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Vanessa Bryant took to Instagram on 3rd June 2021 to inform the public that a pair of sneakers were released recently without her consent. They were created in honor of Vanessa’s late daughter Gianna, who died in January 2020 in a helicopter crash in California.
Report Kicks shared a photo of a pair of sneakers through Twitter on Thursday. The shoes are called the “Nike Kobe 6 Protro Mamba Forever” and were scheduled to be released later this year. A photo of the shoe being held by an unidentified person can also be seen on Vanessa's Instagram post. The shoe was to be named after Gianna’s nickname relating to her father Kobe Bryant’s moniker “Black Mamba”. Vanessa stated:
“The MAMBACITA shoes are NOT approved for sale. I wanted it to be sold to honor my daughter with ALL of the proceedings benefitting our @mambamambacitasports foundation but I did not re-sign the Nike contract to sell those 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.”
Vanessa also asked in the caption that those who have “Gigi’s MAMBACITA shoe in their possession” should tell her how they got them since she and her three daughters don’t have the shoes.
Also read: Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, alleges Nike leaked unauthorized Mambacita shoes
Vanessa Bryant about Kobe’s Nike Contract
Vanessa mentioned on social media that her husband Kobe’s Nike contract expired in 13/4/2021. She said,
“Kobe and Nike have made some of the most beautiful basketball shoes of all time, worn and adored by fans and athletes in all sports across the globe. It seems fitting that more NBA players wear my husband’s product than any other signature shoe. My hope will always be to allow Kobe’s fans to get and wear his products. I will continue to fight for that.”
Kobe signed a five-year contract with Nike in 2016 after retiring from the NBA. After he died in 2020, Vanessa and Nike could not finalize an agreement to re-sign the contract. Vanessa said that one of the reasons for this was that Nike was not ready to make a deal in perpetuity.
Concluding the post, Vanessa said,
“I was hoping to forge a lifelong partnership with Nike that reflects my husband’s legacy. We will always do everything we can to honor Kobe and Gigi’s legacies. That will never change.”
According to the "Los Angeles Times", the shoes are now available for resale on GOAT and Flight Club. They are priced at $1500 and $1800. A few people also shared on social media that a sneaker shop called Footpatrol in the United Kingdom released the shoes for a raffle supposed to be for the Kobe 6 Protro Del Sol colorway.
