{"id":468764,"date":"2015-10-26T12:20:51","date_gmt":"2015-10-26T16:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=468764"},"modified":"2024-01-24T20:50:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T02:50:43","slug":"interview-dwyane-wade-talks-partnership-with-li-ning-way-of-wade-4-and-love-for-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/interview-dwyane-wade-talks-partnership-with-li-ning-way-of-wade-4-and-love-for-fashion\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview \/\/ Dwyane Wade Talks Partnership with Li-Ning, Way of Wade 4 and Love for Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"
words & interview \/\/ Darren Griffin:<\/strong><\/p>\n “We loved LeBron James. We still love him. But this is Wade County. He is the Prince.<\/em>”<\/p>\n That was the first mention made of Dwyane Wade<\/strong> after I’d touched down in Miami and set course to one of his favorite rest havens in the city, EPIC Hotel. Rene, my transport and the vocal spirit behind those affectionate and truth filled comments, spoke of Wade with jubilation, deep-rooted admiration, and quite possibly, and not in the slightest bit misplaced, love.<\/p>\n Her comments, though, were not made to imply that Wade himself isn’t a king. In fact, from what I gathered, she meant to express something of a pseudo monarchy, where the prince rules as a king without the strife and decrepitation often tied to a kingly figure. This admiration, and inventive lens in which leadership is viewed, is commonplace where Dwyane is concerned. Not only in Miami and with the Heat organization, but through his Chief Brand Officer role with leading Chinese sportswear company, Li-Ning<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Birthed in Beijing in 1990, Li-Ning is still searching for consistency with often fickle US consumers. This fallacy, in its uniqueness, has provided an uplifting and empowering opportunity for Dwyane, one that many of his peers with signature shoes are far removed from, especially those of African American decent. Essentially, Li-Ning is entrusting the youthful 33-year old Wade with successfully Americanizing their brand. This, of course, is a huge credit to Dwyane’s unrelenting vision but also Li-Ning’s commitment to diversity. “We live in a world now where everyone’s mind is open to the endless possibilities of who you can be and what you can become,” Wade expressed. This conveys with exactness what his early birth class of millennials truly represent: creating opportunities previously removed for specific backgrounds, age groups, or exclusionary social standing.<\/p>\n Like all family oriented men with an increasing amount of responsibility and thoughts of leaving a legacy, Dwyane is very conscious of his age. Where the court is concerned, he knows he’s far from elderly – or as I like to say, “washed” – but remains confidently steadfast in that his “Flash” days are in the rearview. “Last year I ended up wearing the WoW 808. The Way of Wade 3 was just too high on my achilles. I wanted a shoe in the mid family. The Way of Wade 4<\/strong> was all about finding that perfect medium.”<\/p>\n That expressed centermost point is handily defined by weight, which Wade says was a key component in the shoe’s re-design. “It’s all about the court,” the three-time NBA championship said about his new shoe. “The older you get the lighter you want to become. We put it [the Way of Wade 3] on a scale and we knew it had to be way lighter.”<\/p>\n There is also the incorporation of layered mesh, which over the past few years has become an industry standard and a more fluid option to juxtapose as desired. Updates to the shoes sole were also a critical rebuild. “Since I’ve been with this brand – knock on wood – I haven’t had any ankle problems at all because of how the shoe is built, with the shank and carbon fiber placement.” Li-Ning, still utilizing Carbon Fiber plating, infused an aggressively molded 3D shank for an easier and more cushion centric landing, something that was critical for Wade above many other new features.<\/p>\n Aesthetically, past iterations of the Way of Wade were met with open arms, as Dwyane’s revered personal style gracefully shined through. However, in this day and age basketball shoes have to be light, and the Way of Wade wasn’t light (enough). This, though, unknown to many, was due in large to the fact that the shoes were simply made with higher quality materials as opposed to other in-genre, basketball-specific sneakers. Premium leather construction was a key point of emphasis with the past three shoes. But the deviation from that bulkier fabrication is what makes this shoe the lightest yet. “We loved the leather shoes. We loved sneakerheads loving the shoes. But we knew if we wanted to make that next step we had to take the weight down. And we know what we had to shed to do that.”<\/p>\n