Nike Kyrie Low 'Floral'
Colorway: Black/Black · Style code: AO8979-002 · Release date: December 2018 · Price: $2832 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Nike Kyrie Low 'Black' (AO8979-003) · Nike Kyrie Low 'Triple Black' (AO8979-004) · Nike Kyrie 4 Low Sneakers (AO8979-100) · Nike Kyrie Low 'Hot Punch' (AO8979-600) · Nike Kyrie Low 1 Sneakers (AO8979-700)
The first Kyrie Low arrived in mid-2018, the first time Nike gave Kyrie Irving a cut-down version of his signature line. It borrowed its traction pattern from a Kobe model and moved the Air units to the bottom of the midsole for a softer feel, and one of its two Swooshes is inverted, which is the detail most people notice first. The Floral edition, from the end of that year, prints roses across the perforated mesh upper in greens, pinks and greys, then cuts a black suede strap across the midfoot so the print stops and restarts. Pink logos and a white midsole finish it. Graphic prints on performance basketball shoes were briefly common at that point (a way of putting a lifestyle pattern on a shoe still being sold for its cushioning), and this model took to it better than most because its upper is largely uninterrupted mesh. Underneath nothing changes: the same forefoot and heel Air units, the same midfoot strap sculpted into the panel lines.