The mail room over at Duke University stays busy. On the heels of eight distinct Nike Basketball PEs surfacing in recent weeks, the Blue Devils’ women’s squad is among the first to receive a Nike Kobe 6 Protro “Kay Yow” PE tied to the cancer fund.
Nike has partnered with the Kay Yow Cancer Fund since 2008, donating a portion of proceeds from Kay Yow retail product while also creating basketball PEs that have gone on to become extremely coveted. The Nike Kobe 6 has served as a vessel in that regard a number of times, most notably in 2011 with a retail release as part of Nike’s larger “Think Pink” campaign.
The PE shown here differs pretty significantly from most past “Kay Yow” sneakers. It features a hot pink lateral side and a softer pink medial side, joined by a gradient through the middle that extends onto the midsole and even the Kobe sheath on the tongue. Black hits appear pretty much everywhere else, including Kay Yow ribbon logos on the lateral heel.
Although Duke gets first dibs, it’s likely other Nike-sponsored basketball programs can expect these to come in soon. Duke’s unveiling post coincides with the emergence of a Nike GT Cut 4 featuring the Kay Yow logo, but it remains to be seen whether that pair is also a PE or slated for public release.
