John Elliott Shares Why the Nike Zoom LeBron Soldier 10 Is Special

When Nike lovers walk into the athletic giant’s new storefront in New York City on its opening day, they could pick up a pair of shoes reimagined by celebrated designer John Elliott only available there.

Available Friday is the John Elliott x Nike Zoom LeBron Soldier 10, exclusively sold at the brand’s latest Soho door.

Elliott has worked with the NBA superstar’s signature shoes in the past, although this is the first to appear in stores. In 2015, the designer reimagined the Nike LeBron 12 for his debut New York runway presentation.

The designer is an admitted LeBron James fan, of his play on the court and his sneaker franchise with Nike.

“Stylistically, he bridged the gap between the previous generation of athletes and a new era. … I bought the Zoom Generation. I think it was the first time for me in my life that I ever bought a shoe made for someone who was younger than me. I can remember thinking like, ‘Whoa. This is a real paradigm shift,’ ” Elliot said in a statement. “The LeBron 8 is definitely a favorite of mine, too. I had friends that hooped in those, and the shoe translated off the court — those, I think, are iconic.”

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Although the Zoom Generation, LeBron 8 and LeBron 12 are personal favorites of Elliott, it was James’ performance in Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals — where the baller debuted the LeBron Zoom Soldier 10 — that made him want to work with the silhouette.

“Seeing him in Game 3 this summer, in that all-black Soldier X, that was like another moment where I don’t think I’ll ever be able to erase. There’s that kind of wow, like, ‘Oh my God’ moment about it. You knew that something was about to go down,” Elliot said. “The all-black Soldier, it’s a beautiful and disruptive design. It was almost a little bit of foreshadowing, really, for what was about to happen for the rest of that series. You couple that with the way that he played in the shoe, it is silhouette that I think instantly became iconic. The people who love it do so because it’s new and because it’s unexpected. It was instantly something that I was attracted to.”