On Monday, July 15th, 2002, Kobe Bryant and adidas officially parted ways. It was the end of a long six-year relationship, and years longer stretching back to his days wearing adidas at Lower Merion High School. Leading up to the split, Kobe reverted from wearing his current in-line signature shoe, the adidas KOBETWO, back to wearing the original KOBE model which carried him through his first two Lakers championships. Things felt instinctively “different” between Kobe and members of the adidas team and it became increasingly clear he wanted out. For Nike’s part, one of the initial packages of shoes sent to Kobe during this lead up was a special make-up sample of the Nike Flightposite 1 in Eggplant/Black with Kobe’s then-number “8″ stitched into the zipper cover and “KOBE” imprinted in yellow on the heel pull tab. This rare sample has made its way into the hands of Counter Kicks retail partner LaceLocked.com where you can grab Bryant’s size 12 right now. Continue reading for more detailed photos of the shoe.

Images via LaceLocked