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Issue Date: March 30, 2003
Burning rubber
Today's sneaker designs give new meaning to the b-ball expression "driving the lane."
By Kevin Markey
Promotional material for a hot new youth-oriented product uses language straight out of Detroit: chassis, suspension, traction, stability. We must be talking cars, right? Try shoes. Ever since Nike rolled out the Air Jordan XIV in 1998, loosely based on Michael Jordan's Ferrari 550 Maranello, athletic footwear design has gone cuckoo for cars.
When creating a signature shoe for an athlete, a Nike designer says, "I like to ask, 'if you were a car, what kind would you be?' "
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Take a sneaker being developed by Philadelphia-based And1. Drawn up for Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star forward Kevin Garnett, the shoe aims to reflect both KG's hard-cutting style of play and the boxy Mercedes G500 luxury SUV in his driveway. "The car is more angular, taller than a sports car," says And1 creative director Phin Barnes, who palled around with Garnett for several days to learn what makes the player tick. With Garnett's input, Barnes and his designers came up with a shoe whose wide toe box, external plastic ankle support bar and contrast stitching aim to marry functionality and luxury, à la the Mercedes.
You can tell a lot about an athlete by what he likes to drive. "Athletes are really into cars," says Aaron Cooper, creative director for footwear at Nike Basketball. "When we sit down to begin creating a signature product for a player, I like to ask, 'If you were a car, what kind would you be?' " The answer gives Cooper and his designers insight into the athlete's personality. Is he about power, speed, agility? Is he techno or retro? Aggressive or relatively laid-back?
When designing the Air Zoom Ultraflight for Gary Payton, the Milwaukee Bucks' hyperkinetic point guard, Cooper and his team drew on many sources -- not the least of which was a Ferrari 360 Modena Spider, one of Payton's dozen or so high-performance vehicles.
The trend isn't limited to hoops. In a tip of the racing helmet to its national heritage, Italian brand Fila recently rolled out a line of Ferrari-inspired footwear. A fashion statement in suede, the company's studiously retro Trofeo model evokes a pontoon-fender Testarossa from the late '50s. Also from Fila comes the Pininfarina, based on the legendary auto body designs of Battista Pininfarina, whose longtime collaboration with Ferrari resulted in cars with curves racier than Sophia Loren's.
And1's Barnes says almost anything can drive shoe design, provided it has interesting lines and a strong graphic presence. In addition to Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs, he has been inspired by ski boots, airplanes and snowboards. The important thing, he says, is never to lose sight of function; first and foremost, a design has to work as a shoe. Nike's Cooper puts it this way: "My job is to give an athlete a competitive advantage. Performance absolutely must come first. If all Nike wanted me to do was draw pictures of cool shoes all day, I'd be working somewhere else."
Of course, cool -- so vital in the marketing of cars and shoes -- is never easy to define, and it's even harder to hold on to. Adidas recently put the automotive world in its rearview mirror following lackluster sales of the KobeTwo, an Audi-inspired sneaker it created for Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. (The company and the ballplayer have since parted ways.) But the automotive tank is far from dry, and if the current crop of hybrids meets with success, consumers surely can expect to see more of them down the road.
Kevin Markey can't bear to part with his old basic-black Converse All-Stars or his 1991 Alfa Romeo Spider convertible.
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Sneak-car synergy
Who's behind the heel? A few notable examples of automobiles that have inspired innovative athletic footwear:
CAR Bentley Azure cabriolet
Buick owns the name "Regal," but Bentley is the true car of kings. Yards of leather and forests of wood on the inside, and a butter-smooth V8 under the hood. Retails for $380,000.
SHOE Nike Shox VCII
Named for the Toronto Raptors' Vince Carter, it draws inspiration not only from his electrifying style of play, but also from the ultra-suave Bentley. Retails for $150.
CAR Cadillac Escalade
The preferred SUV of NBA players pairs aggressive front-end styling with Caddy creature comforts. Retails for more than $50,000.
SHOE DaDa C4
Upstart company Eastbay's first signature shoe for the Sacramento Kings' Chris Webber features chrome detailing and a beefy vamp that unmistakably recalls the Escalade grill. Retails for $100.
CAR 1957 Ferrari Testarossa
Low-slung and fast, with "pontoon" fenders and sculpted wheel wells. Retails for as much as $8 million.
SHOE Fila Trofeo
Grille-like toe plate, leather contrast foreshoe, dual race stripes. Retails for $70.
CAR Ferrari 360 Modena
Lean and mean, with a glass cover over the rear engine to showcase what lesser cars keep hidden. Retails for $150,000.
SHOE Nike Air Zoom Ultraflight
Designed for Gary Payton with aggressive curves and an injection-molded transparent heel that reveals the shoe's viscera of mesh and moisture-resistant foam. Retails for $125.
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