John Kim 
Not often does Nike open up the doors of the World Headquarters to the public eye. A company built on next-level innovation has to keep things a bit secretive, but the LeBron 12 launch event was designed to reveal the deepest corner of the Beaverton office – the Nike Sports Research Lab. It’s where all the magic happens, and the NSRL’s contribution to its products is a major reason why the Swoosh brand sits at the top. Like the previous 11 iterations of the Nike LeBron, the twelfth model was born in the lab, but never before has all the extrapolated data been made so openly available to the public. In fact, all of the colorways are a tribute to the gathered information that came from the tireless wear-testing and development; Nike is putting it all out there for the world to see, and it’s starting with the LeBron 12. We’ll go a bit more in detail regarding the events of the trip, so continue on below to get a first-hand look at the LeBron 12 launch at the Nike WHQ.
Media from around the globe were seated in the Stanford Theater, which sits inside the Tiger Woods building. The introductory phase of the event featured NBA TV’s Kristen Ledlow as host, who was joined by a number of key figures of the brand. Matt Nurse of the NSRL, John Brenkus of ESPN’s Sport Science, NBA Statistician Ken DeGennaro, and Taryn Hensley of Nike. Each contributed a unique factor of the LeBron 12 design, whether it be the Hex-Zoom development or the force exerted by LeBron during one of his tomahawk dunks.
LeBron James finally joined the fray, who showed off his new LeBron 12 (in the NSRL colorway) and spoke with Ledlow about his favorite colorways, the design inspiration of the shoe, and how the LeBron 12 could help him become even better than he already is.
Later, Nike designers and contributors to the LeBron 12 gave us more in-depth insight into the LeBron 12 development. Eugene Rogers, Nike Basketball Color Lead, gave us a complete breakdown of each of the 7 upcoming LeBron 12 colorways, while Kevin Dodson provided some additional specs regarding the production of the sneaker.
Taryn Hensley, a key contributor to the Hex-Zoom cushion design, gave us all we needed to know about the new Zoom bag featured on the LeBron 12 and the Hypercross Trainer. Zoom Air has clearly evolved – and she’s a big reason behind the change. Other Nike representatives talked about the expanding kids footwear line.
All of the LeBron 12 colorways were readily available for viewing. Which of these do you like most? (Not pictured: NSRL colorway)
How does a sneaker like the LeBron 12 take form? Nike provided us with actual samples from the design process from start to finish. Check out the all-black wear-test sample!
