There are no more Kobe Bryant products on the official Nike website. The Oregon-based point firm decided Tuesday, hours after the basketball star's demise, to stop selling products related to the five-time NBA champion online.
It is therefore no longer possible to buy shoes, T-shirts, sweatshirts, socks and other clothing bearing his image. Instead, Internet users come across a blank page with the following statement "In memory of Kobe Bryant".
Pay homage to him and avoid the black market
The firm that said it was "devastated" took this extremely rare step after the tragedy to pay tribute to the man it considered "a beloved member of the Nike family". But behind this decision, there is also the desire to immediately end wholesale purchases. Purchased goods may indeed find themselves at a gold price on the black market. Customers who managed to order will be reimbursed and will receive in exchange, a Lakers logo gift card, the deductible of the deceased. Nike is said to have asked the Foot Locker chain of stores to also remove Bryant products from its site.
The equipment supplier did not communicate on the possible date of a return to normal on its site for Bryant products. In early February, Nike had to release a new pair of shoes, the "Kobe 5 Protro". It is not known if it will be released on the scheduled date.
Brand paid Bryant $ 16 million a year
Like Michael Jordan, Nike had made Bryant, in contract with it since 2003, one of its ambassadors and headliners. "When I arrived at Nike, I found myself in the shoes of Harry Potter who discovered Hogwarts", smiled the basketball player today disappeared whose contract amounted to 16 million dollars (14.5 million euros) .
A good hundred NBA players today wear a basketball in his name. And for 17 years, due to a new model each year, several million have been sold worldwide.