Patrick Johnson 
Were you lucky enough to get your hands on the Nike Air Zoom Generation yesterday? LeBron’s first ever retro finally dropped in incredibly limited numbers marking almost a decade and a half since the silhouette first arrived at retailers. The Nike Zoom Generation almost looked completely different too, as Nike SNKRS went into another ‘Behind The Design’ story featuring rare wear-test samples, early design sketches, and the overall history of how LeBron’s debut model came to be with the help of designer Aaron Cooper.
The Nike Zoom Generation was created by a number of incredibly talented designers, as Nike Basketball wanted to make sure they got the first signature model right for a kid ‘just from Akron’ who had inked a 7-year $90 million contract before ever playing a professional game. Tinker Hatfield spearheaded a design team with veterans Eric Avar (famous for his involvement in the Nike Kobe signature line) and Aaron Cooper (the man behind Scottie Pippen’s footwear). According to Nike SNKRS, Cooper was the first to sit down with LeBron to ensure the aesthetics were on point not only from an on-court perspective but in a lifestyle context as well.
Surprisingly enough, LeBron preached comfort over anything else in his first signature model. According to Cooper, finding a balance between functionality and an athlete’s originality is rather difficult. “The art is really their personality, their style. The other end is the science and when you hit the balance between the two, it’s the sweet spot. You can’t pull them apart. That’s what we at Nike are always after.” Cooper found the perfect balance in the theme of a ‘modern day soldier’, something that’s been echoed in LeBron’s Nike Soldier series, now a full 10 models in. The idea came from LeBron’s AAU travel teams wearing fatigues as a uniform to represent discipline and unity.
Cooper continued: “The overall aesthetic of the shoe is like a futuristic special forces boot for the court. The height of it, the collar line and the angularity of the color blocking. We also developed a textile to have this jungle boot feel to it. Similar to our SFB boot that has this blend of ballistic mesh and leather.”
Of course, LeBron’s controversial H2 Hummer, a gift from his mother in High School paid for by a loan she took out on the basis of LeBron’s star potential, served as another main inspiration. That could be found through the lace eyelets, the overall typeface on the ‘LeBron’ branding throughout, and the unique herringbone traction pattern. Early samples show a higher construction complete with a unique cut-out heel – something that would be scrapped for the Zoom Generation but could be found on Kobe’s first model with Nike a few seasons later. The overall Swoosh placement was experimented with as well, as early samples showcase the main heel Swoosh with the mesh side panel void of the logo. For more on that, read our Classics Revisited: Nike Air Zoom Generation Wear-Test Sample piece.
Check out more detailed shots of early wear-test samples and sketches of the Zoom Generation below and head over to Nike SKRS for the full story on how LBJ’s first model came to be.
