Photo courtesy of Nike, Inc.
—Nike introduced their new Kobe Bryant 11 shoes in December 2015, which will be the last on-court shoe to be worn by Bryant as he plans to retire from the NBA at the conclusion of this season.
“Throughout my time with Nike, I’ve obsessed the details of my shoes,” Bryant said on the Nike news website. “For the KOBE 11, we worked to perfect Flyknit for basketball.”
The shoe is defined by its innovative simplicity, and incorporates the relatively new “flyknit” technology, which consists of using single fibers knitted together to make the shoe, rather than traditional fabrics.
The Nike news website said that the KOBE 11 is a progressive low-top that distills Bryant’s signature legacy to its essence: high performance, lightweight, responsive and sophisticated design.
Nike has also introduced the new KOBE 11 Elite PEs, and one of the benefactors of these shoes will be the MSU basketball team. Oregon, Kentucky, and Duke join MSU as the four schools chosen to receive the shoe, and MSU will add these special KOBE 11 Elite PEs to their rotation through March Madness.
Kobe 11 PEs for Kentucky, Michigan State, Duke, and Oregon: pic.twitter.com/hoJfhMeeW0
— Heidi Burgett (@heidiburgett) February 24, 2016
According to Heidi Burgett, a public relations director for Nike, the shoes are player exclusives and will not be available for outside purchase.
MSU started business with Nike prior to the 2000-2001 athletic season, and MSU renewed with Nike on a 10-year, $34 million dollar contract in July 2015.
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