The popularity around LeBron James’ signature shoe line has grown thanks in large part to the ingenious and cutting edge work of Senior Footwear Designer Jason Petrie and his team. But years before Petrie’s name became synonymous with LeBron’s line, Nike Basketball Color Lead Eugene Rogers, Senior Product Graphic Designer Erick Goto and the rest of the Color team universalized the series by incorporating compelling, story-telling colorways on LeBron’s revered silhouettes.
“Most of the team has been working with him since the LeBron V – which is when I started – so we have that really good, honest rapport with him where he’ll tell us if he doesn’t like something and as a designer, you love that,” said Rogers at the Nike LeBron 12 launch event last week. “Working with him is a mixture of sitting down and talking with him for hours and also just watching him consistently. LeBron’s expertise is being the best basketball player in the world, and our expertise is design, so it’s really a synthesis of those two things. We’re going to be wowed by the things we find out about him though conversation, and he’s going to be wowed by the way we interpret that into a physical object.”
Judging by the line’s acclaim, the Nike Basketball Color team has not only wowed King James but undeniably delighted the masses. Prominent color scheme sequences, such as Summit Lake Hornets, Hardwood Classics and South Beach, have proven to be cornerstone themes since Rogers joined the team in 2007, but LeBron’s story is far from over and for some mainstays, the change is now.
LeBron James introduces the LeBron 12 at the NIKE Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.“I actually think that it’s good timing for us to do away with the South Beach theme just because we’ve done so much with it in the past,” said Rogers of arguably the most popular color scheme on any LeBron shoe in recent memory. “His move back to Cleveland will allow us to tell new stories about his life and career. Ohio will provide that inspiration without a doubt.”
