Nike brings back the 2014 Kobe 9 EM Low 'Philippines' on November 18, with banig-mat patterns, jeepney chrome and a tsinelas graphic under your foot.
The best detail on the new Kobe 9 EM Low Protro ‘Philippines’ is on the bottom: a graphic of a flip-flop, printed beneath a translucent outsole. It’s a nod to the players who show up to a pickup game in whatever’s on their feet, and the shoe returns on November 18.
Nike is reissuing the colorway in Protro form, twelve years after the 2014 original. It’s dressed in Laser Crimson, Silver and Obsidian, and nearly every inch of it comes from Filipino basketball courts and everyday life.
A shoe with a sense of place
Start with the upper. Geometric graphics in red, blue, black and yellow cover the engineered mesh, and the arrangement of the pattern points to banig, the traditional handwoven mats. Numbers are layered on top, painted in the hand-lettered style you’d see in barangay gyms. The original’s blue-and-red graphics took their cue from painted barangay courts, so the new pair keeps that DNA.
Then there’s the shine. Chrome metallic accents bring in the jeepney, a fixture of the streets around those courts. Banig on the upper, jeepney on the trim and clear rubber underfoot carrying the tsinelas graphic: the design ties all of it together from the printed mesh to the ground, like a neighborhood folded into a sneaker.
The flip-flop was already part of the 2014 design, which makes it the thread connecting old and new. It’s also the most specific basketball reference in the whole colorway, an acknowledgement of anyone who found a way into the game with the footwear they had.
Kobe, in Manila
The tribute has real-world history behind it. In June 2016, during his Mamba Mentality Tour in Manila, Kobe Bryant visited Ususan Covered Court in Taguig. There he led a Kobe Academy session for 24 young players, chosen from a larger training camp. His connection to those communities went beyond product releases.
Sneaker fans may also remember how the first pair was sold. The original Kobe 9 EM Premium Philippines reached Nike’s U.S. online store on May 23, 2014, for $180. Buyers had to follow a link posted through the Nikestore Twitter account, and orders were limited to one pair per customer. This time the route is Nike SNKRS.
What’s new underneath
The graphics are familiar, but the performance build has been updated, and Nike keeps the shoe focused on playing basketball. The engineered mesh upper is breathable and keeps weight down. A drop-in React foam midsole gives responsive cushioning close to the court. A carbon fiber plate in the outsole adds lateral stability without adding much weight.
Multidirectional tread works with upgraded traction blades on the inner side of the shoe to support changes of direction. Those changes sit beneath the familiar graphics and carry the original colorway into a new generation of Kobe footwear.
In short, the shoe looks like 2014 and plays like a newer pair. That’s the Protro idea, and here it arrives with a story attached.
The details
The Nike Kobe 9 EM Low Protro ‘Philippines’ (SKU IO6262-600) comes in Laser Crimson/Silver/Obsidian. It releases November 18 through Nike SNKRS, with select retailers also carrying it, for $200. That’s $20 above the 2014 price, and the shoe now has React foam and a carbon fiber plate in it.
For collectors, the draw is a colorway built from specific places and a specific visit. For everyone else, it’s a rare sneaker where the best feature is under your foot.
Via DSCENE
