Showing up right from the start — and consistently presenting the best version of himself to honor his team — is a principle that Lacross star Lyle Thompson stands by. That concept of representation also has layers of historical meaning for Indigenous communities across North America.
“In representation, it’s huge to continue to show up over time, otherwise you can’t expect to make significant change,” says Thompson. “This is especially true within Indigenous communities. If you show up once or only do something in the short term, you can actually hurt communities rather than help them.”
This year’s N7 collection focuses on lasting representation as a core theme. In the footwear, three silhouettes channel the backgrounds of three different athletes — Thompson, volleyball player Lauren Schad, and basketball guard Kyrie Irving — through personal design touches that are important symbols to their identities. The shoes, which include the Dunk Low, the Air Zoom Type and the Kyrie Low 4, will be available through the Nike By You builder, giving others a canvas to represent their own values.
Lauren Schad is originally from the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation and now plays professional volleyball for Nantes, France. Whether she is visiting her Lakota relatives in South Dakota, where she grew up, or traveling overseas for work, she makes a point of using her platform as an athlete to raise awareness on the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and to educate others about Indigenous people, eradicating stereotypes. The colors of the medicine wheel — a Lakota cultural symbol that represents balance and the four directions — are integrated into the N7 Air Zoom Type by Lauren, which also took inspiration from the intricate porcupine quill art that comes from her tribe.
Kyrie Irving, point guard for the Brooklyn Nets, possesses a spiritual rigor that drives him to connect his game and his being with history and social justice. In the past few years, Irving has been on a journey to reconnect with his community from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and in that process he has received his Lakota name, Hela, which means Little Mountain. During Irving’s naming ceremony, he was gifted a star quilt, a brightly-colored traditional art form that inspired the colors and stitch detail graphic on his N7 Kyrie Low 4 for the summer collection.
Thompson’s 3 Favorite Parts About His N7 Dunk Low
1. Elements of full-grain leather: “I loved the idea of creating a shoe that has longevity. It’s a material that’s intended to last.”
2. Purple colorway: The color represents the wampum shell, a natural oceanic shell from Thompson’s Onondaga nation used for crafting objects like bowls. “Our people used one-dish, one-spoon wampum to make treaties with our allies, but we also used them to make treaties with the Earth.”
3. The braided leather Swoosh: “Our people have been stripped of many parts of their identity throughout history, and one of those ways is through their hair. I wanted the braid to reflect a sense of pride about who we are.”
A release date for the footwear and apparel collection has not yet been identified, but it is expected to arrive on Nike.com over the Summer. With more details to follow, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got your eyes glued to our official Twitter account for updates.