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Nick DePaulaESPN
Vanessa Bryant and the Kobe Bryant Estate chose not to renew the partnership, expired Kobe Bryant’s five-year post-retirement period with Nike, and confirmed to ESPN on Monday night.
“Kobe’s Nike contract expired on 4/13/21,” Vanessa Bryant told ESPN. “Kobe and Nike have made, worn and adored some of the most beautiful basketball shoes of all time by fans and athletes in all sports around the world. It seems fitting that more NBA players wear my husband’s product than any other distinctive shoe.”
According to a source, Bryant and the estate became frustrated with limiting the availability of Kobe products during his retirement and after his death in January 2020 in a helicopter crash. According to the sources, there was also frustration over the lack of availability of Kobe shoes in Kids sizes, which are presumably worn by young boys and young girls.
According to sources, Nike has offered an expansion offer that is not in line with expectations or a continuous “lifelong” structure like the contracts of Nike Inc. held by Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
“My hope will always be to allow Kobe’s fans to get and wear his products,” said Vanessa Bryant. “I will continue to fight for it. Kobe’s products sell within seconds. That says it all.
“I was hoping to enter into a lifelong partnership with Nike that reflects my husband’s legacy. We will always do everything in our power to honor Kobe and Gigi’s legacy. It will never change.”
It is believed that all future releases of shoes and clothing from Kobe Bryant manufactured by Nike will be discontinued. The Kobe Bryant Estate can negotiate with outside brands to form a new partnership.
Vanessa Bryant also confirmed to ESPN that the Kobe Bryant estate owns the rights to the “Mamba” logo and its signature. According to a source, the “Sheath” logo that regularly appears on the tongue of Nike’s Kobe sneakers is mutually owned.
“Kobe Bryant has been an important part of Nike’s deep engagement with consumers,” Nike said in a statement to ESPN. “He pushed us and made everyone around him better. Although our contractual relationship ended, he remains a much-loved member of the Nike family. ‘
After Bryant scored 60 points in his last NBA game on April 13, 2016 – which was called ‘Mamba Day’ by Nike in a lavish farewell campaign, he had a five-year extension contract for approval that would continue the partnership until his retirement .
Before he passed away, Bryant explored the idea of creating his own Mamba brand after the expiration of the existing Nike agreement, and even met in December 2019 with a creative agency that could possibly help design a future product range and to perform.
After originally signing with Nike in 2003, Bryant created an effective partnership with the brand that extended to the rest of his Hall of Fame career. He featured sneakers such as the Zoom Huarache 2K4 and 2K5, the industry-shifting Hyperdunk at the 2008 Olympics, and 11 signature models under the Nike Kobe series.
With the launch of the Kobe 4, during Bryant’s resurgent 2008-09 championship season with the Los Angeles Lakers, the sneaker design ushered in a new era of low tops in the league. Once worn by just a handful of point guards in all 30 teams, low tops were soon seen on players at all positions and in each team. Nearly half of the league now wears low shoes in games.
After retiring from the NBA, a series of retro and newly created sneakers have been released within the past five years. Bryant coined the term “Protro” based on the insight that he wanted to upgrade his shoes from the past with modern constructions and technologies – an updated Retro version of his previous Pro-level sneakers.
Several of Nike’s unsigned athletes have played a routine in Kobe sneakers, both out of a love of performance and as a constant tribute. In recent seasons, Devin Booker, PJ Tucker, DeMar DeRozan, Buddy Hield, Isaiah Thomas and several others have created their own player-exclusive colors from Kobe Protro models to continue its legendary sneaker.
The Kobe 1, 4, 5 and 6 have been re-released by the Protro lens over the past few years. During the NBA’s reload of the 2019-20 season, 102 players wore Kobe sneakers, most of the players’ sneakers in the league.