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by Gerald Flores
It’s a Floridian relationship that’s lasted way after LeBron James exited South Beach.
In 2010, Miami artist Alvaro “FREEGUMS” Ilizarbe linked up with Nike for the first time when the brand invited him to headquarters to talk about LeBron James' arrival in Florida and what it mean to his city.
“They wanted to see my perspective – coming from a Miami based artist on how I felt about Lebron James playing for Miami,” Alvaro said. “From that presentation, the basketball footwear team took a liking to my work and wanted me to be more involved with new projects they were working on.”
From there, Nike commissioned the artist to put his spin on the LeBron 9 – a black and white shoe that included Freegum’s artwork on the sockliner. This marked the first time Alvaro worked on a sneaker, but it wouldn’t be his last.
Nike reached out to Freegums after the brand caught wind of his “Totem” artwork and asked him do something similar for another LeBron shoe that would launch this fall. Only this time, it would be a Nike Lebron Zoom Soldier 9.
Here’s an up-close look at the design that Freegums used on the sneaker.
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