2007-09-19  Introducing the GilIIZero

Gilbert Arenas昨日在他NBA.com的Blog上批露了關於他最新個人戰靴的消息...新的鞋款名為GilIIZero,如果用數字來寫的話就是Gil 2 0,為啥要特別提到這點呢?因為adidas和Arenas決定要做一些瘋狂的嘗試,GilIIZero將有 2 0 個不同的版本!!! 包括了NBA Live08, SLAM Magazine, Coca-Cola, UNDRCRWN...等多達二十個主題將陸續自十一月中起登場...個版發售數量一百至五千雙不等,其中最受亞洲球迷矚目的應屬08年2月26日登場的13號版本---THREEZERO 吧...由香港公仔大師Eric So操刀,隨鞋將附帶一尊24吋Arenas公仔,期待吧~~

Arenas在他的Blog中也提及了這雙鞋產生的來龍去脈及背景,有趣的是他毫不避諱的直言自己對adidas今年將推行的"Team Signature"計畫感到反感,甚至對adidas以為他設計好的"TS Lightswitch Gil "鞋款相當不滿意,這也終於解開為何今年的TS計畫中未見到Arenas鞋款的疑問了...總之,這將是籃球鞋款的一大嘗試,就讓我們拭目以待吧...

Zero's Back with a Brand New Edition

I know this is what a lot of people have been waiting for. For all the shoeheads out there, allow me to introduce you to the adidas GilIIZero. I was calling them the Gil 20s, because that’s how it’s pronounced, but when you go to buy them in the store (which I know you will) it will say GilIIZero on the box. I just wanted to clear that up so you don’t get confused and think Boyz II Men has a shoe or something.

There are going to be 20 different versions of my shoe next year. Most of them are limited editions. I have 18 different color ways and then two “inline” versions, you know, that meet all the uniform standards of David Stern and the NBA.

The Background Story

This was a concept that adidas came up with last spring after I wore a special edition shoe on a West Coast trip when I hit the game winner against Seattle. Everybody was asking me like, “Where did you get those from?” I was like, “Yeah, they’re mine. They’re a one-of-one. They’re a special edition that I just have. They’re not out in stores.” So I gave that pair to one of the ball kids in L.A. at the Clippers game, and that was the end of that.

I told adidas how everybody went crazy for that special pair and so we came up with the idea: “What if we came up with the GilIIZero, where I have 20 different versions of my next shoe? You know, have them come out in different cities, have all different release dates. It’s never been done before. It will be something different and let’s see how people respond to it.”

Then we started to play with the idea more and we’re like, “OK, we’ll make the NBA LIVE 08 and the SLAM shoes more rare than the Looney Tunes versions for the kids … The THREEZERO shoe will be very limited – anywhere from 200-300 pairs…”

It’s going to be great. I think people are going to like the colors, but they’re also going to like the shoe. This is more of a casual, kicking it shoe but you can also play basketball in it, because I’m going to be doing it.

Tinkering with the Design

don’t want to kill the designer that was in charge of the shoe when this process started, because I understand it’s difficult, but you know me, I’m an honest person so I’m going to tell you the truth of how it went down.

When they first showed me the shoe, we were in a room at a hotel, and they came out with the shoe. It was supposed to be a team shoe, that’s why the shoe was actually called the “TS Lightswitch Gil” (TS stands for “Team Signature”) but we switched it to GilIIZero. It was supposed to be a team shoe because we’re doing a whole brotherhood campaign, so they wanted us all in the same shoe. Being a young player, I was like, “I can understand what you guys are doing, but Kevin Garnett has already had nine signature shoes. T-Mac had nine signature shoes. I’m just now getting on the scene. Can I get my own shoe? Can I get the Gil Zero, part two?”

I don’t want to be hooked up in a team shoe. For me, as a shoe kid, I’m like team shoes don’t sell. To be honest. They sell to teams, but for a kid on the street, they don’t want to wear something a whole UCLA or Oregon or Arizona team is wearing. Nobody wants to wear that just in different colors. So when they showed me the shoe, they told me, “The other four players loved this shoe and this is a great shoe, the buyers are buying it.” And I’m sitting there looking at the shoe like, “I hope you guys aren’t serious. Because I’m not going to wear this shoe.” If you can picture this shoe, it looked like a newer shell toe mixed in with a little basketball and a little bit of ballerina in the front. So I looked at the shoe and I straight killed it. I killed it so much I think I made everybody uncomfortable. How do I go from the Gil Zero to this? That was my whole argument. Nobody is going to wear this shoe.

So at All-Star weekend I was actually downstairs in the lobby of my hotel with the prototype of the shoe and going up to fans and asking, “Would you buy this shoe? Would you buy this shoe?” There were a lot of people that went, “Eww, no. I hope you’re not wearing that in the All-Star game.” I was like, “No, I’m not going to wear this. I just wanted to get your opinion.” Point proven.

So through all that process of tearing down and getting rid of and complaining and complaining, this is what we have. Now we have the Lamborghini of shoes. Not to say Hondas are bad, but we have the Lamborghini of shoes now. I think everybody is going to dig this shoe.

Designing shoes is very hard because for some reason, as an athlete, you never meet the designer until the shoe is already made. Then you have to complain about the things you don’t like. So right now, I’m complaining about my shoe for next year. We already had that meeting because they said, “Well, if we get him early and then he kills us again, we have time.”

Sneaker Wars

I’m a trend setter, people. I don’t want other shoe companies to try to jack my style now. My swag is too phenomenal. If any other basketball player out there wants to compete with my shoes, go ahead, we can have a 50 and Kanye right here. We can start it up, baby. I’ll be the bad guy. We can have a sneaker war.

If you think about it, there are probably about 20-25 signature player shoes in the NBA that come out each season. Next year, I'm going to have 20 just by myself! So when all those other ugly shoes come out, you know that a new GilIIZero will be on its way shortly.

Next week is my NBA LIVE 08 blog post. I’ll be in New York next week for my EA Sports press conference. I’ll blog from New York.

相關連結:   Arenas'sBlog

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