Back in October, the Nike KD 7 EXT “Pony Hair” made its way to the web while on display at the OK Soles sneaker show in Oklahoma City. Immediately the shoe was dubbed the “Pony Hair” nickname because of the material on the upper, but knowing Nike, there is always a deeper meaning and a deeper story to any special release. We all know the story of Kevin Durant playing for the University of Texas and how year after year he shows love to the Texas Longhorns teams and 40 Aces fans with “Texas” editions of his shoes, but does this KD 7 have a meaning deeper than that?
The nickname of the Nike KD 7 “Lone Star” popped up on foreign message boards describing the interwebs have been calling the Pony Hair 7s from jump. Whether you are a frequent user of Google Translate or not, you can probably guess that Pony Hair and Lone Star don’t get swapped easily meaning that the story of the shoes is more than just a one-trick-pony (had to use the pun eventually).
To the eyes of many, the shoe is a gum-bottomed basketball shoe with hair all across the upper, but to someone from Texas, even at first glance, the shoe represents much more. The pattern of the upper is that of something iconic to our heritage and history even down to the branding-iron look of the logos on the shoe.
Just yesterday Nike officially unveiled the Nike KD 7 with the official title being “Longhorn State”. While to many this might seem like another nod to his alma mater, let us look at some history, traditions, culture, and icons of the state where Kevin Durant played college hoops.
The old saying goes “everything is bigger in Texas” and to use that what Nike and Kevin Durant have put together with the Nike KD 7 EXT “Longhorn State” is a Texas-sized tribute to the Lone Star State and one of its most celebrated icons.
