Photo: John Salangsang/Invision/AP/Shutterstock; Vanessa Bryant/Instagram
Vanessa Bryantis calling out Nike for allegedly producing her sentimental sneaker design without her consent.
Bryant took tosocial mediaafter discovering that a pair of shoes she designed in collaboration with the brand to honor 13-year-old daughter Gianna — who died withKobe Bryantand seven others in atragic helicopter crashin January 2020 — have seemingly been leaked.
In anInstagramstatement posted on Thursday morning, the 39-year-old mom (who also shares daughter Natalia, 18, Bianka, 4, and Capri, 1, with the late NBA legend) said she “worked hard” on the black-and-white “MAMBACITA” sneakers, which are an exclusive colorway of Kobe’s iconic design.
“I picked the colors to honor her [basketball] uniform,” Vanessa wrote. She went on to share that the unreleased sneakers feature both Kobe and Gianna’s names on the back and are emblazoned with a gold number 2 to represent her daughter’s jersey number.
Vanessa then slammed Nike, claiming that the MAMBACITA shoes are “NOT approved for sale” despite the fact that at least one person was already able to get their hands on a pair.
Nike did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“In the 2nd photo, it appears someone already has Gigi’s MAMBACITA shoe in their possession,” she captioned the post. “If someone can share how they have these shoes in their possession, that would be great because my daughters and I don’t have any of Gigi’s MAMBACITA shoes.”
“Nike has NOT sent any of these pairs to me and my girls. I do not know how someone else has their hand on shoes I designed to honor my daughter, Gigi…I hope these shoes did not get sold @nike,” she concluded.
On her Instagram Story, Vanessa shared a screenshot of atweetfrom Bleacher Report Kicks that states the shoes will be released later this year.
She also reposted aphotofrom the account,KicksOnCourt, of Milwaukee Bucks player Khris Middleton wearing the sneakers during a game over the weekend. The account labeled the design, the Nike Kobe 6 Protro “Mamba Forever.” It’s unclear if Nike plans to officially sell the shoes.
source: people.com
