Published August 21, 2025 | By Alyx E, Founder of Collectors MD

In 2017, I had the opportunity to attend the ISRU Summer Camp in person on Governor’s Island and to purchase a pair of the highly coveted Nike x Tom Sachs ‘Mars Yard’ 2.0 sneakers. At the time, I didn’t fully grasp it, but the experience was less about the sneakers themselves and more about what they represented: a process rooted in purpose, ritual, and meaning.

This summer, I’ve been immersed again—this time virtually—revisiting the same philosophy with the release of the Nike x Tom Sachs ‘Mars Yard’ 3.0 sneakers. The ISRU program isn’t about racking up points or perfect scores. It’s about engulfing yourself in purpose and meaning and demonstrating the ISRU framework through consistency, creativity, and curiosity.

The physical “reward”, if you complete the program, is access to the Mars Yard 3.0’s. But what makes it powerful is that you don’t just buy the sneakers—you earn them through intention, ritual, and innovation. The sneakers become more than a tangible object. They’re proof of process—consistency paired with creativity.

The ISRU program reminds us that collecting can be a ritual of meaning, not just accumulation—participants are rewarded for innovation and excellence rather than sheer volume.

That ethos mirrors the very heart of the Collectors MD mantra—collecting with intention. Just as the Mars Yard 3.0’s aren’t simply purchased but earned through reflection and discipline, the most meaningful collections aren’t built on hype or profit—but rather through values, stories, and personal connections. The cardboard, the sneakers, the objects themselves become artifacts of the journey, not the journey itself.

The lesson is now clear to me: perfection isn’t the point. Participation, creativity, and innovation are. The ISRU framework pushes us to show up consistently, embrace curiosity, and create with intention.

Through my leadership at Collectors MD, I’ve worked to embody these same values. Consistency, creativity, and curiosity have become the backbone of the tools, resources, and daily content I’ve built to help collectors reimagine what it truly means to collect with intention.

Like the ISRU program, it’s about cultivating daily habits and rituals that aren’t just consistent, but intentional. It’s about asking why we collect, what value it adds to our lives, and how our choices can help transform the culture while transcending the noise around us.

Intentional collecting mirrors the ISRU framework:

• Consistency is the ritual—showing up, participating, and committing to growth every day.

• Creativity is finding new ways to express love for the hobby beyond transactions and hype.

• Curiosity is asking hard questions about ourselves and the systems we’re part of.

This experience has taught me that a tangible object can hold extraordinary weight when it’s tied to meaning. Excellence isn’t about perfection—it’s about finding meaning in the process, embracing imperfections, and sharing what you’ve learned with others.

The Mars Yard 3.0’s may be the physical outcome of the program, but the true reward lies in the mindset shift—and in how you engage with the process. The grail sneaker or card is nice, but the real value is found in the journey itself: the process, the meaning, and the community we build along the way.

So as I log my progress within the ISRU app this summer, I’m reminded of what drives Collectors MD: consistency that heals, creativity that inspires, and curiosity that keeps us asking how we can do better—not just as collectors, but as people.

#CollectorsMD
Purpose transforms collecting from possession into meaning.

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