Nike LeBron X
Just a few days ago Nike announced their new 3D printed football cleats to great fanfare. News agencies everywhere, including ourselves, were keen to herald in this new era of technology and sportswear. Although the cleat may well be the first ever 3D printed consumer football cleat, Nike have been using 3D printing in the prototyping process for a long time.
Solecollecter have released images of Nike’s LeBron X in prototype form, printed by a Z-Corp 3D printer. Lebron James is the biggest star in basketball; he has now been working with Nike for ten years and his Nike LeBron X are his tenth anniversary edition.
As you can see from the images above the finished product, is drastically different from the 3D printed prototype however the prototype is as much about proportions as it is about design. The prototype's diamond shaped panels and proportions have been the template from the huge range of LeBron X sneakers, latest to be released are the Cork edition, those are currently fetching in excess of £1,500 ($2,250, €1,740). We dread to think how much the prototypes could fetch!
LeBron has a very hands on approach to the sneakers design, Leo Chang, Nike Basketball Design Director told Solecollector "We gave [LeBron] some Swoosh pieces and let him tape it where he wanted it to be".
