Kyrie Irving, the point guard for the Dallas Mavericks, revealed a new, long-term footwear collaboration with ANTA on Tuesday.
Irving declared, “I’m really excited about this partnership.” “Having similar aspirations, objectives, and missions is the first step towards becoming partners. Not only have ANTA’s years-long rapid development, openness to creativity, embrace of family and teamwork, and proficiency in areas like product innovation and manufacturing processes made a lasting impression on me, but also on my A11Even team, who will collaborate with me to create something genuinely generationally special.
As part of their new “business collaboration,” Irving will lead ANTA Basketball’s creative department. In addition to a number of trademark product releases, the alliance will introduce ANTA x KYRIE Youth Basketball Camps globally, with origins in China and the US. Irving’s first signature collection is scheduled to release in the first quarter of 2024. He is anticipated to start the 2019 NBA season wearing the brand’s Shock Wave 5 sneaker.
Photo courtesy of Anta
ANTA provided a statement that dubs it “more than a shoe deal.”
“In addition to an array of signature collections designed to enhance performance and inspire athletes of all levels, our groundbreaking and revolutionizing partnership will also encompass a range of collaborative initiatives to support everyone devoted to the game of basketball and promote an inclusive basketball culture,” said ANTA.
Irving wore his signature shoes from Nike for the duration of the previous NBA season after splitting with the company in November of last year. He frequently taped over the Swoosh emblem on the Kyrie 3 and Kyrie 4 collars, adding scribbled notes as he went.
Irving has been having talks and negotiating behind closed doors in the past few months in hopes of inking a new shoe agreement. Irving discussed his choices for a sneaker endorsement agreement in May on Instagram Live. With 19.2 million followers, he is the fourth most followed NBA player on the social media network.
He declared that he’d be “signing my new shoe deal very, very soon.”
“I won’t even call it a shoe deal,” he said at the time. “I’m about to blow this out the water. I’m so excited about it.”
Photo courtesy of Anta
ANTA was the most active company all along because of Irving’s potential to connect with a market that has historically showed a preference for guards because to his aspirational playing style and great track record of shoe sales. The company is adamant that a special relationship with Irving could result in enormous sales growth throughout its vast network of more than 9,000 physical retail locations throughout Asia.
Irving will go on to become one of ANTA’s most prominent global endorsers, following in the footsteps of current brand signature athletes Gordon Hayward and Klay Thompson. Additionally, ANTA has inked arrangements with a number of NBA endorsers over the last ten years, including Chandler Parsons, Rajon Rondo, Luis Scola, and Kevin Garnett.
“Being appointed as ANTA Basketball’s Chief Creative Officer is more than just a realization of my dreams; in fact, it may be the perfect opportunity for me, an individual who always dreams big and values independent thinking, to leverage my artistic talents to build, create, and unify the culture both on and off court,” added Irving.
“As a new member of the ANTA family, Kyrie Irving will not only actively serve as ANTA Basketball’s Chief Creative Officer, but he will also seek to recruit basketball players, independent brands, influential figures in pop culture, artists, musicians, pioneers in environmentalism, trailblazers in humanitarianism and designers to also collaborate with him to create additional product lines under Kyrie’s signature line,” said the brand. “Through these collaborations and in collaboration with ANTA, Kyrie will strive to collectively shape and introduce new vision, innovation and creativity in the signature sportswear category.”