With Adidas and Reebok’s long-awaited split now just months away, two of the footwear heavyweights’ basketball stars are teaming up in a rare moment of cross-brand collaboration.
“Damenosis” brings together retired hoops icon Shaquille O’Neal and Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard as they each release their signature sneakers in colorways inspired by the other.
Reebok’s Shaqnosis sneaker, for example, is redone in black and red—the signature colors of Lillard’s basketball team. Adidas’ Dame 7 EXTPLY “Damenosis,” meanwhile, sports a black-and-white design recalling the original “Shaqnosis” released in 1995. Broad, rounded stripes traverse the shoe’s side in an apparent nod to the ripple design on O’Neal’s sneaker.
The Dame 7 EXTPLY “Damenosis” doubles as the final “track” in a series of music-inspired Dame sneakers, with typing on the shoe’s upper referencing Dame D.O.L.L.A. and Shaq Diesel—the two athletes’ off-the-court hip-hop alter egos. O’Neal released four studio albums in the ‘90s, including his self-titled debut record, which remains the only certified platinum album put out by a professional basketball player. Lillard released his fourth album, “Different on Levels the Lord Allowed” in August.
“For a legend who has done so well on and off the court being willing to attach his name to mine and connecting over a shoe, that’s a special honor,” Lillard said in a statement.
Reebok’s Shaqnosis and Adidas’ Dame 7 EXTPLY “Damenosis” dropped Tuesday on the brands’ respective websites and at select retailers.
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The team-up follows a similar collaboration the two brands released last summer. Like this week’s release, the crossover united a Hall of Famer, Allen Iverson, with a modern basketball star, James Harden. The sneaker combined elements from the debut signature sneaker of each athlete, with nods to Harden appearing across Iverson’s Question Mid silhouette.
Reports that Adidas was considering selling Reebok—a brand it bought in a $3.8. billion deal in 2006—began bubbling up last fall. After nearly a year of speculation, Adidas announced in August that it had entered a definitive agreement to sell Reebok to Authentic Brands Group—the owner of Barneys New York, Forever 21, Eddie Bauer, Aeropostale, Brooks Brothers and Juicy Couture— for “a total consideration of up to 2.1 billion euros,” or roughly $2.5 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.
The same day Reebok released its red-and-black Shaqnosis sneaker, the footwear brand also unveiled plans for another collaboration—this one with restaurant-streetwear hybrid PaperBoy Paris and Japanese retailer Beams.
The trio’s first collaboration together takes on Reebok’s Club C Legacy and Club C 85 silhouettes. The two styles bring in PaperBoy’s “milk boy” mascot on the shoes’ tongues and combine the brands’ fonts and logos throughout. Both sneakers debuted on PaperBoy’s website Friday and are scheduled to hit Beams’ online store Oct. 30. The Club C Legacy will also be available on Reebok’s website and at select retailers starting Oct. 29.
Though the release marks Reebok’s first time working with PaperBoy Paris, it is not the only Beams collaboration to debut this month. On Oct. 1, the footwear brand released the military-inspired Reebok x BEAMS Club C Laceless Mule.