Nike designer Eric Avar took over the @nikebasketball Twitter handle yesterday to field questions from fans about working on the Kobe 9. Despite the sneaker's super high design, Avar revealed that the shoe wasn't made that way because of Kobe Bryant's Achilles injury earlier this year.
His injury did not play a role in the shoe at all. We started working on this 2 – 2 1/2 yrs ago. @nicksdot
The swoosh designer, also tweeted that going from a low-top to a high was actually Kobe's idea.
It was Kobe's original insight – to create a hightop that plays like a low-top. @Raj_Patel89
And for fans of the low profile look the Kobe series has been known for over the past few years, Nike will release different variations of the flyknit basketball sneaks this coming spring.
We'll be doing a lot of variations and we're going to have a lot of fun. @Heskicks