It sure has been a tough year for Vanessa Bryant. He lost her beloved husband Kobe and her daughter Gigi and has had to deal with multiple endeavors related to the tragic passing of such an iconic figure.
From her mother calling her and Kobe out for not taking care of her to dealing with police officers sharing the photos of her dead husband, Vanessa has shown incredible courage and strength through these times.
Sadly, it seems like the bad news won’t stop for the widow, as, apparently; Nike mass-produced some exclusive MAMBACITA shoes she designed without her approval.
“This is a shoe I worked on in honor of my daughter, Gianna. It was going to be called the MAMBACITA shoe as an exclusive black and white colorway on her daddy’s shoes. I picked the colors in honor of her uniform, the number 2 she wore like her uniform, the inside pattern, Kobe and Gigi on the back instead of Kobe’s signature, the inside shoe details (butterfly, wings, halo), etc. The MAMBACITA shoes are NOT approved for sale. I wanted to be sold in honor of my daughters with all the proceeds benefitting our @mambacitasports foundation but I did not re-sign the Nike contract and decided not to sell these shoes. (The MAMBACITA shoes were not approved to be made in the first place). Nike has NOT sent any of these pairs to me and my girls. I do not know how someone else has their hands on shoes I designed in honor of my daughter, Gigi and we don’t. I hope these shoes do not get sold,” Bryant wrote on Instagram.
While the rumors of these shoes being up for sale have yet to be confirmed, this would be a huge and repudiable mistake by Nike, who no longer has the right to produce Kobe Bryant-related merchandise.
Hopefully, this will all be a bootleg of a leaked design and nothing else. This family has gone through enough already.
