WORDS by Jone Mallorca
This is a public service announcement: the ANTA KT8 is here and it is every hooper’s dream.
This is the eighth signature shoe of four-time champion Klay Thompson, as ANTA has looked into making a shoe that represents the shooter at his finest.
Designing the KT8 was a personal journey for the Golden State Warrior as it has his imprints present in the overall look and feel of the shoe.
Through working closely with Thompson, ANTA wanted to make sure that their incorporation of Thompson’s cool and simple demeanor would be visible in the design.
In addition, ANTA’s design director Duane Lawrence and the design team wanted to highlight the bond and the special relationship that Thompson has with his father, Mychal Thompson, and have it present in the identity of the shoe.
At the left heel, the detail of “1987-88” can be seen, as it is a reference to Mychal’s back-to-back championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. While on the right heel, “2017-18” indicates the younger Thompson’s back-to-back championships with the Golden State Warriors.
With 30 years apart from the two, they are the only father and son dynamic to ever win two NBA championships in back-to-back fashion.
Besides that accomplishment together, it was obvious that Thompson has a strong bond with his father, similar to the dynamic imprinted on his eighth signature shoe. The words “Golden Silence,” located on the pull tabs, is a reference to Thompson’s recovery from his ACL injury.
While “Onward Together” highlights the Bahamanian coat of arms, with Mychal and his relatives originating from the Bahamas.
Aside from the unique touch that ANTA incorporated into the KT8, making it Thompson’s most personal signature shoe to date, the material and tech utilized are also impressive.
In its packaged state, the KT8 has the flaps in hi-top form, but what makes it interesting is the intuitiveness of the flaps. Prefer playing in low-top? Simply fasten the collars of the flaps and you’re good to go.
Whether it’s playing with more steadiness or with a quicker pace, the KT8 is no slouch in providing flexibility for hoopers.
The KT8 makes use of textile and synthetic fiber as the foundations of the shoe, as ANTA aims to provide the most comfortable KT to date.
When it comes to comfort, welcome the shoe’s intuitive 3D Flow that aims to provide stability with each movement made. To make things even more interesting, the shoe makes use of the Smart S.A.M. technology for shock absorption, while the A-Flashedge tech brings that much-needed fluidity and steadiness in lateral movements.
Added for extra cushion, the ANTA Nitroedge easily gets the job done, while the KT8’s utilization of its carbon fiber suspension material gives that propulsion an extra lift.
Besides the tech involved, the KT8 has a diverse line of colorways with each of its own creative looks. The ‘Remain White’ has that classic clean white shoes look with the inclusion of black line strips in the design. While the ‘Enough Said’ design has a similar feel to its aesthetic, its oceanic color blue is a nice alternative to the ‘Remain White’ version.
For the KT8’s unique colorways, enter the ‘Veterans Day’ look with its black and white camouflage design, and the ‘LA’ colorway, for its cool and light use of the color pink with some added faded blue to make the colors pop.
The ANTA KT8 is available in all ANTA stores nationwide, and online through TITAN22.com and the TITAN app.
