Jacoby Ellsbury is the first person of Navajo descent to play in Major League Baseball, a journey he began on a reservation as a child before his family moved to Madras, Oregon when Jacoby was in kindergarten. When he was eight years old, Jacoby’s mother passed down a Native American legend that her father had handed down to her. As Ellsbury now recalls, “If you catch a dragonfly without killing it and rub it on the bottom of your feet, it will make you faster.”
Twenty-three years later, Ellsbury is a flagbearer for the Nike N7 brand, an imprint inspired by Native and Indigenous peoples, and the latest apparel collection is inspired by that legend, aesthetically incorporating elements of the dragonfly wing. Impressive as those clothing pieces are, the highlights of the new N7 line may just be these: the men’s and women’s edition Nike Free 4.0 Flyknit N7.
Both colorways embrace the multicolored motif that’s universally beloved on Flyknit shoes, with the men’s edition mixing together turquoise, yellow and grey, while the women’s skews closer to pink, turquoise, yellow and red.
Both shoes will hit retailers March 25, including landing on Nike.com beginning at 10am EDT.