The Nike Zoom LeBron VI "MVP" By Designer Ken Link

The Nike Zoom LeBron VI (6) is arguably the sleekest, smoothest, lightest and best looking signature LeBron James shoe yet. The shoe combines the smooth feel of the Zoom LeBron IV (4), also designed by Ken Link, and the clean layout of the Air Zoom Generation, LeBron’s first signature shoe. LeBron shoes before this were notoriously bulky and heavy for a basketball shoe, but this was a non-issue when designing for the athletic specimen that is LeBron James.

What I want to focus on is not so much the design of the shoe itself, but the special MVP edition and the inspiration and details that went into designing this commemorative colorway.

LeBron is well-known for his pregame ritual of throwing chalk into the air and Nike recognized this by creating a "Chalk” edition Zoom LeBron IV. The MVP edition takes it one step further by giving the entire upper the look off a fresh, powdery chalk clap from LeBron himself by using dull, white, distressed leather. The shoe also received other special treatment not seen on any other LeBron VI models. The midsole is patent leather and the soles are clear with metallic gold flake, a nice touch.

The shoe itself is kind of quiet except for the dramatic prints which are a statement of LeBron’s game and career. The heel tabs of the shoes feature Nike’s campaign for LeBron, “WITNESS” printed across both tabs. Behind the tab of the left shoe “08” is printed and on the right “09”; this is for the NBA season he was awarded the regular season MVP award. The forefoot straps have the words “WITNESS”, “MVP”, “08” and “09” scrawled across both shoes in the same large block print that adorns the rear of the shoes and the inside part of the double lined upper.

To find inspiration to design LeBron’s signature shoe is hard enough, but to create a commemorative shoe of such magnitude with only color, material and print/graphics as options is another task. Ken Link had to look beyond LeBron James the person and the player, the inspiration for the shoe, but to LeBron’s career, on-court performance and persona to give this shoe its own identity feel. This shoe became as anticipated as LeBron’s first MVP award. Let’s hope it is not the last and the inspiration keeps coming.