The Protro life of the Nike Kobe 9 has been an interesting one to watch. Three builds defined the silhouette’s initial run (four, really, if you include the black sheep “LS” drops from that era of Nike Basketball that have largely gone untouched in modern times), and Nike has hewed close to that three-headed cadence in the shoe’s revitalization. To date, the original flyknit-laden High and Low have chiefly delivered narrative-heavy colorways, while the EM “Engineered Mesh” composition is where earnest performance has taken over, demonstrated by its utilization on the “Team Bank” series.
Yet don’t mistake that performance-forward approach to mean that there’s no “chase” product in the Kobe 9 EM backlog. Indeed, the “Philippines” colorway, now rumored for a true-to-life return this Holiday, stands as one of the true highlights of the Kobe 9 run as a whole. First dropped off as an overseas regional exclusive, by the time this pair landed stateside as a direct Twitter drop (a sign of the times, to be sure), it was among the most frenzied and sought-after in the line. Part of an overall series of overtures to the Mamba’s global importance, the shoe blends together Filipino flag colors and some weighty special edition touches like the oversized “24” just under the collar.
Again, little information is known at the time of this writing regarding release particulars, but you can expect the Nike Kobe 9 EM “Philippines” to touch down sometime between October and the end of the year.
Nike Kobe 9 EM “Phillipines” (2014) Nike Official Images
Nike Kobe 9 EM “Phillipines” (2014) Nike Official Images
