Caitlin Clark doesn't have much longer to wait for her first signature shoe to come out.
They will be available starting Oct. 1 in the U.S. and a week earlier in China.
“I’m just super excited,” she told The Associated Press in Germany last week. “I look down at my feet and I’m, man, I’m wearing my shoes. There’s not many people that get a Nike signature shoe.”
Clark will be the fifth active player to have a signature shoe, joining fellow Nike athletes
Sabrina Ionescu and A’ja Wilson. Angel Reese has one with Reebok and Breanna Stewart with Puma. Sheryl Swoopes was the first women’s basketball player to have her own one in 1995. Elena Delle Donne’s signature shoe debuted at the same time as Stewart in 2022. They were the first players with signature shoes since Candace Parker in 2011.
“I don’t even think that’s something I dreamed about as a kid, because it felt so far away from something that I could ever achieve," Clark said of having her own shoe. "I was always a kid that wanted the coolest shoes and I’m so excited.”
The shoe will sell for $140, putting it around the same as Wilson and Ionescu's shoes. It will be available in "Caitlin Blue" and "Warning Code Yellow" when it first comes out.
“I hope when people put the shoe on, they can feel a part of me,” Clark said. “I hope more than anything, it gives people confidence that they can dream to achieve whatever they want and they feel like they can be me in the shoe.”
Clark, who gifted the shoes to her Indiana Fever teammates when she returned from helping the U.S. win a gold medal at the women's FIBA World Cup, said a lot of her personality has come through in the shoe with the colors that she wears.
“It’s just been really cool and a fun process. I hope everybody knows that I put a lot of time and effort into it. It’s not just like Nike mocked this up and I check the box,” she said. “This was something that was super important for me because I really want my fans to feel connected and to feel like they can play just like how I play.”
Clark said there are many more colors coming down the road. They'll also be a signature line of apparel coming out as well with T-shirts, jackets and sweatshirts.
“It’s been a really fun process and it never gets old," Clark said. "Lacing up your shoes that have your logo on it and that you designed and have a Nike swoosh — I don’t think it gets much better than that, to be honest."
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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here
