Matt Varga Jaylen Brown has redoubled his status in the league’s upper echelon this year, to the tune of nearly 30 points as he’s become the #1 option. It’s that skillset that had him on the shortlist of “best players without a signature shoe” conversations for years, something that he chose an alternative path in remediating by launching his independent endeavor, 741 Performance.
The imprint’s flagship Rover has been his on-court choice ever since, with its publicly available version particularly focused on the next generations of athletes; kids’ pairs of the model chop $130 off the retail price. Yet in his and his brands’ latest move, we’re seeing a step up in that endeavor. Before taking on historical rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, Brown was spotted with an early prototype of a new shoe, confirmed to be a partnership with 3D-printed footwear firm Zellerfeld.
Though this specific design is in the early stages, Zellerfeld details that this isn’t your typical “big things coming soon.” This partnership with Brown and 741 is described as a “new frontier,” heralding the exploratory stages of tailor-made performance wear, crafted for each athlete rather than relying the standardized builds the sneaker universe is founded upon. Specifically, the brand’s mission statement for this project aims at the ability to provide variable traction, support, and responsiveness geared to specific wearers’ needs. Further, they’re aiming at iterations between builds on a far more truncated schedule than the performance wear industry currently operates on.
Details regarding when exactly we can expect the market debut of this Jaylen Brown x 741 Performance x Zellerfeld design are in short supply, for the moment. Or in the words of the German company: “as testing and development continue, additional prototypes will follow.” Catch early shots embedded below.
