Nice Kicks: Unlike most signatures, the Question stayed in the marketplace and on the hardwood for many years after. What motivated that decision?
Todd Krinsky: A lot of guys love to play in that shoe. That’s something that we heard over the years. When Allen was still playing, we brought them out in team colors. Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson won a National Championship with Michigan State in them and a couple of other players asked to wear them. We kept them alive on court a little bit by having some people wear them and then AI would wear them once in a while. We had this idea where he would wear them in the All-Star Game every year. That was the infamous Yellow/Blue shoe where he changed his mind last minute, didn’t wear them, and we stopped doing that. We kept them alive through the years because he always had an affinity for them, he wanted to wear them over the years, and there was always consumer demand. We were able to roll them in and out in a way that wasn’t too disruptive and we didn’t try to oversell it.
Nice Kicks: Moving to the re-release, why is now the time to bring back the model?
Todd Krinsky: First, the 90’s are really trending right now with younger kids, whether it’s color palettes, team logos, older hats, or athletic footwear. From a trend perspective, it was the right time. Recently, we’ve been spending more time with Allen. He’s making one more push to play and he loves the game. We felt like he was going to be more active right now. If you’re an internet sneaker junkie you can see all the shots of him playing in China, he looks as good as he did ten years ago, the shoe looks good, and luckily, he was wearing a white and red uniform. The demand for this shoe right now is one of the biggest buzzes I’ve experienced in the 20 years since I’ve been here.
Nice Kicks: What’s the more important sell to the next generation: the Question as a great design or Allen Iverson as a great player?
Todd Krinsky: I think that’s a really good question. We were in Atlanta with Allen and his oldest son Deuce, who’s like 15 now. We had an iPad with highlights of Allen, and Deuce was watching them, like, not even breathing. He was just mesmerized. Even though he’s watched his dad play before, it’s even incredible to watch it now. He was saying that his friends and a lot of people in that generation don’t know him, which is crazy, because he’s influenced every single kid that’s in the league now. From the way he played to the way he dressed, Allen made it okay for all these guys to express themselves on the court. It’s crazy that this generation doesn’t know him. Although it’s really cool that we can go and sell the shoe, at the end of the day it’s still more important that people know what he represented on and off the court. Allen tells a story that his last year in the NBA, he couldn’t walk back to the locker room with a pair of shoes because every single young player in the league would ask him for a pair of shoes. I’m talking about Rookie of the Year winners, Brandon Jennings, all these guys would go up to him and ask for a pair of shoes. I think even Allen himself recently said that he hadn’t really started to realize his legacy until his last few years of playing. I think that if we as a brand can peak the interest in who AI was, then kids can go online and Google him and watch his highlights. I think that’s far more important than selling the shoe.
