This week, Anthony Davis might be adding a new line to his resume.
The six-time NBA All-Star is showing his creative and design abilities with a unique relationship that has resulted in a signature sneaker inspired by potato chips. He has been making headlines since Saturday after it was announced that he was traded by the New Orleans Pelicans to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Today, Davis was present at the NBA Store in New York to announce his new partnership with Ruffles, a Frito-Lay chip brand, and to introduce The Ruffles Ridge Tops, a line of shoes created by bespoke shoemaker The Shoe Surgeon.
Dubbed the first-ever “Chip Deal,” Davis, sponsored by Nike and providing “creative design input,” is taking a major step into the shoe industry for the first time with this cooperation. Additionally, he has already learned a few surprising things.
“You want to just throw these crazy ideas on a shoe sometimes, but sometimes it does not work and they say, ‘You can not put that on a shoe,'” Davis said to FN. “It is not frustrating per se, but the most shocking thing about it was realising, ‘Man, I can not do that?'” Ultimately, we managed to identify a few solutions and reduce some heat.
Each Ruffles Ridge Tops sneaker was hand-made and features the blue and orange colors of the original Ruffles bag, plus interchangeable shoelaces inspired by the shades of various Ruffles flavors. A hidden pocket with a silver lining and ribbed accent near the heel of the shoe are intended to allude to the experience of opening a Ruffles bag and the silhouette of the ridged chip. Akin to the ingredients list on most food products, the tongue of the shoe features “Shoetrition Facts” detailing both the material and intangible elements on the shoe.
Davis, who was drafted into the NBA in 2012 after a storied college career at the University of Kentucky, said his fashion sense has “evolved tremendously” in his seven years of playing professional basketball.
“When I first came in fresh out of college, I was just wearing sweat suits. Then I started getting invited to all these top-notch things and I needed to have suits and kind of needed to have classier things — more grown-man things,” he told FN. “I started to build that look and it got better and better over the years.”
Davis’ limited-edition Ruffles collaboration is featured on the athlete’s “favorite Nike silhouette” — the “Dunk High.”
“I just love wearing Nikes. It’s been instilled in me for my whole life,” Davis said. “It’s the only shoe I ever wore my entire playing career. I just felt like it was right.”
From June 24 to Aug. 4, consumers who purchase a bag of Ruffles and enter the on-pack code will have a chance to win fashion and sports items daily, and the grand prize of a pair of the Ruffles and Davis-crafted sneakers.
