Right before DJ AM passed, it was announced that he had been working with Swoosh on his own kicks. No one knew when they were coming out, but most salivated over the sample photos. Our friends at Niche in Charlotte just announced that they will be receiving the highly-anticipated Nike x DJ AM Dunk High Quickstrike sneaker on January 9th. We’re still unsure as to which (if any) accounts in Atlanta will be receiving these kicks, but I wouldn’t be surprised if our buds at Standard get them. Stay tuned… It’s confirmed. Standard will also be receiving these on January 9th. Let the lines begin!

will be available on Friday, December 18th at Nike Sportswear’s 21 Mercer location in NYC. Stay tuned to find out more info on how to get your hands on one.

Finally! You can customize your very own pair on Nike Air Max 1’s online at NikeiD.com. This is something I’ve been looking forward to doing for a long time. Just don’t copy my Poppyseed Bagel, Lox, & Cream Cheese inspired pair.

You don’t need to understand Portuguese (or Turkish) to see the storytelling here. Clearly Luis Fabiano and Brazil are gunning hard for the World Cup in South Africa. I wonder what a campaign like this with Landon Donovan would be received by American audiences…

While in Ohio last week, Nike invited our group to LeBron James‘ high school in Akron for a special event that had me grinning ear-to-ear. Check out my walk-through of St. V-M and a little extra after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Footwear designer, Jason Petrie, speaks about working with LeBron James on the Air Max LeBron VII. This is a rare opportunity to look under-the-hood of a highly anticipated sneaker. Over the weekend, I had a chance to speak with Jason about his design inspirations in Cleveland and I look forward to learning more from him in the future. Thanks to Nike for keeping the pathway between us designers wide-open!

Check out some of his preliminary sketches after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning, at the Ed Davis Community Center in Akron, Ohio, Lebron James unveiled his new sneaker to a room full of local student athletes, media reps, and the rest of the world via webcast. Also present were sneaker designer Jason Petrie of Nike and the MC of the morning was one of my favorite comedians, Kenan Thompson from Saturday Night Live.

I want to jump right in and call out important design aspects of the new sneaker:

•The sneaker took 18 months from design conception to finished product.

• The most notable change from LeBron’s old models is the drastic changeover from Zoom Air to a full Air Max unit on the bottom of the shoe. This is the first time a full Air Max bag has been used in a basketball product.

• Since LeBron is a big player, his needs in a shoe require for it to be able to take a beating on court. However Nike was challenged to making the shoe more durable while simultaneously making it lighter in weight. Therefore, they employed Flywire technology, which we have seen previously in many performance products as well as a lot of the Nike Sportswear offerings in the Flymotion Cortez and Air Maxim.

• Jason Petrie wanted to focus in a day in the life of LeBron James as his inspiration. Calling from his lifestyle, be it luxury hotels, automobiles, high-end fashion, and on-court basketball references.

• The outsole has 5 flex grooves, representing the 5 players on the basketball court.

• The midsection bears 23 stripes, referencing his number.

• The outsole features a 3D decoder key which, when the shoe is rotated, displays LeBron’s credos — Passion, Fearless, Tradition, Community, Family & Loyalty

• 7 Flywire strands on the tongue reference the 7th model in his signature shoe series with Nike.

Finally, LeBron will be embarking on a 10 city world tour starting next week to promote his new sneaker in addition to a documentary about him titled, More than a Game

The sneaker itself will be released on October 24th, 2009. Check out more angles and colorways after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m headed to the land of King James to discover the life, story, and design behind this. Stay tuned to see more…

I love coming into The Treehouse and being greeting by new mail from buddies all over the world. Today, we opened a package from Chris who runs the humble blog Life After Midnight and works as a design intern for NYC brand, 3Sixteen that I’ve become a huge fan of.

We’ve been tasked to customize this pair of Vans Chukkas for a charity show taking place in Canada next year. Other participating artists include SoleFood NYC, Blaine Fontana, and Mark Dean Veca. They will be auctioned off with all profits going to the Winnipeg Children’s Hospital. How cool is that!?!

Also, keep tabs on Life After Midnight, as I’ll be participating in the Monday Morning Playlist interview series as soon as I can narrow down my tracklist!

Really cool commercial. Excellent execution!

All you sneaker buffs should head over to the Nike Sportswear website to check out their new feature about the Air Max lineage. There are great downloadable OG posters, videos explaining the evolution of the Air Max 1 to the newly released/redesigned Air Maxim, and this sweet design-centric timeline.

I’ve been rocking Trainers for years and I’m happy to see Swoosh revisiting this old gem and breathing new design and life into it. This video is an example of why I can’t get down with other brands. Nike is about performance, design, and change. That resonates with me as an end-user regardless of whether or not I’m going to a workout or not. Every design decision is intentional. Why would I wear something that wasn’t designed for comfort and performance? I love Bo Jackson’s input at the end of the clip as well. Bo Knows.

Nike Sportswear Hong Kong

Last summer I had the pleasure of previewing the newly opened Nike Sportswear flagship store at 21 Mercer in NYC along with it’s opening festivities. In true Nike fashion, I was invited to check out NSW’s digs in Hong Kong. Although the store’s Grand Opening has long past (it opened in October of 2008), I still wanted to take advantage of a rare opportunity to feature an HK destination that should be on the top of everyone’s lists when visiting.

See the rest of NSW Hong Kong after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

After years of having their feet planted firmly in the Atlanta lifestyle market, Standard opened the doors to it’s second location in Lenox Square. To commemorate the expansion, Standard has partnered up American footwear giant DC Shoes for their first collaborative efforts. The goal in this collaboration was to represent design elements that have always been strongly present in the motif of Standard. The true red color embodies the strong presence of red accents at both locations along with the green laces and insole, which represent the artificial turf that covers the floor at the new store, as well as the live turf used at various events at the original location.

Check out more at the Standard Blog.

Read the rest of this entry »