There is just something about basketball shoe design that intrigues me. It requires the ability to create an aesthetically pleasing and marketable shoe that is also designed to be capable of performing in high competitive play. This balancing act is necessary in order to thrive in the athletic shoe industry. Eric Avar, a famous Nike shoe designer takes this idea and brings it to life with the Zoom Kobe V. Kobe Bryant approached Avar and asked him to develop a low cut and the lightest basketball shoe ever, capable of handling the stress of a full season. The design of the shoe is very unconventional. First, professional basketball players prefer to use high cut shoes that cover the ankle, mostly for support. Secondly, a light shoe usually demands less materials leading to a shoe without a lot of cushioning. These two big concerns were solved by molding the shoe in a way that it acts like an extension of the foot, what may seem like only visually pleasing design concepts on the outside of the shoe also plays a part in the shoe’s performance on the court
To further extend the marketability and popularity of this shoe line, the designers also decided to produce plenty of colorways for the consumer. They wisely crafted some of these shoe colorways to resonate pop culture. The picture on the top is the Bruce Lee edition, the dominant yellow resembling the famous jumpsuit that Bruce Lee wore in the movie “Game of Death”. The shoe on the bottom is the Dark Knight edition. The caped crusader would’ve been proud of the stylized and updated color scheme that fit the design of the shoe. The Zoom Kobe 5 takes on past concepts and seamlessly integrates them into a new product, giving them a fresh new look.
