Kanye West's Adidas Yeezy basketball shoe may be banned due to reflective details

Kanye West is expected to debut with his first Yeezy basketball shoe at the feet of Adidas athletes in the upcoming NBA season. But the league office would ban the current version of the tennis shoe because of its shiny and reflective heel, according to industry sources.

Although monochrome sneakers do not violate the league's color restrictions, the problem is the 3M reflective heel panel, which the NBA would find potentially embarrassing for spectators on both the arena and viewers.

Carmelo Anthony was faced with a similar problem with the metallic chrome heel of his Jordan M10 sneakers while he was playing for the New York Knicks. He then wore an updated version with a matte paint finish.

Players are no longer required to wear shoes that match the colors of their team, but the league still has an approval process for brand new silhouettes before the season.

According to Christopher Arena, vice president of the NBA in charge of identity, outfitting and equipment, companies will generally give sneakers during the first half of the season by early August, the shoes to be worn after the star game break to be approved in early December. .

Although the league office has not yet received and officially reviewed the new Yeezy basketball shoe in person, the version shared online by West would not be allowed on the field as such, according to one source. Alternative versions of the sneaker that do not incorporate the reflective material would probably be approved.

The league has banned or warned for several sneakers in its history, the most famous Nike Jordan Jordan's Nike Air Jordan 1 sneakers in 1985. Nike almost instantly transformed the buzz around the Bulls' first banned sneakers into a marketing campaign, throwing the signature series into the air and triggering the start of the culture. collection sneakers. Three decades later, Jordan Brand became its own wholly owned subsidiary of Nike Inc., with annual sales exceeding $ 3 billion.

In a recent article on his @KanyeWest account, the Chicago native explained that his Yeezy basketball shoe has been in development for more than three years and has been the subject of nearly 300 examples of updates.

The new model should finally make its long-awaited debut in the 2018-1919 season, with non-Adidas signing athletes such as Donovan Mitchell, Brandon Ingram, Wall John, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Nick Young likely to wear the shoe in early 2019. Release dates in the retail trade and the final price have not yet been determined.

Earlier Monday, during an interview with paparazzi in Los Angeles, West had discussed his long-term vision of his collaborative brand with Adidas and its possible goal of bringing the manufacture of his line of sneakers in the USA.

"The Yeezy will be made in America," he said. "We are setting up a factory in Chicago."