NIKE's World Cup Run

Of course the World Cup craze has begun recently and it's the talk of the town.  Nike in my opinion has been on fire with their World Cup soccer editions.  I've been so inspired by looking at their gorgeous silhouettes and use of their flyknit material.  These all look beautiful!  I tip my hat off to their design team for these.  Go Google Nike Mercurial Superfly IV, Nike WMNS Free 1.0 Cross Bionic, and Free Mercurial Superfly HTM.

Nike Kobe 9 Elite

And here it is.  The anticipated Kobe 9 Elite.  This boxing...oops, I mean basketball shoe is Kobe's next signature sneaker.  Designed by the infamous Eric Avar, the design features three of Nike's top technologies: Flywire, Flyknit, and Lunarlon.  

I have to say, this shoe is not my favorite design by Eric Avar.  This has to grow on me.  I'm looking forward to seeing more colorways of it because this "Masterpiece" colorway, as Nike calls it, is a bit much.  One cool element are the red stitch lines in the rear representing Kobe's sutures of his achilles surgery.  Other than that, I'm not truly impressed by the design.

There's one thing about this design that is guaranteed.  You will either hate and love it!  What are your thoughts??  Click the link below to view more photos and read more about the story behind the design via SneakerNews.

Nike Kobe 9 Elite