

Above: A look at the Tech Pack and sketchwork of the BD Doom.
How are you liking the shoes from a performance standpoint? The shoe from a performance standpoint, it helps a lot with cutting. I'm a player that likes to make sharp cuts and pretty much run into people, so it's more of a power-based shoe, but it's not heavy like a lot of the other shoes that I wore throughout my career, so it allows me to have that explosion and that lift. I think it's one of the best shoes that I've ever worn. It's good to have your own shoe, and it's even better when it's perfect for my game. What's the response been in the locker room? Oh, crazy! We were playing Cleveland, and LeBron looked at me, and he was like, "Yo BD, why are your shoes better than everybody else's?" [laughs] So that was a compliment there, and every time I'm on the court, guys are coming up and asking, "What are those man? What are those?" I think I've signed like over fifty pairs of shoes for guys, and I've never ever signed shoes for anybody. That's also a compliment, when guys want your autographed shoes, knowing that they're authentic and they're fresh and the style is impeccable.
Above: Several concept logos for Baron Davis.
What was your first reaction when you saw the Beardman logo? I liked it! [laughs] I was like, "That kinda looks like me." [laughs] Do you feel an obligation now, like you can't shave the beard? I'll play around with it every now and then, but I just can't be out in public without my beard now. You had two videos of you walking through New York and Shanghai, do you plan on making more videos? Yeah I definitely want to make more videos. The one we made in Shanghai was after we did our Li-Ning tour. We were on tour for ten days, and on the eleventh day, we just decided, "Hey, let's get some footage around Shanghai and let's come up with a concept that works. It was all pretty much freestyle, which was the best thing about it. Once we saw the cut of the China video in Shanghai, we wanted to do the same thing in New York. These videos are pretty much a lot more impromptu than anything. I think in the future, you'll see a lot more strategic videos and some that are more well thought out. I thought that they turned out great for what we did them for, and just going forward, I'd love to be able to do that and use my creativity behind the camera to show people a representation of what Li-Ning [is] and what the brand is all about. It touches different people in different ways, and [we want to show] how everyone can be apart of it. That was pretty much the basis of all of the videos, just moving through the cities and letting people know that Li-Ning can function in every part of the city. It has a style, a fashion, a trend and an intellect that brings people together, and that's why you always would see me walking away with a crowd of people that look different. On IBeatYou.com, you're always doing stuff with new challenges, and just had a Best Beard contest, are there going to be any more Li-Ning tie-ins there? Oh yeah. Coming up with slogans and best quotes for a season. Best name for a shoe. We've got a bunch of different tie-ins for IBeatYou that I'm working on. Secondary designs we'll put up there and see what is the best design.
Above: Look for this limited edition Grey/ Neon colorway to drop later in the year.
Can you talk about working with the designers? How hands-on have you been with the process? They've been great. The only thing I do is say, "Yeah, I like that. I like that." [laughs] It's great to work with people that take the time out to listen to you. They take the time out to listen and get to know who you are as a person. I think that the design and everything that you see with the shoe and the brand, from my standpoint, has come from just spending time with the designers. They're just great people to be around, and they're attentive to details and really pay attention to the details in my life. They just bring that to life in the shoes. When they bring it to me, it's like, "Oh, I like that. I like that!" It's not much input, but I get an opportunity to voice my opinion and say, "Maybe I don't like that color or this color." For me, the opportunity is great. I was at other shoe brands, and they just give you a shoe and say, "Here, you're wearing this color." With the Li-Ning design team, they've been extra great as far as getting me involved and listening to every little thing that I have to say. Overall it's been a great process to just see how the shoe has been crafted into its delivery. What kind of input have you had on some off-court shoes? Are you guys working on some lifestyle stuff? We have. We got some really cool shoes coming. More so, when I'm talking about off-the-court, it's the stuff that I wear, and the stuff that I would go into a store and say, "I want to buy those." Or, if I see somebody with some shoes that aren't name brand, I'd like to take maybe the tongue or different accents of the shoe and just apply it to everyday walking. When you see our lifestyle shoe and our off the court shoe, it'll be more fashion forward and something that people are going to want to try and play basketball in, but you'll see them walking around and it'll be the it shoe to have.
