Zoom 20.5.5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNick DePaula: What has the Soldier line stood for over the years, and what was the initial concept around the Soldier 10 design?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nKevin Dodson: It’s an amazing journey for the shoe and has really come full circle. It started out around this insight around the 20.5.5, which we call the Soldier 0 from time to time amongst ourselves. [laughs] It was the idea around the second season, and giving LeBron a product to wear during that time of the year that was a lighter and super-responsive version of his game shoe that he was wearing at the time. You’re in a race to win 16 games when you’re in the playoffs, so giving him something that was a faster version of his game shoe was always the insight there. It became about a sprint to 16 wins instead of a marathon.<\/p>\n
Over time, because we introduced the Elite series and some other products during the course of that ten years, the Soldier sort of became a shoe for all of the guys around him. He had even posted on social media at the time about how, \u201cThis shoe is for all of my Soldiers to go to battle.\u201d It became a go-to LeBron team shoe for athletes in the NBA, colleges and high schools. It was something that was a little bit more stripped down, had a lot of great lockdown, support and responsiveness. Those were always the core tenets that have carried through the years.<\/p>\n
Especially over the last few years, we’ve gotten really keyed in on this focus around having something that could give you all of the lockdown and support that you need, but in a light and responsive package. That’s been the goal. A couple of years ago, we had been working with LeBron and talking about where we wanted to take the Soldier from here. He had been giving us some great insights, and then we were out speaking with some college players. One of the kids send, \u201cMy perfect shoe would be an Elite sock with an outsole and some straps. Nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jason Petrie and the team brought that back, and that’s where the north star concept of the laceless shoe came from for the Soldier 10. LeBron had talked to us about doing something really special for the tenth Soldier already. He even said to us, \u201cI just can’t believe that I have multiple shoe series that have gone on ten year-plus runs.\u201d He really wanted to do something special, and so we really wanted to deliver on that laceless proposition and target.<\/p>\n
We got kind of close on the Soldier 9, and had half laces and half straps. Then, we went all out for the Soldier 10. It was a pretty awesome journey through the last few years, and we believed that there was a benefit to it. If you’re a basketball player, you’re always lacing and trying to adjust. To just jump into a shoe with a snug, sock-like fit and lock those straps in quickly was something that we wanted to be able to do.<\/p>\n