The Story Behind: Allen Iverson's Sneakers

Allen Iverson is one of the most hated, most loved, and most recognizable players in the history of the game. Many people say his career has been overshadowed by his criminal record. The haters will say he brought a bad image to the NBA and was a ball hog who never led the Sixers to a championship.

Regardless of what you think about him, Allen Iverson was one of the most profitable NBA stars of his era and Reebok was lucky enough to sign him early. In 1986, Reebok was the foremost athletic footwear brand in North America. Much of Reebok's success in 1986 was thanks to the film, "Aliens", in which the main character kicks ass in a pair of some abstract looking Reebok concept sneakers. These sneakers are now known today as the Alien Stomper.

By 1988, Reebok sales had grown to 1.8 Billion USD, controlling 26.7% of the athletic footwear market, topping their main rival brand, Nike, who brought in 1.2 Billion USD in revenue that year. The coming years would be a constant tug-of-war between Nike and Reebok,

Reebok releasing their pump technology and Nike outbidding the legendary NBA star, Michael Jordan. Fast forward to 1996. Allen Iverson is a college basketball superstar, playing with one of the most prestigious universities in the country, Georgetown. During his sophomore season, AI decided to quit college ball and make himself available for the upcoming NBA draft.

With the first pick in the 1996 NBA draft, the Philadelphia 76ers select Allen Iverson from Georgetown University. Two young Reebok employees, Todd Krinsky and Que Gaskins are watching Iverson's games and keeping a close eye on his hype. They knew he was a once in a lifetime player and they decided to go all in on him. At this point, Allen Iverson's college hype was at its apex.

Both Nike and Reebok had eyes on him. Here's what Iverson's first sports agent, David Falk, had to say about the prospect surrounding Iverson at the time. "Typically, I call all of the companies "and give the an opportunity to make a presentation. "It came down to Nike and Reebok "and obviously, Allen's mentor, "Coach Thompson, is a strong Nike guy." And Georgetown is one of the top Nike schools. They wanted to have Allen, but they weren't prepared to step up to the level that it was going to take to sign him.

Reebok was more than prepared to step it up to the level that Iverson and David Falk were after. In fact, Reebok had begun designing AI's signature shoe model even before signing him. Que Gaskins and Todd Krinsky were so confident in Iverson's star potential and they wanted to be prepared to offer him the shoe on the spot.

Since there were so many questions surrounding Allen Iverson as an up and coming basketball star, they decided to name the model the Question. Designed by footwear designer Scott Hewitt, the Question had a unique design, equipped with Reebok's Hexalite technology and a ghillie lace up design that resembled the Air Jordan Six.

The Question's most iconic design feature was its colored toe cap. Iverson wore the shoe throughout his incredible rookie year and even crossed Michael Jordan wearing them. The Reebok team were confident that Iverson's shoe would make a big impact once he started to make a name for himself in the league, but what they didn't see coming was how huge the hype would actually be.

The Reebok Question was such a classic that Reebok didn't even release the Question 2 until way later in 2004. In music and film and even in footwear, sophomore efforts after a successful debut are often met with disappointing results. After all of the massive success of the question, Reebok was determined to make Iverson's next shoe just as impactful.

When Reebok began designing the Question, Allen Iverson didn't really have much of a say on the core design of the shoe. He didn't have a say because Reebok famously started designing the shoe before even signing him. This time, it would be different though. Iverson would be giving feedback to Reebok's design team from day one.

Aesthetically, the Questions and the Answers couldn't be further apart from one another. The simplicity of the Questions were left in the past and replaced with a more-is-better look. Instead of using the old Hexalite honeycomb cushioning technology, Reebok and Iverson utilized the newly-developed DMX cushioning for the shoe. This new technology would fit perfectly with Iverson's dynamic and quick style of playing basketball.

The Question

The DMX technology placed 10 pods in the sole that transferred air with every step. The Reebok answers were not only the first shoe to use the DMX technology, they also debuted Allen Iverson's signature logo, the I3. This would eventually be seen on everything from T-shirts, headbands, Five Star notebooks, and even backpacks. In the years that followed, Reebok would go on to release a multitude of Answers. Over the span of 22 years, Allen Iverson and Reebok have released 15 signature models, 14 of them being from the Answer series. One of the most recognizable and famous models is the Answer 4.

Despite never getting a ring, Allen Iverson remains one of the greatest basketball players to ever grace the earth. Are you a fan if AI? Have you ever owned a pair of his shoes?