Basketball

Creativity and Craze of “Nike What The” Sneakers

Share

When you look at something and the first thing that comes to mind is “What The” that usually means that it’s something you don’t normally see on a daily basis. With everyone wanting things to be different in modern culture and nobody wanting to be the same as the next person, the “What The” models are sure to stand out from the norm. Nike took the mash-up concept to the classic Nike Dunk Low in 2007 and the craze for creativity took off. As time has gone on we have seen The Swoosh create the series around some Air Max collections, signature players sneakers and classic retro trainers. With creativity and exclusivity comes craze and demand for people who crave the must have possessions so that they stand out from the crowd.

The most important aspect of a “What The” sneaker is that there is zero consistency in color and designs between the left and right shoe. The best thing that Nike does when they design their collections is that they incorporate elements seen on previous colorways of the shoes and make them mesh together. People like to look at the reasoning behind it being that they are telling a story of either the player or colorways.

Nike started the creative series with the “What The” Dunk Low in 2007 and the craze took off. After a five year hiatus we see Nike come out with the Kobe 7 “What The” in 2012 with the unique concept and collage of colors which was made more available to the public. Nike’s two signature athletes; LeBron James and Kevin Durant later got their own exclusive “What The” on their popular models the LeBron 9 and the KD 4 but these we’re never made for public release to the masses which created crazy hype for sneaker heads. After people craved a public release for the “What The” line Nike responded with the WTKD 5 and LeBron 10 “What the MVP” but kept them very exclusive.

Fast-forward to May 2014 and you would see sneaker lovers flocking to retail stores to fill out raffles in hopes of somehow being drawn to get their chance to buy the WTKD 6. The first big public release in numbers where the shoes were available nation wide and people put in the footwork to try and get theirs. Stores that may have only had a size run of the rare sneaker were getting hundreds of raffle entries by sneaker lovers and their crews to make their chances better. Once they hype had died down from the WTKD release Nike then releases the WTL 11 and the process started all over again and it was like deja vu for sneaker retailers. The masses flooded the stores for their chance to enter the raffle for another exclusive sneaker.

Bring us to the present and were getting ready for another WTKD release of the KD 7. With the past hype continuously building each year and a new kid falling in love with sneakers each day we can only imagine how people will go crazy for the WTKD 7. The WTKD 7 includes 18 previously released colorways and with the hype at an all time high make sure you add these to your collection. Be sure to snag the WTKD 7 on June 20th at Finishline.com and put some heat in your rotation!

Share