The Story Behind SGA’s Shai001 Signature Converse Shoe

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander not only has an NBA championship ring but also his own signature shoe with Converse — and the star athlete, known for his fashion sense, was deeply invested in its creation.

After the 2024-25 NBA MVP wore a special gold pair of the Shai001 around his neck upon winning the championship in June, the sneaker was released in a Butter yellow colorway on Sept. 4, and it’s already sold out, with more colorways anticipated for an Oct. 2 release. On Saturday, at the Black Footwear Forum held at Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design in Detroit, the story behind the buzzy shoe was revealed as part of a breakout session titled “Athlete to Architect: The Shai x Converse Journey” by Nike Inc.

PLC Detroit president Dr. D’Wayne Edwards sat down for a conversation with two Converse directors who were intimately involved with the athlete’s signature sneaker: Brodrick Foster, global senior director, product merchandising, sports style, and Adrian Stelly, global sports and influencer marketing director.

Stelly said Gilgeous-Alexander “represented a pivot for the brand” and emphasized how he aligned with Converse. “The special thing about him and our brand, we’re for creators. You think about the work we’ve done with Tyler, the Creator, you think about the work we’ve done with Alexis Sablone, he fit into that space of being the architect and not just an endorsee.”

Gilgeous-Alexander has also been appointed creative director of basketball at Converse. Stelly shared that the player has his own perspective and passion for product, not to mention that he can draw.

Stelly said, “You spend so much time with the kid, you start to see he actually has a point of view on product. I’ve worked with a ton of athletes and every athlete doesn’t have a point of view on product. Then you go a step deeper and outside of just having a point of view, the kid actually sketched. He would send me images and pictures of things we should do or he’s thinking about doing, long before we did signature product.”

The shoe that’s on the market today came from the brain of the Canadian athlete. Stelly said, “He literally sent us a picture of this shoe. He drew the picture, he drew the shoe. Literally, that young man. It’s definitely not a tag line. It’s actual work.”

Foster explained that Gilgeous-Alexander’s wife, Hailey, got him an art room, and the medium is how he unwinds. He underscored just how attentive the NBA player is, down to the details: “He calls us every day. As I’m just thinking about you guys’ experience with MJ [at Nike], it’s like, you’re talking about someone who has a memory like an elephant. He will look at a shoe and be like, ‘Hey, you remember we talked about the emboss here, you guys missed that, what happened?’”

Foster said, “He is down to the centimeter. It’s nuts just the level of detail that this young man has.”

Edwards, who held the position of design director at Jordan Brand, noted how difficult it must have been to create the shoes on a technical level given its ambitious design with minimal stitching. “The factory was pissed off at y’all.”

Edwards also inquired about how the gold shoes from the NBA Finals came to be. Stelly shared that the concept of the metallic colorway came up in a meeting before the playoffs, and Gilgeous-Alexander said he wouldn’t play in them but would be open to having them around his neck after the game. Foster got to work on the shoes, and Stelly had them ready at game six in Indianapolis, walking around the opponent’s territory with the shoes in a bag while dressed in his usual game attire of a suit — an unusual sight sparking great curiosity. The Thunder ultimately lost, so the shoes were taken to OKC for game seven.

Stelly explained, “They were winning by quite a bit, but I didn’t want to jinx anything, I didn’t want to give the shoes too early. I had the shoes the entire game. As we’re getting closer, our comms team is hittin’ me, everybody’s asking me, ‘Is it going to happen, are we going to do it?’”

“I want to say with about 30 seconds left, I walked down to the court side area, text his brother, threw the shoes in the bag to his brother. His brother cinches them up, he walks over there, kisses his wife, gives his son a hug. His brother puts his shoes around his neck. History is made.”