Another Nike shoe comes home. And this one is a little bit closer to the heart of the Filipino baller.
Going straight back to the roots of Filipino hoop dreams, Nike just announced the Hyperdunk 2017 Manila with little fanfare–but expect patriotic local sneakerheads to rave about this latest pair.
The Hyperdunk 2017 Manila is of of six shoes representing different cities with rich basketball culture. The others include American playground haunts New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, Chinese hoop hotbed Beijing and Spanish basketball mecca Madrid.
The “Tenement” tribute shoe honors the place where every Filipino baller dreamt of playing big-time hoops in front of adoring crowds: The streets. Taking inspiration from the Tenement Court Taguig, the limited edition Hyperdunk 2017 Manila still features its latest cushioning breakthrough, Nike React.
That means players still get the quick bounce reaction that streetball players will find reassuring even during the harshest concrete court battles.
Even the aesthetics of the shoe takes from the tenements. It boasts an all-gray upper and concrete-style midsole.
The Hyperdunk 2017 ‘Manila’ (retail: P6,745, Titan BGC and Titan22.com), is the latest in the line of Nike “homecoming” kicks released to satiate the thirst of flag-waving Filipino hoop fans for local-flavored lines.
Among the fan-favorite “homecoming” kicks from Nike include the Kobe 9 EM “Philippines,” which features the likeness of flip-flops, another streetball fixture, and the Lebron 14 “Agimat,” which features Filipino words and phrases and was inspired by Gilas Pilipinas.