‘A piece of me’: A’ja Wilson, Nike unveil Aces star’s signature shoe.
He said the design team would collect Wilson’s notes after every meeting and send them home in a booklet with her. Initially, Nike started with a “very fast-looking shoe,” Nethongkome said.
But when the Nike team went to the lab, it realized that Wilson had asked for cushion and support in addition to speed.
“We raised the height of the foam a little bit to get after a more cushion platform,” Nethongkome said. “The next time we met with her, she was like, ‘Wait a minute. According to my notes here, it looks way different than it was before.’”
When Nethongkome attempted to explain the motivation for the change, Wilson didn’t take no for an answer.
“She was like, ‘No, no, no. We need something that looks fast and matches my energy on court, matches my game,” Nethongkome said. “So the team went back to the drawing board, and she was right.
The moment comes two years after Nike informed the three-time WNBA MVP that she would be receiving her own signature shoe and apparel line.
The low-top basketball shoe is being launched in a gradient pink scheme, which is just the first iteration of multiple colorways.
It won’t be released for purchase until May, which is when Wilson will begin her eighth season in the league. It’s a welcomed shift after she entered last season fielding countless questions regarding her apparent lack of a shoe.
“It’s taught me patience, but it’s also taught me to use my voice,” Wilson said of the creation process.
For Ben Nethongkome, the lead footwear designer for her collection, it’s not hard to think of a time when Wilson advocated for what she wanted in the shoe.
In a long-awaited reveal, Aces star A’ja Wilson and Nike released images of her A’One shoe Tuesday.
