Vanessa Bryant questions Nike over apparent leaked release of "Mambacita" shoe honoring late daughter Gianna
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June 5, 2021, 4:59 AM
11 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleEarlier this week, Vanessa Bryant revealed in a series of social media posts that she was blindsided upon seeing an image of a shoe she helped design, a black and white "Mamba Forever" special edition of the Nike Kobe 6 Protro, from her late husband Kobe Bryant's signature series with the brand.
The specific colorway in question, featuring subtle gold accents throughout, was created as a tribute to her daughter, Gianna.
"It was going to be called the MAMBACITA shoe as an exclusive black and white colorway on her daddy's shoes," she wrote in one post. "I picked the colors in honor of her uniform, the number 2 she wore just like her uniform, the inside pattern, Kobe and Gigi on the back in gold instead of Kobe's signature, the inside shoe details (butterfly, wings, halo), etc."
The sneakers, designed in conjunction with Nike nearly a year ago in 2020, were originally slated for a Summer 2021 release, before being placed on indefinite hold earlier this spring once Vanessa and the Kobe Bryant Estate elected not to renew its contract with Nike.
The heel counter features the names "Kobe" and "Gigi" on opposite shoes, along with the "Mamba M" logo that the Kobe Bryant Estate fully owns the rights to. The Kobe Bryant Estate has also filed for trademarks in the footwear and clothing sector for additional terms like "Mambacita," "Mamba League," "Lil' Mambas," "Kobe Bryant," "Play Gigi's Way" and others.
The shoes, created after the Jan. 26, 2020, helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven other passengers, were intended by Vanessa to raise funds for the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation and to support youth girls sports initiatives.
"The MAMBACITA shoes are NOT approved for sale," she continued. "I wanted it to be sold to honor my daughter with ALL of the proceeds benefiting our @mambamambacitasports foundation but I did not re-sign the Nike contract and decided not to sell these shoes. (The MAMBACITA shoes were not approved to be made in the first place). Nike has NOT sent any of these pairs to me and my girls. I do not know how someone else has their hands on shoes I designed in honor of my daughter, Gigi and we don't. I hope these shoes did not get sold. @nike"
The confusion around the potential release of the shoes stems from a variety of calendar quirks surrounding the footwear manufacturing timeline, detailed contract clauses heading into the expiration window, and a crucial shipping error both to and from a UK-based official Nike retailer.
The shoes were in fact not officially released as, according to sources, Nike does not plan to release the shoes until if and when a new agreement is reached with Vanessa and the Kobe Bryant Estate.
Nike was not available for comment when contacted by ESPN for an official statement. Contacted for further comment, Vanessa Bryant was unavailable, busy celebrating her daughter Natalia's high school graduation this weekend.
The original Kobe Bryant endorsement extension contract with Nike was a 5-year agreement beginning on the date of the Lakers star's final NBA game in 2016, and expiring on April 13, 2021.
The "Mamba Forever" Kobe shoes, designed nearly a year ago, were put into production at a Nike factory in Vietnam between the dates of "10/28/20 - 01/13/21," as printed on a series of Kobe 6 Protro tag labels. That timeline is well in advance of the contract's April, 2021 expiration date and with the anticipation of a Summer 2021 release, until the stalled contract talks in April halted those plans.
Typically, sneaker samples in specific colorways of future retail launches are created in size 9 around a year in advance and receive "final confirmation sign-off" around eight months in advance, allowing a window for subtle tweaks to be made to details and execution before going into production.
The Initial Production Week, or IPW, is then scheduled to begin at the brand's factory partners in Asia anywhere from five to eight months in advance of a release date, with production for a full run of pairs requiring a span of a couple months to be completed.
For signature sneakers that also require an endorsement contract between a partner and the brand, a clause deep in every contract provides the company the ability to place a sneaker into production in advance of an expiration date, if retail orders have already been placed against the design to be fulfilled, and still sell the shoe after a contract has expired.
