This year, Nike and Vanessa Bryant honored the life and legacy of the late Gianna Bryant by releasing the Kobe 4 Protro “Gigi” on what would’ve been her seventeenth birthday.
Bronson Yim, Product Line Manager for Nike Basketball, worked hand in hand with Bryant on this year’s project, and he sat down to explain how the two made every detail on this colorway “intentional.”
For starters, “Gigi” is stitched under the Achilles, and a golden # 2 is on the heel counter, similar to her Mamba and Mambacita basketball jersey. The gingham print nods to Gianna’s love for flannels, and the red Swoosh on the outsole came from a ribbon she used to wear for school photos. Gianna’s name also appears on the lace aglets, and a golden Mambacita heart sits under your heel on the sock liner. The sneaker comes in a commemorative box with Gigi’s Mambacita wing logo stamped across the top.
Nike and Vanessa Bryant began to pay tribute to Gigi last year with the “Mambacita” Kobe Protro 6. According to Bryant, the two will continue to produce Kobes in black and white exclusively for Gianna.
