Nike unveils latest signature shoe for our client Kevin Durant, the KD8!
We got a glimpse of what Kevin Durant‘s latest sneaker model would look like a little over a month ago, when Durant himself began to leak images via his social media channels.
On Tuesday, the KD8 got its proper unveiling, as Nike Basketball formally announced Durant’s eighth signature shoe.
As is always the case with Durant and his personal line of sneakers, the designs vary drastically from one iteration to the next. Gone is the strap we saw on the KD7, and introduced on the KD8 are two new forms of technological innovations that are a first for a basketball sneaker.
From the official release:
Born from the design principals of woven textiles engineered for spacesuits, Flyweave technology was just over two years in development when Leo Chang and fellow Nike designer Thomas Bell singled it out for the KD8 upper.
The KD8 is the first Nike Basketball shoe to bring high-strength woven textile that can be designed in high resolution, down to the pixel, for the rigors of basketball footwork. The introduction of Flyweave along with the Flyknit upper that debuted in the KOBE 9 in 2013, continues Nike Basketball’s leadership in engineered textiles. …
The articulated, full-length Nike Zoom Air unit specifically designed for the KD8 provides responsive cushioning that moves naturally with Durant’s foot. Thousands of high-strength fibers connect the top and bottom of this Zoom Air unit, which runs the foot’s entire length. For the first time in basketball, this Zoom Air unit is designed with strategically placed notches in the forefoot and heel to intuitively flex with the foot’s movement.