This month, as you’re reaching for your PS4 controller to play Dragon Ball Fighter Z or Monster Hunter, you might as well dress the part.
Nike has teamed up with PlayStation and Oklahoma City Thunder’s star forward Paul George to create the PG-2 PlayStation Colorway.
Paul George, the 5-time NBA All-Star who has recently been a topic of contention between the Lakers and the Thunder, stated in a PlayStation blog post that his collaboration with the Japanese game console brand and the American athletic brand feels natural and inevitable.
In an interview with the Playstation blog, George said that,
“This collaboration has been a long time coming. Ask me what my favorite PlayStation memory is and I’ll tell you it’s when my dad got me a PS2 for Christmas. I’d been dropping hints left and right because I knew that was it. That was the next big thing.
“You could say the same with Nike. As a kid, I’d make sketches of what I wanted my Nike shoes to look like because it’s something I’ve always wanted to be a part of. Now I have the opportunity to make something very special and personal to me with the help of two of my favorite brands.”
George also mentioned that design choices were made to honor his “game both on and off the court.”
Nike acknowledges similar feelings in its product description, saying that gaming is “a vortex to another battleground of endless opponents” and that the PG-2 “celebrates PG’s affinity for the PS4 and his ability to bring his game wherever he plays, from the court to the console.”
The sneakers feature tongues with the PG and PlayStation logos. With a power button on the inside of the tongues, the logos can light up, and the LED lights can pulsate with the power of a lithium battery.
The midsole is black, flecked with purples and blues in the PlayStation galaxy theme, and completed with a Nike swoosh (the sock liner similarly features the galaxy theme).
The shoes pay homage to PlayStation’s controllers with colored eyelets for the laces which match the classic PlayStation buttons, along with details embossed on the side of the shoe.
Lastly, on the back heel of the left shoe, the sneaker contains a PlayStation voucher coder that offers a Paul George Dynamic Theme for the PS4 and can be redeemed at any PlayStation store.
The PG-2 PlayStation colorway retails at $110. The shoe launch dropped internationally on February 10th and are currently sold out on Nike’s website. It seems that sneaker and gaming fanatics alike have been quick to swipe up a pair of their own.
The merging of gaming and fashion offers exciting possibilities as the volume and demographics of gamers continue to change and grow, according to a 2013 Spil Games study.
Fashion brands, which constantly look for trendy concepts to latch on to and profit from, have been quick to incorporate ideas of “geek chic” and gamer culture.
For example, Nintendo, another Japanese gaming giant, has had various collaborations with brands like Vans and Moschino.
This is cause for celebration for people who like to kill the game as they play the game.
