BEHIND THE DESIGN

The SNKRS Stash at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California for the Kobe I Protro 'Final Seconds' is available on iOS only. After two years of wearing Air Huaraches and Air Jordans on court, Kobe Bryant debuted the Kobe I in 2005 on Christmas Day. Nearly a year later, he wore the shoe when he scored a historic 81 points against the Raptors — still the second-highest total points scored by a single player in a game.

In early discussions about the shoe’s 2018 comeback, Kobe insisted that it look exactly the same as the original. However, he wanted to apply the latest Nike innovations to reduce the shoe’s weight and increase performance benefits at the same time. Thus, the Kobe I Protro was born.

Funnily enough, the approach to the Protro came from Kobe’s experience at an amusement park, watching the movement of programmed characters. He compared the characters’ hidden animatronics to the system of innovation inside a shoe that you can’t see but know exists.

The design focus became an interior one: removing unnecessary foam, adding a full-length Zoom bag, and thereby reducing weight by nearly five ounces. It was also one that focused on approval and adoption from the Nike athletes who wear Kobes on-court, including DeMar DeRozan, who felt the shoe’s lightness and underfoot responsiveness right away.

“Kobe always pushes us,” says Tony Grosso, Senior Product Line Manager for Nike Basketball. “For him, it’s all about performance and whether today’s players will want to wear it on the court. He's super intentional and thoughtful about everything he does. He always has a plan, and for retros, the plan was always to stick to performance-based innovation.”

The first drop of the Kobe I Protro comes in the original “Varsity Maize” colorway. The next launch, the Kobe I Protro 'Final Seconds' will launch as part of the Art of a Champion collection.