On Monday, adidas officially released the third iteration of Damian Lillard's signature sneaker, the Dame 3. The sneaker features a TECHFIT sock bootie, a full mesh upper, dual density BOUNCE cushioning, an internal torsion plate and a customizable lacing system. From an aestic perspective the Dame 3, much like the first two iterations of Lillard's adidas signature shoe, features numerous elements referencing Lillard's family and upbringing in Oakland's Brookfield neighborhood.
For the launch of the Dame 3, Lillard, adidas Basketball Design Director Jessie Rademacher and adidas Product Line Manager Alex Zerzan discussed the process of designing the new sneaker, some of the more interesting elements integrated into the design, how the Dame 3 differs from the first two iterations of the line and some of the to-be-released colorways. The first colorway, an all-red "Roots" edition, go on sale in limited quanity on Dec. 14 for $115 on adidas.com, with a larger release, which includes the "Rip City" colorway, dropping on January 19.
The Dame 3 Design ProcessDamian Lillard, Trail Blazers Point Guard: They know how I am, they know I’m hands on with anything I’m involved in, so every step of the way they shared their ideas with me. They sent me pictures, they let me come in and look at samples and things like that, and they know I’m going to look at it and I’m going to be like “I don’t really like this. I don’t really like this colorway. I don’t like this part. I’d rather this be right here.” They listen to me on that stuff, which is pretty much the same as the process in the past. I didn’t have to nitpick as much because when you do things a few times you start to figure out what it takes, what you want. They’ve figured out what I like and what I look for and things like that. I didn’t have to nitpick as much as I might have in the past, they knew what I would want to see. It was kind of like they was ahead of the curve.Jessie Rademacher, adidas Basketball Design Director: From the design standpoint, he’s a dream to work with. We can only build in as many personal elements as the athletes will give us and Dame really opened up the doors for us on the Dame 3. We asked him, in particular, what was the most influential moment or place in his life and he told us a story about growing up. Outside of his grandmother’s house was a telephone pole and on that telephone pole, his grandfather would take milk crates, punch out the bottom, tack them up and that was his first hoop. So that was really the epicenter of not just who Dame is as a basketball player — that’s pretty obvious — but as a man and his sense of community and humble beginnings.So when he tells us a story like that it’s just gold from a design standpoint, there’s so many things we can do with that and there’s so many things we have done with that story. But most importantly, he uses it to inspire, not us, not his teammates but youth and the masses. He really embraces that role model mentality of wanting to lead by example. He has those humble beginnings and he was able to shape his future into being an all-star in the NBA. He really believe that’s it’s his responsibility to instill that inspiration in people that they can overcome those challenges. So to work with a guy like that is such a blessing. Alex Zerzan, adidas Product Line Manager: Since Damian joined the brand in 2012, he’s been incredible. It’s a blessing, really, to have him here being local and being such an important brand asset. He’s so unique. You look at his music career and he’s not just a basketball player, he’s a musician, an artist, a humanitarian with all of the efforts that he’s doing and how he’s involved in the community from the “Respect” campaign to re-doing the whole Lincoln High School gym in New York. Really the givebacks that he’s doing are completely in line with how he is as a person. He’s incredibly brilliant and smart and has great insights and feedback and he’s great at verbalizing those and allowing us to really take them and infuse them into his product.
The Design Of The Dame 3Alex Zerzan, adidas Product Line Manager: Everything with do with our product, especially a signature product, is rooted in athlete insights. We’re lucky having Damian so close. With him being local he’s always up in the office, whether it’s here for a meeting or if he’s just popping in or here to see JR, we have incredible access to him and we appreciate that. We asked him — he’s such a fast player — what do you need in your footwear to be able to play fast? And really, it boiled down to a handful of key insights. I’ll let Jessie talk you through the designs but the two that stick out in my mind are to play fast, he needs to sit low. So you think about a race car and how it’s able to corner and take turns and how they sit in relation to the road, he feels the same way. If he can sit low to the ground, he feels like he has incredible control that allows him to do what he does on court.Jessie Rademacher, adidas Basketball Design Director: That’s why you see this massive BOUNCE midsole that’s essentially engulfing the shoe. It’s kind of swallowing it up because he wanted to feel really integrated instead of putting an upper on top of a midsole. He wanted to feel like it was wrapping around his foot, so that’s helping him to sit low. And then another insight he gave us was, as a kid growing up, he would always have to break in his shoes for a week before he could even wear them to practice or even a game. And he doesn’t think people should have to do that, so there’s this concept of no break-in time on this shoe. So we introduced fused mesh into the upper pattern — it’s actually a TPU-based yarn that’s woven together — and then we’re able to fuse it and hit it with some heat and add structure and stability in places while keeping it still nice and soft for no break-in time. So that, really coupled with the dual density BOUNCE midsole, is automatic comfort straight out of the box. Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers Point Guard: I really like the way they look. With each shoe, I don’t want them to look like the same shoe. I think each shoe has been significantly different. I like the fact that it’s not really low, but it’s a lower shoe, showing some change in that area as well. It’s comfortable. The big thing for me is the sock liner, keeping that in there, that’s incorporated once again. The toe and the front part of the shoe is really flexible. With the plantar fasciitis I was dealing with last year, that helps it, giving my foot that amount of flexibility. That’s probably the biggest difference on the Dame 3 compared to the other two is how flexible the toe is. Without even breaking the shoe in you can flex it without a struggle, it’s a really flexible shoe. That’s something I’m excited about. Also just being able to play in the shoe right out of the box without worrying about it being too stiff. I like it, I’ve been wearing them for a while now and I’m ready to get into it. Jessie Rademacher, adidas Basketball Design Director: From a story perspective, again, with him growing up with these humble beginnings, he didn’t get to wear he is by wavering. He’s always had a really straight forward, very focused mentality, so that’s where you see some of the design language using really straight lines. It’s non-wavering, it’s very confident and it kind of speaks to who he is. But he also, being attached to his roots, he’s always thinking about his fans and the consumers and the people that look up to him, and he realizes that. He really likes bootie constructions, so the 1, the 2 and the 3 all have this uni-body construction that really engulfs the foot. But the lace panel itself, he realizes people have all kinds of different foot shapes, they wear the shoe differently on court than they do on court, you have different playing styles. So with this bootie construction he challenged us to still bring customization to the lacing system. Anybody can choose how they want to lace this thing. You can lace it all the way back, down to the bottom, choose extra holes if you want to really suit your style. Design Accents On The Dame 3Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers Point Guard: On the tip of the shoe, it’s like a shoutout to my mom, both my grandmothers with their initials on the shoe. Also my dad and my grandfather, my mom’s father. All the women’s initial are on one shoe then my dad and my grandfather are on the other. Cecilia, Ruth and Gina on one and Houston and Albert on the other. Inside the shoe is Oakland, Ogden and Oregon, representing the same thing my album represented, tying all my stuff in together. Alex Zerzan, adidas Product Line Manager: You look at Damian’s footwear, he has a story to tell and he’s always constantly telling that story, whether it’s through music or basketball, and the footwear is no different. He wanted us to tell a story of out in front of his parents house, the milk crate and how that ties into who he is as a basketball player and as a person as well. Jessie knocked it out of the park with adding in these design cues that really tell that story. Jessie Rademacher, adidas Basketball Design Director: So on that telephone pole is a number, 56316. We built that into the outsole tread pattern, so that represents the pole, the epicenter of him as a basketball player, the maturity and what he’s become. Then on the outrigger here, if you put the pair together, you get the coordinates for that location in his hometown Brookfield neighborhood. We build in those types of elements, but Dame, he wasn’t the most highly touted, he wasn’t the most highly recruited, but he always had his family. His family means the world to him, he’s always saying "Family first." So on the very front of the toe, on the right it’s three initials for his mother and his two grandmothers and on the left it’s for his father and his grandfather. In totality, when Dame looks down in the middle of a game, we really wanted to give him a sense and a reminder of the people that supported him in everything that he’s overcome, so no matter what he’s facing in the game, he has confidence.
Differences From The Previous Iterations Of Lillard's Signature SneakersDamian Lillard, Trail Blazers Point Guard: You’re going to do things a certain way from an experience angle. The third shoe is different from both shoes but it feels like something I’m really proud of, from the way it looks to the comfort, the things that they took the time to make a part of the shoe that I wanted and that I’m comfortable with, like the sockliner, but finding another way to incorporate it without it being the same as the first two shoes. I think it’s a better product than the second one, there’s been growth from each shoe. I think it’s a really good basketball shoe but can be worn off the floor as well. I like the fact that it’s going in the direction of being a basketball shoe and performing more and more like a basketball shoe.Jessie Rademacher, adidas Basketball Design Director: There’s a theme of three on this shoe, Dame 3, three locations. But this is also the first time that we’ve put the three stripes on the shoe. That’s a big differentiator from the 1 and the 2. It’s something that has matured with the partnership that we’ve built with him over time. Future Dame 3 ColorwaysDamian Lillard, Trail Blazers Point Guard: With my first shoe, one of my favorites other than the All-Stars, the white and black one, was probably the Rose City colorway, the all-red. With my second shoe, I wasn’t really a big fan of the Rose City one they did for my second shoe with the roses on it. I like it, but I really like the all-red type of thing, so for the Dame 3 we went back to the all-red. I’m excited about that one. We did another version of the Weber State colorway, I really like that one, the Rip City colorway, too. I think the way the shoe is build, the blocks on the shoe, it’s good for colorways and being able to mess around with different things. We’re going to have the Static colorway again, I really liked the way the Static turned out on this shoe. The Yellow Tape, my workout slogan when I’m putting my time in. A lot of colorways have looked really good with this shoe, I’m excited about a lot of them.