While Charles Barkley has a handful of Nike sneakers and campaigns that are widely revered as classics, it sounds like he didn't have much of a hand in shaping what his shoes looked like.
In an interview on the Complex Sneakers Show, former Nike designer Aaron Cooper, who worked on Barkley's models, explained that he was among the athletes at Nike who were the least engaged with the design process. Some of Barkley's most iconic Nike signature models include the Air Force Max CB, the Air Max 2 CB 94, and the Air CB 34, which were all introduced in the 1990s.
"Barkley was the only one that didn't. He was like, 'You're not going to tell me how to play basketball, and I'm not going to tell you how to design a shoe.'"
Co-hosts Brendan Dunne, Matt Welty, and Joe La Puma dug further into the situation, where Cooper said it didn't bother him that Barkley wasn't as engaged in the design process of the sneakers as athletes like Serena Williams and Kobe Bryant. Cooper did say though that he prefers when athletes are involved during the creation of the footwear.
Cooper got his start at Nike as a design intern in the early '90s. He later went on to become a senior designer and design director at the brand, and is responsible for creating some of the most iconic silhouettes across several sports categories—although he is best known for his work at Nike Basketball. Watch the full episode of the Complex Sneakers Show above.
