2008 Nike Zoom Kobe 4

by Gerald Flores

There was a general consensus around low-top basketball sneakers in 2008: they were dangerous. For two decades prior, the majority of sneakers spotted on court were high- or mid-cut, with players living with the fear of an ankle sprain or something even worse. There were a handful of NBA players who braved the court in low-tops, such as Steve Nash and Gilbert Arenas. But there was one name that was a true catalyst for changing how every basketball player looked at hooping in lower-cut sneakers: Kobe Bryant.

Bryant’s fourth Nike signature sneaker was, by his own admission, his bravest. If you look at the first three signature sneakers in the line, you can see each model evolving from a bulky leather upper to more formfitting and closer-to-the-ground silhouettes. From the Zoom Kobe 1, which was an all-leather shoe, to the Zoom Kobe 3, which had an upper made from a web of injected mold, you can trace its development. In this next iteration, Bryant pushed his sneaker designer, Eric Avar, vice president and creative director of innovation at Nike, for a low, a move inspired by Bryant watching soccer players perform footwork that mimicked the movements of basketball players without suffering ankle sprains.

“The real insight was Kobe challenging us that he wanted a true low-top, like a running shoe or a football cleat,” Avar said. “My personal design approach has always been a minimal approach of just what you need and allow the functionality of your body to provide as much performance as possible.”

The advent of Nike’s Flywire technology made this minimalism possible. It was first seen in the Nike Hyperdunk, a basketball sneaker Bryant wore during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. A lot like how cables on a suspension bridge work, wires positioned strategically along the shoe kept the foot protected while making the model more lightweight and flexible.

Although Bryant and Avar agreed on the direction of the player’s fourth signature sneaker, it was tougher to convince everyone else. Inside the company, people were concerned about how consumers would perceive it and how it would sell. The player himself helped pitch the shoe to retailers.

“I remember having to go speak to buyers and having to explain to them why I’m going low, from an innovation standpoint, from an athlete performance standpoint, and the things we put into the shoe, like heel lock, that actually make the shoe safer than a high-top,” Bryant recalled in a 2016 interview with Sole Collector. “That was one of the more courageous leaps. It was one of those things where, if it succeeds, it’s going to be industry-changing, and if it fails, we’re going to be up shit creek.”

Avar also remembers the internal battles to make the shoe. “At that time, that was a radical notion, but Kobe was adamant that this is the type of performance and the type of shoe that he wanted,” he said. Bryant wasn’t just thinking about what he was going to play in during the next NBA season. He was also thinking about the future of basketball sneakers. “I remember he’s like, ‘I want to prove to everyone and to kids coming up that you don’t need all this extra bulk around your ankle.’”

Although the sneaker seemed risky, Bryant and Avar were able to get it done. The Nike Zoom Kobe 4 was about to debut on the NBA’s best player during the 2008–09 season.

Bryant was cemented as an all-time great but continued to add accolades to an ever-growing résumé. He was league MVP for the 2008 NBA season and made a strong run to the NBA Finals. Although his team lost to the Boston Celtics in the championship round, he represented the US on the “Redeem Team” during the Beijing Summer Olympics and won a gold medal shortly afterward. Going into the 2008–09 season, Bryant and the Lakers were poised to light up the league again and were early favorites to return to the Finals.

“Through my experience, I’ve developed a little bit of a philosophy that good design is always a balance between science and art—the functionality and its form of expression,” Avar said. “But I’ve come to add the notion of story, and I think story is so important. So it’s really kind of the balance between science, art, and story.”

Unlike the decade before, during which ads lived primarily on television, marketing for basketball sneakers in this era started to roll over to the internet. In addition to Nike-sponsored videos that showed him in Hyperdunks, jumping a car and performing with the cast of Jackass, Bryant appeared in a series of shorts promoting the Kobe 4, aptly titled, “Ankle Insurance.” The vignettes featured Bryant playing an ankle insurance salesman, pushing the “unorthodox low-cut shoes” to keep basketball players’ ankles from being broken. There was also a TV ad that premiered during the NBA All-Star Game that featured comedian Mike Epps and the late DJ AM in a pair of original Air Yeezys, with Bryant handing them some “ankle insurance.”

Bryant had some career moments on the court in the Kobe 4 as well, which helped fuel the legacy behind the man and the shoe. On February 2, 2009, he scored a then–Madison Square Garden record against the Knicks with 61 points, breaking a record held by Michael Jordan. As predicted, the Lakers went on to the NBA Finals again, but this time secured Bryant’s fourth NBA Championship and first NBA Finals MVP.

Houston Rockets forward P.J. Tucker—among the foremost sneakerheads in the NBA—called the Zoom Kobe 4 one of the most memorable models he’s ever played in. “It’s a perfect basketball shoe, but also a shoe you can wear hanging out,” he said. Through his line, the low-top basketball sneaker became more popular and even started diffusing into other lines. Currently, over 60 percent of basketball players in the NBA wear low-tops on the court.

“The Kobe 4 was a fight, but that’s one of my probably more indelible memories of working with Kobe, and because it was so different and the voice of the athlete was so important with that,” Avar said. “That gave us great confidence and really helped push this idea and this concept through.”

Honorable Mention
Nike Hyperdunk

by Brandon Richard

In 2008, the perfect storm of the Hyperdunk’s futuristic style, massive worldwide introduction, and revolutionary viral-marketing campaign established the era’s blueprint for sneaker launches. Its design team, led by Eric Avar, set out to make the lightest, best-performing basketball sneaker on the market. The model marked the category debut of Flywire, a Vectran cable support system, and Lunarlon foam cushioning. Together, Flywire and Lunarlon helped Nike achieve its goal of shedding weight without compromising performance—the Hyperdunk weighed in at thirteen ounces, 18 percent lighter than the brand’s average basketball shoe at the time.

Despite having his own signature line, Kobe Bryant was tapped to help with the Hyperdunk’s rollout. Bryant had a reputation for pushing new tech and was set to make his Olympic debut in Beijing, where Nike planned to introduce the shoe officially.

“The thing that sold me on [the Hyperdunk] was the technology,” Bryant told Sole Collector in 2009. “I’m a real big technology guy, and there’s not a lot of people who would push that boundary or hop in a shoe that’s so new. It was pretty easy for me to jump into a shoe that fit everything that I had been talking about for years.”

Bryant actually gave the public its first look at the Hyperdunk months earlier, playing a few regular-season games in Lakers-inspired colorways. Nike even released an ultra-limited run of twenty-four pairs in those Lakers colors in May 2008. Most, however, became aware of the shoe via a guerilla-style marketing campaign. Two online-exclusive videos featured Bryant jumping over a speeding Aston Martin and then over a pool of snakes with the Jackass crew while wearing Hyperdunks. The stunts were staged, but they added a layer of mystique to the sneakers, creating the industry’s first viral moment.

The stage was set for Beijing, host of arguably the most anticipated Olympic basketball tournament to date, following Team USA’s shocking loss in 2004. Half of the ’08 “Redeem Team” roster, including Bryant, played in the “United We Rise” Hyperdunk en route to winning the gold medal, giving the shoe its defining on-court moment to go along with the viral appeal. Members of the Women’s National Team and players from rival countries wore the model as well.

The original Hyperdunk kicked off a highly touted performance line that continues to produce new models annually. Its legacy, though, lies in how far it propelled basketball footwear, both with its design and distinctly twenty-first-century marketing campaign.