One of the most high-profile hires in Adidas’ new regime is Nathan VanHook, who became the German brand’s vice president of basketball design in April 2023. VanHook most recently worked at Moncler as its head of footwear, but is better known for the decade-plus he spent at Nike before that. He bounced between categories in his time at the Swoosh, making shoes for soccer, sportswear, training, and the outdoors. And (as must be mentioned whenever his name is) VanHook designed Kanye West’s second signature shoe, the genre-busting Nike Air Yeezy 2.
For him, overseeing the design of basketball shoes is a new challenge. VanHook’s portfolio does not include any performance basketball footwear, although he says he’s worked on basketball product that he’s not at liberty to discuss.
“Nothing I’ve done in my résumé has come from basketball, but I’ve consulted on a bunch of projects behind the scenes in the past,” he says. “So I have a good understanding of the game, but also what’s needed in the product.”
Adidas started courting VanHook in 2022. As he weighed the decision, he consulted with Fear of God designer Jerry Lorenzo, who signed an Adidas deal in 2020 that originally involved Lorenzo creative directing Adidas basketball. Lorenzo’s Adidas work is no longer solely focused on basketball, but VanHook is still involved.
“I just needed someone to come on with both the talent and the ambition and a little bit more of a proactive first place point of view against it,” Lorenzo says. “Versus kind of a reactive to what the person in the first place is doing.”
The hire was urged by Wise, who felt VanHook’s talents and track record could give Adidas basketball a new point of view.
“I was the biggest proponent for Nate,” says Wise.
VanHook arrived at Adidas too late to play a real role in shaping the Adidas AE 1, and the shoes he’s worked on from the ground up won’t be released until the end of 2024. But, like the AE 1 shoe, he represents a new direction in Adidas’ basketball division. For Wise, the energy and point of view VanHook brought in his first six months on the job was immediately refreshing.
VanHook is supportive of what Adidas basketball has in the market now—he cites the Harden Vol. 7 as one of the best shoes in the category in a long time—although (to use a designer cliché) he is more focused on the future. And he says there is more sauce coming.
“My goal and my history working in this industry is always trying to look ahead and not trying to stay where people are now,” says VanHook. “If we’re always working in the future, then if you’re looking at what people are wearing now, then you’re going to always be in the past.”