Holidays and Other Special Days
October 31st, 2014 – Halloween – Before last season, in which Chris Paul and Blake Griffin wore a glow-in-the-dark shoe and an orange sneaker, respectively, Halloween-inspired sneakers weren’t a thing on court since the 2010-2011 NBA season. Hopefully, it remains a theme for a number of years.
December 1st, 2014 – World AIDS Day – During the same season, 2010-2011, Nike supplied its athletes with red and/or red-accented shoes for World AIDS Day. With four games scheduled on December 1 this season, it would be great to see a few players reach back into their closets and bring out red sneakers to support the day, or see the brands assist the players much like they did in the aforementioned season.
December 25th, 2014 – Christmas Day – Christmas Day is arguably the best day to see an array of vibrant and sometimes unseen player exclusives on the NBA courts. If Ray Allen decides to play this season, you can expect something bizarre on his feet, and Russell Westbrook will more than likely debut a player exclusive again.
January 19th, 2015 – MLK Day – MLK Day continues to be one of the most anticipated nights seeing that brands, such as Under Armour, Nike and Jordan, supply their athletes with intricate player exclusives for the holiday.
February 8th, 2015 – Grammy Night – The newest trend that the top brands brought to the court this year was centered around Awards Season. Jordan Brand, Under Armour and adidas equipped their players with gold sneakers on Grammy Night. Hopefully, this trend continues, as it was one of the most surprising nights of this past season.
February 19th, 2015 – Chinese New Year Begins – Two seasons ago, adidas outfitted a number of its brand members in Year of the Snake-inspired player exclusives during the months of January and February, which was also a pleasant surprise. For some reason, the Year of the Horse wasn’t represented this past season, but we’d like to see them return to the Chinese calendar with Year of the Sheep-inspired shoes this season if possible.
First Week of April, 2015 – NBA Green Week – NBA Green Week has become one of the highlights of the season in regards to sneakers. During the month of April, the NBA collaborates with the National Resource Defense Council (NDRC) to bring an emphasis towards protecting the environment. The partnership produces Green Week, a designated seven consecutive days in which NBA players wear mainly green apparel, including headbands, socks, warmups and of course, sneakers. Over the past few years, player have used the aforementioned week to bring out player exclusives or rarely-seen retros, and we expect more of that this season.
