Nike Kobe 8 "Sulfur Electric"

Colorway: Black/Strata Grey/Vivid Sulfur/Electric Yellow · Style code: 555035-001 · Release date: December 20, 2012 · Original retail (2012): $140 · Availability: Sold out at retail

More colorways & related: Nike Kobe 8 "Christmas" · Nike Kobe 8 Protro "Shanghai Fireworks" · GS Nike Kobe 8 "Shanghai Fireworks" · Nike Kobe 8 Protro "Mambacurial" · GS Nike Kobe 8 "Mambacurial" · PS Nike Kobe 8 "Mambacurial" · PS Nike Kobe VIII "Halo" · Nike Kobe VIII Protro — Light Orewood Brown/Summit White · GS Nike Kobe VIII "Year Of The Horse" · GS Nike Kobe VIII "What The" · PS Nike Kobe VIII "Year of the Horse" · Nike Kobe VIII Protro "Year of the Horse"

All Nike Kobe 8 release dates & colorways

About the Nike Kobe 8 "Sulfur Electric"

Bryant's signature line was unusual among basketball shoes for arguing continuously in one direction: lower, lighter, less. By the eighth model that argument had reached the materials themselves. Nike used Engineered Mesh on a basketball shoe for the first time here, a knit-like textile whose density can be varied across a single panel, so support and ventilation could be placed where they were needed instead of being built up from separate layers. No-sew synthetics replaced stitched overlays. The outsole was reduced to roughly a millimetre of rubber, with a glass composite shank through the midfoot to keep the shoe from folding.

The surface graphic is a snake, which by this point in his career had become the shorthand for him; he had taken the mamba nickname during the mid-2000s stretch when he was setting scoring records, and it stuck to everything he put his name on.

This version runs black through the mesh with a vivid sulphur yellow and grey working through the pattern. It is dated 20 December 2012 and listed at $140.

Written with AI from brand specs; facts checked against our catalog data on Sep 18, 2026.