MANILA, Philippines – Kyrie Irving’s in-demand signature shoe with Chinese brand ANTA is set to hit the shelves to amp up the hype in the Philippines for his ongoing playoffs run with the Dallas Mavericks, with pairs dropping in select stores on Saturday, April 27.
The KAI 1 Playoffs Pack is the first iteration of Irving’s signature shoe that will be a general release, with the earlier colorways (Artist on Court, Kaiverse, and Enlightened Warrior) all limited. The Kaiverse colorway in particular only had 323 pairs.
Two versions will be featured in the Playoffs Pack with a “Home” and “Away” colorway, as the release coincides with Irving and Dallas’ playoffs games in the NBA. Though Irving did debut these pairs in particular during the regular season.
In the Philippines, ANTA set up pre-order for the pairs earlier this week and sold 406 pairs in just 40 minutes before they closed down order forms.
ANTA Philippines stopped pre-orders to control demand and have in-store stocks in select branches for the release on Saturday.
“We’re making sure that we’ll have stocks in-store when sneakerheads come on Saturday.” said ANTA Philippines Head of Marketing Mikko Abello.
Meanwhile, select members of the press were able to test out the shoes in a short basketball clinic at San Beda University on Thursday morning.
Pairs of the “Home” colorway were tested out by media in drills and a 4x4 exhibition game under the supervision of ANTA-backed coaches Yuri Escueta and Sandy Arespacochaga.
Most ANTA stores in Metro Manila will have the pairs on-hand as well as online at anta.ph. The NBA Store will also be carrying the shoes online and at the SM Mall of Asia.
Select Titan, Olympic Village, and Toby’s Sports branches will also be selling the highly anticipated shoes.