Nike in the last 12 months through January sold $340M worth of Cavaliers F LeBron James’ signature shoes, which is "up 13% from the prior year," and "nearly double the amount of the NBA’s second best seller," Thunder F Kevin Durant, according to Kurt Badenhausen of FORBES. Nike "released its twelfth James’ signature shoe in October, fittingly the LeBron 12, at a retail price of $200." There are "more iterations of James’ shoe than any other player and his shoes are widely distributed, which helps boost sales." His sneakers "are also huge sellers with kids." Durant’s KD signature line of sneakers had sales of $195M in '14 for Nike, "up 11% from the prior year." This "follows a meteoric 400% rise" in '13 when Nike "flooded the market with the popular KD VI." The biggest gainer among NBAers with signature shoes was Lakers G Kobe Bryant, who is "adored" in China and has "been a linchpin for Nike for years" there. Bryant's U.S. shoe sales "more than doubled last year" to $105M, up from $50M, despite "missing most of the past two seasons with injuries" (FORBES.com, 3/18). In Cleveland, Joe Vardon notes the success of James' Nike line is "just one sign that his star power hasn't waned since leaving South Beach for a smaller market in Cleveland." Since James "rejoined the Cavaliers in July, he signed his first endorsement deal with a car company, launched an on-line only marketing campaign with Progressive, and has starred in multiple high-profile commercials for his various sponsors, including Nike." James said, "Obviously I love my partnership with Nike. We've done so many great things, but it starts with performance and all of us at Nike we perform first and we let everything take care of itself" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 3/19).
