Kyrie Irving is known for being a different breed of cat. That can be a strange thing when dealing with, say, his beliefs on Christmas or the shape of the earth, but when he is able to put his creativity towards something related to basketball, the results are usually great. That manifests itself on the court when he’s put into tough situations and he’s able to wiggle his way out of them, and off the court, he puts his creative side to good use when it comes to designing sneakers.
The latest proof of this comes via his new release, a version of his (in his words) “Nike Core shoes.” The coolest part is that they’ll be affordable, coming in at $80 a pair, and from what we can tell, they look like they’ll be worth the relatively low price point.
We don’t know much about how the ones released to the public will look, though, because the pair Irving showed to COSeezy of Sneaker School are a player exclusive inspired by one of his favorite movies, Toy Story.
Admittedly the thought of designing sneakers inspired by two cartoon characters from a series of films that were first released in 1995 is a bit … out there. But when you look at the kicks, they’re actually kind of fire. Here’s an up close shot of the Woody shoe, which appear to have rope-inspired laces and denim on the back.
COSeezy tweeted that these specific shoes are PEs, but the Core shoes are still really nice and will drop a little later this year.
You know how Kyrie rocks PE heat that only he can wear? Well that’s the case for those toy story kicks. They will not be dropping but the Core shoe will drop in the spring in some dope color ways
— Seez (@COSeezy) February 24, 2018
I think the Core shoe might be better than the 4’s. Crazy they are only $80
— Seez (@COSeezy) February 24, 2018
“Toy Story’s one of my favorite movies,” Irving said. “Seeing how that franchise has evolved is awesome. To be able to tell that inspiration and that influence and that story through my shoes is something I love connecting with.”
There’s no word on when the Core kicks will drop, as Irving just said they’ll be in stores soon. As for the player exclusives, it’s unfortunate that they won’t become more widely available, because they’re tremendous.
