Los Angeles-based sneaker brand K-Swiss and Immortals Gaming Club (IGC) have announced the launch of an esports performance shoe:ONE-TAP.
The limited-shoe is inspired by IGC’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive brand, MIBR. It features the brand’s black and silver team colours, the wordmark on the front of the shoe, and a Brazilian crest on the heel.
K-Swiss explained that its designers shadowed players who compete for one of IGC’s brands to develop a shoe that’s suits the needs of players, prioritising comfort, versatility, and temperature control.
Ari Segal, CEO of Immortals Gaming Club commented in a release: “The ONE-TAP is the output of months of collaboration and prototyping and a genuine bottoms-up approach to understand our players in and out of the game, and to design a product that would feel truly bespoke and original. We’re thrilled to finally be able to bring the ONE-TAP to market and look forward to delivering the first and best esports and gaming performance footwear product in the world to all players, starting with our MIBR brand.”
More versions of the shoe have been confirmed to be in the works. Select fans that purchase the ONE-TAP will be invited to participate in a beta program to help with a design which will be launched in 2020.
Barney Waters, President of K-Swiss added: “For players to perform their best, they must look and feel their best. In the esports world, this is no exception as physical and psychological preparation breeds excellence in performance, exactly what the ONE-TAP offers.”
Immortals and K-Swiss unveiled their very first collaborative product in December last year, releasing the ‘Immortals Icon’ lifestyle trainer. The partnership between the two brands was first announced in April of the same year.
Earlier this year, IGC announced a Series B funding round worth $30 million (£24 million) and the acquisition of Brazilian competitive gaming platform Gamers Club. Since then, the company has gone on to acquire Infinite Esports & Entertainment, the parent company of OpTic Gaming, Houston Outlaws, and the OpTic LCS franchise.
Esports Insider says: It seems as if a lot of thought and research has gone into creating the ONE-TAP shoe – while it can be debated if a shoe can really contribute to esports performance, the comfort of players when playing games undoubtedly holds some importance.
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