Russell Westbrook’s purported first signature shoe from Jordan Brand finally leaked—as everything does—and it’s… a lifestyle shoe? On one hand, it makes sense: Westbrook has long been interested in style and fashion, and since Dwyane Wade’s departure from Jordan Brand he’s been the face (or feet) of the flagship Air Jordan. On the other hand, it doesn’t: Westbrook, who reeled off four straight triple-doubles before “only” posting 43 points, eight boards and seven assists against the Bulls on Thursday night, might be the best player on Jordan’s roster (sorry, Chris Paul). If he can’t get a signature on-court shoe, why should anyone?
Wearing the latest LeBron, say, off the court is like driving a NASCAR race car on the street.
Which brings me to my larger point.
What if off-court models are the new signature styles? What if the Westbrook 0 is where everything is headed? After all, it’s getting more and more difficult to wear performance shoes—made as they are of meshes and weaves and futuristic compounds—off the court. Wearing the latest LeBron, say, off the court is like driving a NASCAR race car on the street. They’re a specialized product designed for one purpose, one which the average person might not even be interested in pursuing. And while LeBron (and other players) have signature off-court shoes as well, why not make that the primary focus moving forward? After all, an athlete can have much more design input into a shoe that they’ll never wear in games, one that isn’t saddled with the latest technological advances that most consumers will never need anyway.
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Call it the Kanye effect. Because from the earliest days of sneaker culture through at least the early 2000s, a big part of the driving force behind what people bought was what the best players wore on the court. This preceded Michael Jordan’s arrival in the NBA, but was clearly reinforced by Air Jordan. For a long time, the ultimate on-court shoe was also the ultimate off-court shoe. But this is no longer the case. The original Air Yeezy, as small as its production run was, played a role in this. As did Jordan’s inevitable final retirement, along with the ensuing rise of retro sneakers. Yes, retro sneakers were once performance models, but as time passes that connection becomes less and less important.
A shift in focus to off-court sigs could benefit the sneaker companies as well as the athlete and the would-be consumer, too—a rare win/win/win. Because on-court product depends heavily on an athlete being, well, on the court. It’s hard to sell a signature-level performance shoe when the athlete is sidelined with an injury (even worse if it’s a leg or foot injury, like that of Westbrook’s Thunder teammate Kevin Durant). Market off-court shoes harder, and an injury becomes just a reason for the athlete to wear their shoe MORE.
Russell Westbrook is actually the perfect person to lead this revolution—a transcendent athlete who would likely rather be on the cover of GQ than Sports Illustrated. His performance shoes are part of his uniform, his off-court shoes are part of his lifestyle. He spends more time in off-court gear, doesn’t it make sense for him to spend more time working on it? On-court he’s limited to team colors (for the most part) of whatever the latest Jordan shoe to come out of Nike’s performance labs is. Off-court he has no such constraints. Wouldn’t it follow that a Westbrook off-court shoe is more his than any performance shoe could ever be?
