Nike Air Max LEBRON VII - .@Nike

Nike Air Max LEBRON VII

An early rendering by designer Jason Petrie of the Air Max LEBRON VII Red Carpet. James wore an NSW retro version of the shoe before his October 25 home game against the Utah Jazz.

Reinvention. There comes a point in every athlete’s signature shoe life that mere evolution isn’t enough — eventually the line has to take a giant leap. Think of the Air Jordan III or the Zoom Kobe IV. For LeBron James, it happened with the Air Max LEBRON VII.

Introduced 10 years ago last month, the Air Max LEBRON VII was the first Air Max LeBron shoe, utilizing an all-new, full-length, basketball-specific Max bag that featured a staggering 80 percent more Air than the previous full-length Max bag. It was the first LEBRON built with Flywire, technology that debuted in basketball the previous year in the first Hyperdunk, allowing LeBron’s latest to be both strong and sleek. It was also the first LEBRON designed by Jason Petrie, who is now 11 models deep (well, that you’ve seen anyway).

Notable Air Max LEBRON 7 Colorways

Nike debuted the shoe in the fall of 2009 at a global media summit held in Akron, Ohio, bringing the world to LeBron. This made good sense. After all, it was the Air Max LEBRON VII, more than any other LeBron shoe that came before it, that brought LeBron to the world.

The Air Max LEBRON 7 Retro Red Carpet releases through Nike Sportswear on October 29.

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