TITLE: Koston 1, 2011 : pourquoi la première Nike d'Eric Koston est sortie deux ans après sa signature ?

En avril 2009, une marque de chaussures de Los Angeles met en ligne une vidéo où l’on jette une chaussure à la tête de son propre patron. Le patron, c’est Eric Koston, 33 ans, copropriétaire de Lakai. La vidéo annonce son départ chez Nike. Sa première paire Nike à son nom sortira le 4 juin 2011. Plus de deux ans plus tard. Pour un type que tout le monde voulait, c’est long. Alors qu’est-ce que Nike attendait ?

Pour comprendre ce trou de deux ans, il faut regarder qui tenait la caméra, qui signait les chèques, et ce que Koston apportait dans sa valise. Parce qu’il n’est pas arrivé chez Nike SB les mains vides.

Avant 2009 : Eric Koston, patron chez Lakai et chez Fourstar

En 2009, Koston n’est pas un rider qu’on habille. C’est un associé. Chez Girl depuis 1993, cofondateur de Fourstar avec Guy Mariano en 1996, il enter chez Lakai en mai 2006 comme copropriétaire. En décembre de la même année sortent ses chaussures à son nom. En 2007, son kickflip ouvre Fully Flared, la vidéo de Lakai que toute une génération a usée en boucle.

Fin 2007, il ouvre aussi un hangar avec Steve Berra, acheté sur leurs fonds propres. Ça s’appelle The Berrics. Un skatepark privé, filmé tous les jours, posté sur le web. Personne n’a encore compris que c’est le futur.

Le deal Nike SB de 2009 : une date, aucun montant

Le départ est public en avril 2009, par cette vidéo d’adieu où Lakai parodie le lancer de chaussure visé sur George W. Bush quelques mois plus tôt. Le ton est à la vanne, pas au drame. Mike Carroll et Rick Howard restent aux commandes, Koston file chez Nike.

The contract terms were never made public. No amount, no duration. What is certain: Koston joined Paul Rodriguez, at Nike SB since 2005, and that he himself had brought him to Girl in 2002. The student opened the door, the master passes it. The whole story is told in our story Koston and P-Rod.

Why now: in 2009, it’s Koston who holds the camera

Look at the photo: in summer 2009, skate is played in front of dozens of lenses. Except that the lenses that matter are no longer those of magazines. According to Wall Street Journal, in January 2009, The Berrics already attracted more unique visitors than the sites of all major skate magazines, and that ESPN’s extreme sports section.

Steve Berra had even refused a deal for one million dollars to realize a film. The message is clear: these two do not sell their media. So when Nike recruits Koston in 2009, it does not recruit just feet. It recruits a man who owns his own channel, his own cameras, his own audience. A sponsor could not offer him visibility. He had already done so.

Behind the scenes: Lunar, Kobe Bryant and 24 pairs in Los Angeles

What happens between 2009 and 2011 is written in the shoe itself. In February 2011, Nice Kicks presents the first Nike SB pair with his name: daim, double sole Lunar, three colors including one that revisits the Dunk SB theme ‘Thailand’, a nod to his birth country.

The Lunar, Nike put it in running and basketball. Never in a skate shoe. At launch, Koston and Hunter Muraira, from Nike SB, present it as the very first Lunar amortized skate shoe.

And on May 21, 2011, two weeks before the store release, Nike releases 24 pairs of a Kobe Bryant x Koston version at the Nike Vault in the Staples Center. The upper inspired by the Zoom Kobe VI, cigar-shaped box with golf balls, reversed recipes to Los Angeles courts. A skater and an NBA star on the same box. This wasn’t a skate launch. It was a Nike launch.

What it changed for Eric Koston’s career

The Kosten 1 wasn’t a one-off, it was the start of a lineage. The Kosten 2 arrived in March 2013 with an ad where Tiger Woods appears. Koston drops a line that says everything: he copied dozens of Nike shoes at eS and Lakai, but these brands couldn’t manufacture them as he saw them. At Nike, finally, the idea comes out of the factory as is.

Following the Kosten 3 Hyperfeel in 2016 with a Flyknit collar, then a Blazer Mid named after him in 2022. End 2015, he leaves Girl after 22 years to start Numbers the following year. The guy who dressed him in 1993 became a brand maker.

What it changed for Nike SB and the market

For Nike SB, Koston completes a strategy: take the riders who made the reputation of brands held by skaters. P-Rod in 2005, Kosten in 2009. In 2012, the video ‘Mr. Control It All’ puts him alongside Sean Malto and Justin Brock. Kosten is no longer an unknown: he’s a headliner.

On Lakai, the aftermath is harsher. The brand falls under HUF in 2014, then TSI in 2017, and Inversal in October 2024. We’ve told the story in the history of Mike Carroll and Lakai. A skater brand can survive the departure of its celebrity partner. Rarely without changing hands.

Verdict: why the first Nike Eric Koston release delayed two years

Nike never gave an official calendar. But dated facts answer its place. The pair that came out in June 2011 isn’t just a skate shoe: it’s the first to feature Lunar cushioning, a running tech launched with Kobe Bryant in the Lakers’ arena. Such products aren’t designed in a quarter

And above all, nothing was pressing. Koston didn’t need a pair to exist: he had The Berrics, his camera, his audience. Nike could take two years to make its first pair an event, not a simple catalog model. That’s the real answer: Koston was already installed, so Nike aimed higher

To view his full profile and other dates, go to Eric Koston’s rider