Kobe's first signature sneaker is on the market.

In a sports journal in Los Angeles, a review like this quickly appeared in the sneaker review section:

"Would I pay for a high school rookie's signature sneakers? Of course not! Unless I'm a fool! I guess you are not fools either.

Although the style of this shoe looks very trendy, with a price tag of US$135, the manufacturer of the sneakers is really crazy about money!

Kobe Bryant is just a 13th overall pick, and he has just revolutionized the Lakers' rotation. Do you think he is 'Penny' Hardaway?"

The media specifically mentioned Hardaway because in 1996, the signature sneaker "NIKE Air Penny" sold by Nike for Hardaway was priced at US$135.

Later generations of shoe speculators drove the price of sneakers to sky-high prices, but in fact, in the American market, the first-year price of signature shoes by players was not high.

The signature sneakers of outside players are easier to sell, and the price is generally between 110 US dollars and 130 US dollars. For example, Payton's signature sneakers were sold for 110 US dollars when they were launched. A few years later, LeBron James's first signature sneakers were sold for

The price is $130.

Sneakers for inside players are not easy to sell, and the price may even fall below 100 US dollars. The price of Garnett's first signature sneaker is only 95 US dollars.

In 1996, a signature sneaker dared to sell for 135 US dollars. It was basically sold at the price of a superstar. With Kobe's popularity and influence, it was obviously not worth such an expensive price. It was normal for him to be criticized by the media.

The sales results of sneakers, as James Bond said, are very bleak.

Many customers buy this shoe not because it is Kobe's signature shoe, but because they think the shoe is very fashionable in design.

Obviously, for a player who is still struggling to break into the rotation, few fans are willing to pay for him.

In one month, Kobe Bryant's first signature sneakers only sold more than a thousand pairs, which is lower than ordinary sneakers. There is no sign of the star effect.

Some media in Los Angeles have started ridiculing mode again.

But this time it was not Kobe who was being mocked, but Leap!

Spending huge sums of money to sign players and release signature sneakers, but sales are very poor, this should be ridiculed.

Some sports commentators have already evaluated Kobe's signature sneakers as the most failed endorsement in NBA history!

…

Just after the Valentine's Day in 1997, Americans' eyes focused on the annual NBA All-Star Weekend.

Friday's Rookie Challenge is probably the most watched one in recent years.

Because 1996 was a big year for the draft.

For NBA rookies in previous years, by the time of the All-Star Game, the rookies had just adapted to the rhythm of the NBA game and were barely able to have stable playing time in the rotation.

However, the golden generation of rookies in 1996 is different. Iverson has become the boss of the 76ers, and others such as Marbury, Ray Allen, Raheem, and Walker have also become stable scorers for the team.

Yes, there is no problem in joining the starting lineup.

The 1996 Rookie Challenge was all participated by rookies and was divided into the Eastern Team and the Western Team. In 2000, it was changed to a rookie team versus a second-year team.

For the Western Team, Marbury did not play due to injury, and only Nash, Fisher and Kobe were left on the back line. Therefore, everyone felt that the Rookie Challenge would become Iverson's personal performance.

However, what everyone didn't expect was that it was Kobe who really showed off!

In the Rookie Challenge, Kobe scored a game-high 31 points, and also grabbed 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. When facing Iverson, Kobe was not inferior at all, and instead faced off against the opponent.

Mark it.

Shooting, breaking through, and dunking, Kobe showed a variety of offensive methods.

Although the Western Conference lost to the Eastern Conference 91-96 in the end, and the Rookie Game MVP was also won by Iverson, this game made the whole country get to know Kobe, a young man.

After all, it was not the Internet era at that time. Ordinary people relied on television and newspapers to obtain information. The limited space on television and newspapers would definitely be given priority to star players. News reports about ordinary players would only appear in local media.

Rookie players like Kobe who can barely make it into the rotation are not known to many outside of Los Angeles.

The NBA All-Star Weekend is broadcast live across the United States, and you can perform outstandingly in the Rookie Challenge, which is equivalent to showing yourself in front of a national audience.

Only then did the fans know that among this year's rookies, there was a young man named Kobe, who had very outstanding personal abilities and could actually compete with No. 1 overall pick Allen Iverson.

But this was just the beginning. Kobe's real highlight moment came in the dunk contest the next day.

…

In the second round of the dunk contest, Kobe was the first to appear.

The 31 players in yesterday's Rookie Challenge gave Kobe so much confidence that he didn't even take off his training clothes in the first round of the slam dunk contest.

However, out of the three dunk opportunities in the first round, he only completed two, and the one-arm windmill failed in the second dunk. Fortunately, his opponent also made frequent mistakes, allowing Kobe to successfully advance to the second round.

In the second round, Kobe finally took off his training clothes.

Initially, the audience thought that there must be some special weapon hidden inside the training uniform, but it was just a simple Lakers uniform, which was a bit disappointing to the audience.

In last year's slam dunk contest, Brent Barry also wore training clothes for the first round of dunks, and then took off his jacket during the second round of dunks, revealing a T-shirt that read "White People Can Fly" underneath.

.

Therefore, the audience also expected that there would be some gimmicks in Kobe's jacket.

Although there were no small surprises in the jacket, which disappointed the audience, Kobe's performance did not disappoint the audience.

I saw Kobe accelerating near the 45-degree three-point line on the left, cutting into the penalty area, then taking off, holding the ball with his left hand and passing under his crotch, catching the ball with his right hand and dunking with one hand.

A perfect crotch-hand-changing windmill dunk! It instantly caused the whole audience to scream.

In future dunk contests, this kind of crotch-changing windmill may not be very surprising, but in 1997, such a dunk would definitely get a lot of applause.

Sure enough, the referee gave a high score of 49 points.

This dunk can be said to have attracted a lot of fans. It was this slam dunk contest championship that made Kobe Bryant go from being unknown to a player that everyone knows.

At least when the name "Kobe Bryant" is mentioned, fans will think of the young man who changed hands in the dunk contest.

In front of the TV, James Bond looked dumbfounded as he watched Kobe Bryant lift the dunk contest trophy.

The next second, he immediately picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number.

"Hey, I'm James Bond, Kobe Bryant's signature sneakers. I'll have enough of them ready for me when I get to work tomorrow!"

…

The next day, the front pages of major sports media in the United States were all about the news that Kobe Bryant won the dunk contest. Some even included a picture of the crotch-changing windmill dunk.

Those Los Angeles media who were not optimistic about Kobe were slapped in the face.

However, the media is also the most fickle. Three months ago, they said that Kobe was worthless, but now they seem to have forgotten what they said back then, and they all praise Kobe to the sky.

The dunk contest is obviously the most watched event on the second day of the All-Star Weekend. Some fans may even think that the dunk contest is the most watched event during the entire All-Star Weekend.

Therefore, the winner of the dunk contest every year is often the focus of the media.

Kobe has also attracted a large number of fans because of this, and his signature sneakers are finally no longer a product that no one cares about.

In Los Angeles, there is once again a long queue in front of the Feiyue flagship store, and the picture from the Kobe Slam Dunk Contest, coupled with the picture of Kobe's signature sneakers, has been made into a huge poster and hung at the entrance of the store.

Passersby don't need to ask, they know right away that the shoes sold here are Kobe's signature sneakers.

James Bond stood at the door of the store, looking at the people going in and out with a smile.

"Unexpectedly, the boss won the bet again!" Bond sighed, and then said to himself: "But it is still a bit difficult to sell 300,000 pairs. If you don't lose money, you will make a profit!

"

Thanks to Kobe's growing fame, sales of Kobe's signature sneakers have finally gained momentum.

However, if you want to sell 300,000 pairs, it is an impossible task.

But Li Weidong is not in a hurry. He thinks that even if the remaining 200,000 pairs of sneakers cannot be sold, they can all be sealed up. When Kobe becomes popular, they will be treated as out-of-print sneakers and a limited number of two to three thousand pairs will be released every year.

You have to pay extra to buy it.

With Kobe's huge fan base, more than 200,000 pairs of signed sneakers are still very easy to sell. If it doesn't work, you can take them back to China and sell them to shoe speculators, and you can definitely make a lot of money.

Kobe is a player who is popular first and then strong.

In 1998, Kobe had not yet entered the starting lineup of the Lakers, but he was voted into the All-Star starting lineup by the fans and faced Jordan.

In other words, Kobe, who entered his second year in the NBA, is already as popular as a superstar.

When selling signature sneakers, what matters is not the data of the star talent manufacturer, but the popularity of the star. As long as the popularity is high enough, the sneakers can be sold.

As long as Kobe's popularity increases, there will be no need to worry about no one buying his sneakers.

Historically, Adidas decided to let Kobe Bryant endorse its basketball shoes around the time of the dunk contest.

It's just that Adidas has never paid much attention to Kobe. At first, it only let Kobe endorse Adidas's tepid TOP10 series.

Later, Adidas released a so-called KB8 basketball shoe, which was the pair that Kobe wore when he was selected to the All-Stars for the first time.

But this shoe is actually a modified version of the Adidas EQT series. It was not originally designed specifically for Kobe. It is said that Adidas saw that Kobe had a huge advantage in the All-Star voting, so it hastily pushed this shoe.

Strictly speaking, KB8 is not Kobe’s signature sneaker.

In the eyes of sneaker collectors, this shoe is also nicknamed "hard as a dog" because this shoe is special from the upper to the sole.

Because this shoe had many flaws, its sales at the time were relatively average.

Later, when Kobe became a superstar, Adidas improved the shortcomings of the sneakers and reproduced the KB8 sneakers. However, by that time, Kobe had already switched to the Nike camp, so Adidas could not use the name "KB8" and could only rename the sneakers "Crazy8"

Conduct sales.
To be continued...