While her classmates were clacking away at the keys on Cool Math Games, Caitlin Clark was busy using her time in the high school computer lab to master color theory. Nike By You’s former site, Nike iD, was a playground of endless opportunity for the wicked quick guard’s on-court rotation. Personalized numbers, custom lace dubraes and gradient-filled uppers made for a kid-in-a-candy-store type of enthusiasm.
Kobes, KDs, anything with a Swoosh was a cursor click away from the Iowa native’s creativity. There was just something about being behind the design wheel of a signature sneaker that spoke to her, turning someone else’s creation into her own with meticulous detail. Growing up as a sneakerhead in West Des Moines, IA, she studied the colorways worn by her favorite players just as much as their games, informing both her on-court instincts and palettes of choice for 1-of-1 ensembles she wore during the season. The four-year education on complementary colors and logo placements helped lay the foundation for what has arrived in her third WNBA season.
“Yeah, I was doing anything but what I was supposed to do in the computer lab, but I was always researching the next pair of shoes I wanted, and I was also always asking my parents for the next pair of Nike basketball shoes,” Caitlin says. “I wanted all of them, and even when I was in college, I had every pair of Kobes or KDs. I always wanted the best shoes to play in, so now it’s kind of crazy that I get to wear a pair of shoes that has my logo on it.”
From the inner midsole to the tongue and metallic heel hit, Caitlin Clark’s signature branding takes center stage on her inaugural model stamped with a series of bevel-stacked Swooshes. With a carefully curated photo dump on IG, the three-time All-Star announced the Nike Caitlin 1 on June 17th alongside a pair of the Masters Tournament’s gnomes digitally sporting the “Caitlin Blue” colorway, as she became the 10th women’s signature athlete ever under the Swoosh’s banner. And for the cover of KICKS 29, the first female athlete to grace the front of the mag has seven colorways at the ready.
“I think it represents an aspiration and ambition,” the Fever star says of what the Nike Caitlin 1 mirrors about her game and journey.
“And I feel like the shoe, when you look at it, has a lot of fire and spunk, especially with a lot of the different colors that we have coming out, and even with the first blue one and the yellow one. They’re bright, they’re powerful. So, I think that’s kind of what I wanted to feel when I play in the shoe.”
Jared ebanks 