Nike announced the Air Max LeBron VII, the seventh shoe in LeBron James’s signature line, at a global media summit in Akron, Ohio, with James and footwear designer Jason Petrie presenting.
The Max Air 360 unit
The headline technology is a basketball-specific Max Air 360 unit, engineered for movement in every direction rather than primarily forward.
The unit holds around 80 percent more air than comparable designs, and it is contoured deliberately rather than uniformly: thinner through the forefoot, deeper at the heel. That distribution puts cushioning where impact is greatest while keeping the forefoot low enough for court feel, which is the trade-off every basketball midsole has to resolve.
Flywire in the upper
Flywire, first introduced in the Nike Hyperdunk, is built into the upper using high tensile-strength cables.
The principle is to replace material with tension. Because the cables carry the load, far less supporting material is needed elsewhere, so the shoe provides lockdown support without the weight that would normally come with it.
The inner sleeve is seamless, giving an irritation-free fit and lockdown support without pressure points.
Construction and materials
The upper is full-grain leather with patent leather used throughout, giving the shoe a deliberately luxurious finish rather than a purely technical one.
The crisscross lacing structure provides basketball-specific stability and forms a diamond pattern, a motif James has carried across his signature footwear and apparel.
The details encoded in the shoe
The Air Max LeBron VII carries a considerable amount of deliberate symbolism, which is characteristic of signature basketball footwear.
- Five flex grooves on the outsole, representing the five players on the court.
- Twenty-three strips, for James’s number.
- A 3D decoder key on the outsole that, as the shoe is rotated, displays his credos: Community, Family, Fearless, Loyalty and Tradition, along with other references from his life.
- Seven Flywire strands on the tongue, marking this as the seventh shoe in the signature series.
- V-shaped metal eyelets on the upper, repeating the same seventh-edition reference.
- Roman numeral embossing underneath the shoe.
Release
The Air Max LeBron VII was released worldwide on 24 October 2009.
Frequently asked questions
What is Max Air 360?
An air unit designed for multidirectional movement, holding around 80 percent more air than comparable units and contoured thinner at the forefoot and deeper at the heel.
What does Flywire do?
High tensile-strength cables carry the load in the upper, so support is provided with far less material and therefore far less weight.
Why seven Flywire strands on the tongue?
Because it is the seventh shoe in the LeBron James signature line.
This report dates from 2009. See also footwear for women.
