The widow of NBA star Kobe Bryant is reportedly outraged that images have leaked showing people in possession of the canceled Nike shoes that were to have been produced in tribute to her departed daughter.
Bryant took to Instagram on Thursday to attack whoever leaked the photos of Nike’s design and wondered how someone got their hands on the shoes that haven’t even been released — and never will.
The still-grieving widow and mother who lost both her famed husband and her dear 13-year-old daughter in a 2020 helicopter crash spoke of the shoes that she “worked on in honor of my daughter, Gianna.”
“It was going to be called the MAMBACITA shoe as an exclusive black and white colorway on her daddy’s shoes. I picked the colors in honor of her uniform, the number 2 she wore just like her uniform, the inside pattern, Kobe and Gigi on the back in gold instead of Kobe’s signature, the inside shoe details (butterfly, wings, halo), etc.,” Bryant told her fans.
But Bryant points out that the Nike product was “NOT approved for sale” and never was because she never agreed to the contract Nike was offering. To add insult to injury, she was never even given a pair of the shoes made for speculation on the aborted project.
“I wanted it to be sold to honor my daughter with ALL of the proceeds benefitting our @mambamambacitasports foundation, but I did not re-sign the Nike contract to sell these shoes. (The MAMBACITA shoes were not approved to be made in the first place.) Nike has NOT sent any of these pairs to me and my girls,” she wrote in the Instagram post.
Bryant also noted that these unauthorized shoes have been seen numerous times on social media. She is wondering how they had gotten out to people when she never approved of their distribution. “I hope these shoes did not get sold,” she said to Nike.
“How/Why is someone wearing my daughter’s shoe? This isn’t right,” Bryant said on her social media account.
Bryant ceased her association with the sportswear giant because she was unhappy with the company’s plans to honor her husband and daughter’s legacy.
Bryant added, “We will always do everything we can to honor Kobe and Gigi’s legacies. That will never change.”
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