Kobe Bryant’s widow Vanessa designed Nike Protro 8 sneakers to mark what would have been the NBA star’s 45th birthday
Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant’s widow, has designed a pair of new Nike sneakers called the Protro 8, with the footwear company first releasing designs on Thursday.
The sneakers will go on sale on August 23, which would have been the late Los Angeles Laker star’s 45th birthday.
Vanessa posted an Instagram clip of a silhouette of the designer sneakers on Wednesday.
She captioned the clip: “Kobe 8 “Halo” 8.23.23. This will be one of many Kobe 8 “Halo” styles coming soon.”
Vanessa, who is a mother of daughters Natalia, 20, the late Gigi, 13, Bianka, six, and Capri, four, with late NBA icon, “conceived and created the Halo shoe concept and launched it as a way to celebrate Kobe’s birthday every year. to honor. ,’ de shoes company said.
Details: Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant’s widow, has designed a pair of new Nike sneakers called the Protro 8, with the footwear company first releasing designs on Thursday. Pictured in LA in December 2019, just a month before Kobe’s death in a helicopter crash
The sneakers will go on sale on August 23, which would have been the late Los Angeles Laker star’s 45th birthday
The sneakers are a modern version of the eighth shoe Kobe released under his brand name in 2012; and the second release of the line of the late legend since the release of the Kobe 4 Protro Mamabacitas in May.
The company said the Halo concept will be “an annual release that will honor and celebrate this special date” of Kobe’s birthday.
Nike said that for the latest model, “designers have replaced the Lunarlon midsole with Nike React foam, which provides greater comfort and responsiveness and creates an overall more durable design.
“Also updated is the herringbone pattern and Swoosh embroidery on the upper and the Mamba logo on the tongue.”
After the late Los Angeles Laker star’s deal with Nike expired in April 2021, Vanessa took to Instagram in March 2022 to announce that she had agreed with Nike on a new deal that would allow the company to produce shoes in honor of the the late Kobe and Gigi Bryant.
“We are thrilled to announce that our partnership with Nike will continue!” Vanessa said in a post on the social media website. “I am so proud that my husband’s shoes continue to be the most worn by players on NBA courts and that the demand for his shoes continues to be so sought after by his fans around the world.
“With this new partnership, fans will soon have access to Kobe and Gigi Nike products for years to come, and Nike annually donates 100% of Gianna’s footwear net proceeds to our Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation (M&MSF).”
Vanessa said she was “grateful” to partner with Nike to create “a youth basketball center in Southern California that will share the Mamba mentality with youth athletes for generations to come.”
Vanessa posted an Instagram clip of a silhouette of the designer sneakers on Wednesday
Vanessa “thought and created the Halo shoe concept and launched it every year as a way to honor Kobe’s birthday,” the shoe company said
The company said the Halo concept will be “an annual release that will honor and celebrate this special date” of Kobe’s birthday.
Nike said that for the latest model, “designers have replaced the Lunarlon midsole with Nike React foam, which provides greater comfort and responsiveness and creates an overall more durable design”
Nike said it “also updated the herringbone pattern and Swoosh embroidery on the upper and the Mamba logo on the tongue”
Vanessa took to Instagram in March 2022 to announce that she had agreed with Nike on a new deal that would allow the company to produce shoes in honor of the late Kobe and Gigi Bryant
Kobe and Gigi were spotted at an NBA game in Brooklyn in December 2019
Vanessa called the business venture “an inspiring moment” for fans of Kobe and Gigi, and said she is “deeply grateful” to all of them.
Vanessa had publicly commented on social media in the past about a scarcity of the signature Kobe Bryant shoes following his tragic passing.
She said in December 2020 that she “contacted” the company after learning that “fans were having a hard time” getting their hands on the Kobe 6 Grinch shoes; and was upset in June 2021 after the company produced a Gigi MAMBACITA shoe without her approval.
The family remains resilient after Kobe, 41, and Gigi, 13, along with seven others died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on Jan. 26, 2020. Pilot Ara Zobayan, 50, and Payton Chester, 13, were also killed in the crash. , Sarah Chester, 46, Alyssa Altobelli, 14, Keri Altobelli, 46, John Altobelli, 56, and Christina Mauser, 38.