The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 307 — Open the Book 📖
Devin Booker's signature shoe is...actually really cool?
Goooood morning, family. Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me this morning. I appreciate you. I hope you have a fantastic weekend ahead of you.
HOUSEKEEPING: KYW will be out on Monday. I have a family thing this weekend to take care of. I’ll miss you guys, but I’ll be back next Friday.
Let’s rock out.
Chapter 1 is here
They say you should never judge a book by its cover. I did just that with Devin Booker’s signature shoe. Now, I must admit, I was wrong. (I promise that’s the last book pun. The book is now closed. OK, seriously, that’s it).
What’s happening: Phoenix Suns basketball star Devin Booker has his first signature shoe releasing soon and it actually looks very good.
We finally got official images of Booker’s shoes from Nike this week.
These joints have been rumored to be dropping for quite some time, but officially Nike says they’re set to release in the spring of 2024 with two colorways.
One of those colorways will hopefully be this orange one that Drake actually debuted for Booker himself while on tour. And, man, I thought they looked good then.
Now? Yeah, I can see the vision. Take a look:
There are some very clear inspirations that you get here. The Air Force 1 is evident from the shape of the shoe and the build of the upper. Nike also said as much in the sketches released along with the official pictures of the shoe.
There’s also mention of both the Nike Blazer (look at the swoosh there) and the Air Jordan 1.
The backdrop: I must be honest, folks. I hated these when I first saw them. I had good reason, though!
Book was spotted wearing a black-on-black colorway of these joints while playing pickup ball earlier this summer. You couldn’t really see them that clearly and the monotone color was just a bit unflattering. They just looked like triple-black Air Force 1s.
But this orange does the pair so much justice.
It offers up a bit of brightness to the shoe and allows us to see every detail on it. The scale pattern around the toe and on the vamp. The detail of the swoosh.
It’s also not like other Nike silhouettes where we tend to see all of these complicated pieces of tech and overlays. The tech is still in there, sure. But it’s not as obvious as it is in, say, the KD 15. This shoe is simple. And I love it for that.
It’s not a perfect shoe by any means. But it’s better than a lot of what we’ve gotten recently in the performance hoops sector.
The big picture: Booker and the Book 1 are the latest additions to Nike’s already stacked signature basketball lineup. But it’s arguably the brand’s most pivotal considering the shape of its roster right now.
We’ve discussed it before, but many of Nike’s biggest and brightest athletes are in the twilight of their careers or getting close there.
At just 26 years old, Booker skews younger than names like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetkounmpo and more.
Ja Morant played that role, too, but obviously, his off-court troubles have been a major issue. That’s been the biggest storyline for Nike Basketball over the last year or so.
Not only does Booker’s sneaker seem like a change of pace here, but it’s a very necessary one. Lucky for us, it’s a pretty fly one, too. I can’t wait to get these.
A quick word from our homies at The Boardroom
Co-founded by NBA star Kevin Durant and entrepreneur Rich Kleiman, Boardroom is a media network that covers the business of sports, music, and entertainment.
From emerging leagues (pickleball, anyone?) to new tech, they’re committed to offering a unique perspective on the ways that athletes, musicians, creators, and executives are moving the business world forward.
Sign up for their morning newsletter, HeadlineToGo, to get an inside look at the Boardroom universe. Plus, sometimes they have game-worn sneakers (!!!!!) and signed jerseys to give away — just saying. Join the 135K+ people who start their day with HeadlineToGo.
The Ship is in motion
Nike’s plan for the Air Ship has been a confusing one for me ever since we got the New Beginnings pack back in 2020. It’s had no direction.
When we got that retro pack ahead of the NBA All-Star game it was a very cool moment in time. It probably should’ve just stopped there.
Since then, though, it’d been GR after GR after GR. Things had gotten stale. I detailed that a bit in this episode of Special Delivery for USA Today (Subscribe if you haven’t already!)
Fast forward: Today there’s just a lot more energy and direction behind this legendary silhouette. This year has been extremely kind to it. We’ve seen a number of Air Ship collaborations come down the pipeline in recent months.
We got the A Ma Maniére Air Ship in early August.
The Corporate Got Em joints came through a month later to kick off September.
Now, Forget-Me-Nots is reportedly coming with a new collaboration at the end of September.
This is the sort of treatment that a sneaker like the Air Ship deserves.
Let me be clear: I’m one of those folks who felt like the Air Ship shouldn’t have really been brought back for more than a one-off that appreciated its history. It was a legendary sneaker. We could’ve left it at that.
Nike chose not to. That’s fine. But you don’t just bring it back to issue new colorways of the shoe. It needs to feel special. We weren’t getting that at first. That bothered me.
Finally, that’s beginning to change. Hopefully, these new creative versions of the shoe help push its history forward a bit.
Leo Baker makes some really cool history
In some really cool news this week, Leo Baker just became the latest skateboarder to get the signature sneaker treatment from Nike. They join the likes of Ishod Wair, Paul Rodriguez, Eric Koston and so many more from that line.
The hook: That’s not the cool part, though. What’s awesome about this is that, with this move, Baker became the first transgender athlete to get a signature sneaker.
Baker withdrew from the first ever skateboarding competition in the 2020 Olympics to come out as trans.
Fast forward: Now, here we are today, and Baker officially has a signature sneaker on the way. What an awesome story.
The details: The shoe is called the React Leo.
It’s a mid-cut sneaker with a react foam midsole, as we’ve seen in a number of Nike SB’s performance products.
The sneaker also comes in genderless sizing.
The big picture: This is a huge breakthrough for trans athletes in sports — a space where trans people are regularly excluded. It’s awesome to see Baker put on a pedestal here and treated as the world-class athlete they are.
Shoutout to Nike for this one. Good on you, Swoosh.
Now THIS is how you do a Croc collab
Look, I’m not saying I like these Crocs. Don’t get it twisted. But if you’re going to do a Croc collab, you might as well go all the way in on the ugly.
That’s why I can appreciate these hideous Shrek joints. Yes, I said it. They’re hideous. Debate someone else about it, Gen Z.
Look at them, dog. Come on. Tell me these are cute. I dare you.
While they are hideous, though, they’re also very creative! They’ve got the Shrek ears and nose. The color is spot on. The sport mode strap has nice detail to it.
I don’t like these, but I can very much appreciate them. Especially in comparison to the Jjjjound joints that also released. Just…don’t get me started on those.
Anyway, well done, Crocs. I tip my cap to you.
#TheKicksWeWear
The homie Guru came through with these FANTASTIC Gel Lyte 5s. Truly a slept on silhouette, man.
Then the homie Kali Rhe came through as fly as ever with the Taxis. Man. Love these so much.
The homie Saoirse Lannister reminded me why I miss Nike iD so much. LOOK AT THESE FORCES, Y’ALL.
Then the homie Ant came out here with the Bred 4s. I WILL HAVE THESE ONE DAY. ONE OF THESE DAYS.
Then my dog Dandin closed us out with the Tiffany Dunks…and a Tiffany football??? WHAT A FLEX.
SHEEEEEEEEESH, folks. Wow. Y’all smoked that.
Thank you so much for rocking with me today, family! I appreciate y’all. Hope you enjoyed today’s read!
Let’s chat again next week. Until then, folks. Peace and love. Be easy, be safe, be kind. And we out.
-Sykes 💯