted a clip captioned "Hey Meta, wanna see how I make a shoe?" under a Meta glasses partner tag, filming the process from his own point of view.

Lumina Went on Sale the Same Day

SPUNGE introduced its second model, the Lumina, on October 23, announcing a launch in a colorway called Cenote on October 29 with early access sign ups at beaspunge.com. On launch day, the brand posted Bembury walking through the shoe's first color, which the caption says was picked on instinct rather than on data and research.

The Lumina's upper is the SPUNGE MONO LITE monomesh, and the brand's description points to 5D haptic tactile touch zones, according to the October 24 introduction. The first SPUNGE shoe, the Osmosis, was built around SQUISH TECH cushioning, and on October 12 the brand introduced the Overdye Pack, in which each pair goes into a dye drum and comes out one of a kind.

So the Rings announcement landed in the middle of a three week SPUNGE rollout, with a cushioning story, a dye story and a color story told one video at a time. A creator award is a recognition of that format as much as of the shoes.

Puma, SPUNGE and Rugs in One Year

Bembury's calendar this autumn is crowded. Puma's Hali 1 Pace, a Pacers colorway of Tyrese Haliburton's signature shoe that Bembury designed, went on sale October 23, 2026, the night Dallas beat Indiana 121 to 105 in Haliburton's first home game in 16 months. A Hali 2 post followed from Puma Hoops on September 28.

The same fall, SPUNGE moved from the Osmosis to the Lumina, and in July SPUNGE and Satoshi Nakamoto released an Osmosis collaboration. Earlier in the year Puma and Bembury staged an LA reveal of 11 national team kits ahead of the World Cup, which positioned him as the brand's anchor creative voice instead of a one off guest.

Beyond shoes, he and Studio Proba founder Alex Proba put out Soft Imprints on July 16, a capped run of 80 handmade rugs and 200 handmade pillows. Footwear, rugs, football kits and a signature basketball shoe in one year is a spread few designers carry.

What a Rings Win Does and Does Not Confirm

The only source for Bembury's win is his own statement, and Instagram's full list of 2026 winners was not available when this was written. That is enough to report the honor, and not enough to say which category he won in or what the prize includes.

What the record does support is the timing. A designer announced a second model, rolled out its colorway, and was named a winner within a single week, while a signature shoe he designed for another brand reached stores on the night of a Pacers home game. The next fact to watch is whether SPUNGE adds colorways to the Lumina after Cenote, since the October 29 release is the only color the brand has shown.