VIBE Kick Picks: Analyzing The "D Rose 3"

Here's another round of this week's hottest sneakers for our VIBE Kick Picks.

Last week, Adidas extended an invitation to VIBE to witness the unveiling of their new apparel collaboration with Chicago Bulls' own Derrick Rose. Complete with a fresh logo, intricate design, and detailed business model, the biggest attraction of the day was definitely the new D Rose 3 sneaker.

We spoke with Lawrence Norman (Vice President of Adidas Global Basketball), Rob Lee (Head Of Adidas Global Design), Travis Blasingame (Apparel Designer), and Jack Gray (Footwear Design) to break down the sneaker into four aspects: the logo, the design, the color, and those infamous stripes.

The D Rose 3 launches at adidas.com, Foot Locker, Eastbay, Finish Line and other retailers nationwide on October 4 for $160.

Check out our gallery, as we break down the shoe before you go cop it:

The Stripes:

ROB LEE:
"[It was important to] have the stripes be an accent that emulated the north and south—which is Derrick’s style of play and how he was trained to go up and down the court."

JACK GRAY:
"With Derrick, we have what we call iconic branding, or “Rose branding.” It’s the three stripes up the heel. The reason why they’re on the heel is because no opponent is ever in front of him. He blows by ‘em. What [his opponent sees] is those three stripes. "

LAWRENCE NORMAN:
"This time, the three stripes come all the way down onto the outsole for added effect. As far as some of the personal details on the shoe, this is the most personal Rose shoe we’ve ever done."

The Color:

ROB LEE:
"It’s funny. We have a bunch of different colorways coming out, but we wanted the black to have a little bit of a shine to it. As you can see—from a red standpoint—by having the iconic red tongue, how it's padded, and how you can pop it out with jeans, you can have all those kind of off-court style aspects to it. That was important to us."

JACK GRAY:
"We utilize the black and red obviously to go back to the uniform. First and foremost, that’s his away colorway—the black/red. But again, it’s the use of color. You’ll notice on the shoe it’s a primarily black upper but with hits of red. We actually have the technology called Sprint Web with his diamond pattern, but back colored it. You see this black, but then you see this red underneath, so again it's idea of layers, but it’s a little bit more subtle and a little bit easier to wear with jeans."

TRAVIS BLASINGAME:
"Well red and black, first and foremost, is his color. It’s the city’s color. Obviously he’s a Bull. You’ll see other color drops, but it’s a powerful color. Anytime you look at what red represents, it's power."

LAWRENCE NORMAN:
"There are also rules to what you wear on court. If your team is all wearing black, a certain percentage of the shoe has to be black as well. That goes into the thought process."

The Logo:

ROB LEE:
"Rose has a very literal name. It’s a beautiful name, but we needed to incorporate it into his style of play. With those hard, sharp edges, we want to make sure that emulated the style."

JACK GRAY:
"The petals stand for his brothers: Reggie, Allan and Dwayne. Those are the guys that have been his rock and been his support system since Day 1—the guys that taught him how to play. They say his style of play is reflective of the three styles of play of his brothers."

TRAVIS BLASINGAME:
"I think for all of us involved—whether it was Derrick and his family, or myself, Lawrence and Jack—we wanted to make sure it was going to be something that 5-10 years from now, we could rewind and say it’s as dope as it is today as it was that back in the day. We constantly ask ourselves the same questions: Does it hold the value? Does it uphold what this stands for? Is it honest? Is it true? Is it premium? Is it going to make a difference when the kid puts it on? Is he going to feel instant status and credibility from putting the hat on?"

LAWRENCE NORMAN:
"The 1 in the middle represents his mom, Brenda, and also his uniform number. The 3 brothers are around him for support. The rough edges really represent his upbringing playing in Murray Park. It’s not easy to play there. There are no fouls called. So it represents the style of play played there, but also the style of play that he’s adopted and goes to the basket so hard."

The Design/Detail:

ROB LEE:
"The tongue is so inspirational for us. There are so many stories that we’re going to tell. You’ll see it through each drop. They're things that you’ll discover as you read into that. I think it gives the fans something that they can attach themselves to."

JACK GRAY:
"Rob McCallum is our graphic designer. A lot of graphic designers do stuff with Illustrator, but he drew this by hand. That’s what’s bananas. You don’t see that anymore. He drew this by hand and it reflects the entire Chicago story of Derrick."

TRAVIS BLASINGAME:
"There’s a lot of little subliminal things, or hidden details—the tenacious thorn that has a lot of those rugged edges also found in the logo. I think Kanye probably says it best, 'I don’t write songs, I design t-shirts. [Laughs]'"

LAWRENCE NORMAN:
"The family tree—that’s really one of the coolest personal details. It's not just a stand alone feature. All the products in this D. Rose signature collection are very personal. They’re products that he’s told us about, whether it's the materials on the apparel or the fact that the apparel is understated and relaxed. The shoes just do the talking for him—just like his game does the talking for him."

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