Remembering how fun the Cavs are: While We’re Waiting…
September 30, 2015Cavs Training Camp Daily: Shump’s injury, Tristan’s absence, and Love’s “fit”
September 30, 2015Hidden inside of Sunday evening’s event with the LeBron James Family Foundation was the official unveiling of LeBron James’ 13th signature sneaker from Nike, aptly named the LeBron 13. Coming a long way from the days of the Zoom Generation, James’ first sneaker, the newest edition aims to take all of the technology and comfort from its predecessor, while adding even more elements to make it perform that much more each night that the four-time MVP takes to the court. Ideal for the on-court game—what with all of the running and jumping and cutting—the shoe is easily the most technologically advanced to hit the market, but how did the team at Nike balance function with fashion? Sure, The Swoosh endeavors to ensure their athletes are outfitted with only the best, but in order to afford the research in to doing so, they count on retail sales to propel earnings growth, which ultimately trickles down to additional R&D capabilities. Prior to being welcomed by 2,000 of his closest friends, the Cavs Girls and a slam poet, James held a roundtable with Nike designer Kevin Dodson, NBA TV’s Kristen Ledlow and select members of the media1 wherein he discussed the 18-month process that went into the creation of the shoe, the understanding of balance between the two ideals, and what exists ahead for the line.
“LeBron and I, everyone at Nike, are perfectionists,” said Dodson of the new design, all the while James carefully places the laces on the pair set in front of him.2 “We want a product to be built exactly to the specifications, so we’re not going to accept anything less than perfection in that regard. The last couple years we’ve done a great job of just staying really close with LeBron, always listening to feedback. For us it’s about getting it right. And that starts with really listening and really taking feedback to heart. We’re always open to making changes on the fly and the end goal is to make the perfect shoe for LeBron. We won’t stop until we get there.”
“I’ve gotten older. I have more miles on my body. Technology has gotten better over the years not only from Nike but from everybody. So how can we use that to our advantage?”
—LeBron James
“I think back then it was like, ‘Just put as much material on it as possible. I’m 18 years old, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care about the weight, let’s put as much material on there. I want it to look like this, I want it to look like that,'” described James. “I think from the 1 to the 13, 13 years later, I’ve gotten older. I have more miles on my body. Technology has gotten better over the years not only from Nike but from everybody. So how can we use that to our advantage? And I think we’ve been able to do that from the 1 to the 13.”
The result: A sneaker that took considerable amount of technology from the LeBron 12 yet is an ounce lighter and even more responsive. A sneaker that may not immediately draw the eyes and high praise of the style community (or Paul Pierce), but one that will only serve to help James improve his quickness and explosiveness—the focus being on technology more than fashion. Previous incarnations of James’ shoe featured elements that sneakerheads adore, specifically leather uppers and visible air. Over the years for James, however, leather has given way to Nike’s Hyperfuse and Flywire technologies; the visible Max Air that can be found as recent as the LeBron 10 as given way to the Zoom Air soles that can be found in more recent incarnations.
The breathable mesh and a zoned Hyperposite upper create a custom, one-piece fit for the wearer. The Hyperposite on the upper is said to adapt to the forceful torque exerted by James at top speed—something that seems ripe for ESPN’s Sports Science. Once again, the hexagonal Nike Zoom Air units provide cushioning and comfort, mapped to key pressure points, but this year there are fewer pads, placed in more integral spots. Detail hounds will love that the outsole details give a subtle shout to James’ home with ‘Akronite’ along with personal tributes like his December 1984 birth. The heel will have an “LJ” just below the pull tab, and James’s “LJ” crown logo will be featured on the toe.
While the Kevin Durants and Kobe Bryants of the world have moved toward more low-top shoes and Russell Westbrook (a Jordan Brand athlete) continues to play in retro versions of Michael Jordan’s shoes, James admits that while he would love to play in more stylized footwear and he draws a lot of his design inspiration from these models, his game simply isn’t played in a way that would allow his 250-pound frame to reach its maximum potential in footwear that also doubles as a fashion piece.
“I think every Nike athlete is different and I support all Nike athletes—I’ll wear a Nike athlete’s shoe past or present,” said James. “For my body, and for what I do, it’d be hard to take something from someone else — another athlete — it’d be hard for me to take from Mike’s shoes because Mike played at 212, or 215 (pounds) at the max and I wouldn’t be able to take some of the specifications that he had off of his shoe onto my shoe because I’m playing at a different weight class. The shoes that Penny Hardaway wore, I couldn’t because my weight class. I think what we all try to do though is not have something that’s only performance based, but have something that’s style-based. Those are the things I think we all look at as Nike athletes including my current teammate Kyrie Irving — a shoe that’s great performance wise but can translate off the court as well. I think that’s something we all take from each other, but as far as the exact specs we (Nike and I) have always done our own thing.”
Good news for both James and Nike is, despite the increase in technology, the LeBron line continues to do very well in retail channels. This past March, it was reported that Nike sold $340 million worth of James’ signature shoes over the prior 12 months, up 13 percent from the prior year, nearly double that of Kevin Durant. While these numbers will never touch what Jordan Brand does with their retro releases, James has two things going for him: Multiple colorways and substantial penetration within younger demographics. Since October, James’ LeBron 12 saw more than 20 iterations of his sneaker hit shelves with colorways ranging from all-black to all-everything, and these do not even include the Player Exclusive models he wears on the court. The 12-to-18 demographic has also shown drastic shifts in shoewear preference, one that can best be described as The Bolder, The Better, oftentimes including matching socks.
Destined to be one of the more polarizing sneakers to be released (Instagram comments range from fire and flame emojis to images of trash cans; SoleCollector.com’s “cop” rates typically hover in the 60 percent range), how Nike gets by on James’ popularity ixed with a slew of well-timed, well-placed marketing will be an interesting case study. Irving, James’ Cavs teammate, saw his first signature shoe hit shelves last December, one that was immediately met with rave reviews due to the style, comfort and $110 price point on a litany of colorways. While the LeBron 13 “Written in the Stars” scheme, releasing October 10 for $200, pairs a Mulberry base with Pure Platinum and Vivid Purple, James has already unveiled the first of what will likely be many PEs by wearing a Cavaliers navy and gold edition of the sneaker.
Where previous editions of the sneaker have paid homage to high schools, colleges, movies and various other James-based items, Nike says that they will be pulling back a bit with this iteration of the shoe, focusing less on the number of colorways that it releases, but more so on the message behind them. Hinted on Sunday night were color schemes that pay homage to the city of Akron (titled “Akronite”), James’ fondness of Halloween, and a “Space Race” scheme that is inspired by Ohio’s litany of highly regarded astronauts. Each shoe will be largely the same, with the differences being in the carefully paired colors and James’ hand-picked accents.
When asked of his favorite colorway, James thought for a bit, but settled on the All-Star edition that he would presumably wear in Toronto this February—”You know, if I get enough votes.” Something tells us he doesn’t have much to worry about.
15 Comments
That large open area in the back kind of defeats the purpose of a high top, doesn’t it?
It’s technically a mid-top.
Which makes me REALLY intrigued to see this as a low. Just hack off that mid-ankle area and I’m in.
Not added to the piece, but does anyone ever wonder how much better Jordan would’ve been if he wasn’t playing the early portion of his career in 12-pound shoes? I love 5s and 6s, for instance, but man—couldn’t imagine playing in them today given other options. I guess the same can be said for guys like Jack and improvement in golf clubs or Jim Brown and lighter, more ergonomic pads, but Jordan just levitated in shoes that require so much more to get off of the ground.
I have yet to really see an edition of LeBrons that I’ve like, including this one. I’m more of a streamlined, low-top guy. As such, I’m curious to see what’s to come from Kyrie’s line–4 pairs of the 1’s, and I absolutely love them.
Or go the opposite direction…I own several pairs of Converse Chuck Taylor’s and it blows my mind that was the staple of basketball at their time as well.
They are legitimately three pieces of cloth stitched to a leather sandal bottom.
So could you imagine Dr. J being given shoes holding the flight tech of LeBron 13’s and seeing what he could have done in those?
Check out the KD 7’s and 8’s if you haven’t already or the LeBron low’s.
I’m a low guy as well, love the Kyrie signature’s and find the KD and LeBron lows are a nice in-between.
Nice call–the KD 7’s are smooth. Still partial to the Kyries, but nice. Not crazy about what they did in the front with the 8’s–the front sole looks “bubbly” from the side. The LeBron 12 lows don’t do it for me, either. That triangular piece at the back half just makes them look bulky, even with the lower overall cut.
The KD 7 black suede is the most lethal sneaker I’ve seen in a long time. Love that shoe.
And totally agree that while I think the LeBron 12 low’s are a nice alternative the Kyrie 1 is such a fantastic shoe. Especially for a first edition.
Really excited to see what they come up with for this years.
Just pulled up a look at those black suedes and yoooooooo…that’s nice as hell.
I too prefer low-tops. My only LeBrons prior to the 12 we low-top (a decision I’m sort of regretting given the way the Miami-year 8-10s look), but have not pulled the trigger on any 12 lows yet. I don’t really dig the posite piece you mentioned and wish I would’ve nabbed a few 11 lows before they were done being made.
I ended up with three pairs of Kyrie 1s, and agree with you. Unfortuantely, I think the 2 is going to have a strap across the top, something I’m not a fan of. It’s why I didn’t get any KD7s. Preference, mostly. I will say that I’ve talked to several folks who say the KD8 are about as comfortable as it gets.
The Converse shoe from the 50s – 60s had a leather sole? The one’s I wore were of that rubber variety and the cloth was made of canvas.
This isn’t to diss those that are into tennis shoes as a hobby. I get it as I’ve got some hobbies that are more weird than getting off on tennis shoes. But I’m still amazed every year when new tennis shoes are revealed and some people go nuts. “I like the high tops.” “I like the low riders” “I don’t like the colors”, etc.
Then again, as a kid back in the day I remember when they first started to print signatures on stuff like baseball bats and gloves. I thought that was a miracle of technology as in, “How in God’s name did they put his signature engraved in a bat?”
correct on all accounts… I was in full exaggeration mode.
I think about that all the time. The Jordan line puzzles me. Great style/casual wear sneakers. Very few of them highly efficient as true basketball shoes, and even fewer with the comfort that enthusiasts today expect. Pretty amazing design on the part of Tinker that they were able to strike the kind of balance between performance and style that will never be matched, even today with better materials/tech, and more possibilities.