Back in January, Under Armour had Joel Embiid come down to Baltimore to announce his upcoming signature sneaker, unveiling it to a select group of media with no photos or videos allowed to come out. Embiid, understandably, was excited for his first signature shoe, and harped on his desire to create a shoe that wasn’t just for big men but was something that could be worn by anyone.
The result is the UA Embiid One, a midtop sneaker with a lightweight mesh upper and a combination of Under Armour’s two most advanced cushioning elements — HOVR in the heel and MicroG in the forefoot — to offer a balance of comfort and reactive performance. On Friday, Embiid debuted the sneaker officially in the NBA bubble, posting the first official images of it to his Twitter account.
Game Day! Excited to finally show off my @uabasketball Embiid One. Available 9.18 @underarmour pic.twitter.com/QqJmOhYn20
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) August 7, 2020
The first colorway will be this black, gray, and fiery red/orange/yellow look, which will release on Sept. 18. As Embiid noted back in January, his goal was to create a shoe as versatile as he was, with stability for a 7-footer, but light enough and mobile enough to be worn by perimeter players too.
There are also details in the story-telling, with a cutout of the African continent on the heel of the outsole, with the red, yellow, and green (only visible in bits on the bottom of the shoe) representing his Cameroonian heritage. More colorways are set to come, and knowing Embiid some will surely be quite colorful, and those will be announced in coming weeks.
