 |  |
|  |  | |||||||||||||
| Tweet | |
SN: As close as you are to the whole process, now standing back and looking at the finished LeBron 9, what wound up being your favorite thing about the shoe?
JP: I’d have to say, just actually seeing the whole shoe come together. Seeing the finished work. Because believe me, at times it looked really rough and there were people that didn’t believe along the way. And in the end, it’s built like a brick shithouse, but one that you can pick up and throw. I think we achieved the perfect balance of light and strong and it’s just satisfying to see the end of the mission, because there were a lot of battles along the way and we ended up with a shoe we can be proud of and a shoe that LeBron loves. It seems like that’s the biggest challenge.
How do you go in after the 7 and get LeBron to fall in love with another shoe again? And then after the 8, how do you get him to fall in love again? And again and again. Now we’re working on having to do that with the LeBron 10 and that’s an incredibly high bar that we set, so it feels really good to surpass that test. I just wanna see the 9 on court man! See him doing work in the shoe and just making some of those moments in the shoe. I just wanna see it put to the ultimate test out there on the NBA hardwood with LeBron doing his thing. So hopefully, we’ll get word of that happening soon.
SN: What’s something about the shoe that people haven’t heard yet that you’d like to get out there?
JP: The story of the triple threat is something that maybe not too many people have heard. When you look deeply into what it means for LeBron to be the ultimate triple threat on court, and in life through philanthropy, on-court, off-court, being a father – he has so many different traits. So we look at that notion of the triple threat and that’s why the shoe is kinda designed like an odd number almost. It’s asymmetric, you’ve got that three-pointed stability wing on the side, the asymmetry in the back and the eyerow. We just had fun with designing it with that uneven sense in mind. So for those out there that like to talk about the aesthetics, now you can get some reasoning for why some of those things look the way they do or are styled the way they are.
SN: Great stuff as always! Thanks for taking the time Jay.
JP: Anytime, thank you!
14 Responses to “Sneaker News Talks Nike LeBron 9 & More With Designer Jason Petrie”
November 17th, 2011 at 10:39 pm
great read!
November 17th, 2011 at 11:01 pm
The shoe is growing on me but the one on the first page should have been the final design. SWEET!
November 17th, 2011 at 11:36 pm
agreed …
November 18th, 2011 at 12:33 am
Jason Petrie is the man. All i buy is Lebrons now. I have 17 pair of Lebron 8's.
November 18th, 2011 at 12:50 am
The last 2 colorways on page 6 look sick !! Especially the red, green & blacks.
November 18th, 2011 at 12:58 am
i dont owe any Brons, but i admire Jason Petrie and as a industrial design student he´s an inspirtion to me.
November 18th, 2011 at 1:11 am
so chill
November 18th, 2011 at 1:37 am
(((HEY PETRIE))) The 9 sucks ass, so bring on the V2 low wit the 360 air unit and stop bullshittin willya?!
November 18th, 2011 at 1:52 am
super cool interview. it's nice to hear form a designer while he is young and not just spewing the corporate line.
November 18th, 2011 at 11:49 am
I really wish this site would stop showing the wrong pictureof the scarfaces
November 18th, 2011 at 2:10 pm
I am still not a lover of the 9's at all. But I still have the utmost respect for Jason Petrie, or any designer. Especially after reading this article. I mean, it's tough to try to please everybody. It's always either love or hate. All you can do is try to make the athlete happy with the performance first, and then make them look as good the best you can while still making the entire package unique. For some people the look, or even performance, is either hit or miss. But I guess you still have to go with your guy or gal and go with what they want.
November 18th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
Like i said. That Sh*t aint F'ing carbon fiber. Like I've said the last 3 F'ing years.
November 18th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Like I said. That stuff was NEVER carbon fiber. Not in the 4, not in the 7, not in the 8, and not in the 9.
November 19th, 2011 at 11:50 pm
…i think these shoes were built with PERFORMANCE as the MAIN PRIORITY not how they look with JEANS.To a BALLPLAYER,these could be very popular due to its COMFORT/PERFORMANCE.But,they may not be recieved well by the GENERAL PUBLIC due to its low compatibility with JEANS/STREETWEAR.