Nike is crowning LeBron James the ‘Forever King’ with the launch of his new signature shoe, the LeBron XXIII. Previously this week, the company teased the announcement before the four-time champion enters his record-breaking 23rd season with “a video in which a shirtless James raised a gold crown to his head.” The 32-second spot, which does not feature the new shoe, is “set to a narration from a child.
The company will “roll out 23 different colorways, telling 23 different stories from James’ journey to the silhouette he’ll lace up throughout his upcoming history-making season.” Each colorway will be “accompanied by a matching graphic T-shirt from the ‘Forever King’ apparel collection.”
Tracing back to high school, the sneaker and apparel storytelling unfolds, no one in the history of basketball has actively played in more numbered signature styles than James, whose 23 Nike LeBron editions rank just behind Michael Jordan’s 40 Air Jordans.
Led by Ross Klein, Senior Director of Nike Basketball Footwear Design, the design team crafted all 23 colorways and their narratives, and each was given James’s final approval.
WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY’s Ian Servantes reported “Uncharted,” which “commemorates James becoming the first NBA player to reach 40,000 career points,” will launch the colorway for the new shoe.
It has an “iridescent gold finish for most of its elements, such as a diamond-patterned knit upper and 40,000-point heel graphic.” Next up will be “Miami Twice,” paying homage to James’ back-to-back championships with the Heat, followed by the mismatched gold and purple “The Chosen One and the One Who Chose” as “a celebration of him and his son, Bronny, becoming the first father-sun-duo to play for the same team in the NBA.”