Mark McNairy x adidas Hook Shot “McNasty Lo”

• MODEL: ADIDAS HOOK SHOT
• TYPE: BASKETBALL
• DESIGNED BY: Mark McNairy
• MADE IN: VIETNAM
• MADE ON: 11/12
• ART.NO: G96738
• FACTORY: SHW 675001

If you were wondering what fashion designer Mark McNairy has been up to, he’s been “taking care of mutha f**king business”.

At least that’s what we can assume from the Elvis-inspired tongue tag on his latest release with adidas. It features an esoteric shout out to the King of Rock by playing with his beloved TCB lightning bolt found on many pieces of his jewelry. McNairy added his own punch to the logo by inserting the subtle yet exclamatory “MF” to the acronym. I think you can figure out what that stands for. But Elvis and McNairy aren’t the only ones who can be considered contributors to the McNasty Lo. There is also the man who brought Mark to the three stripes, as well as the man who is to thank for the model.

If you’ve ever seen the widespread KZK on one of your pairs of kicks, you know you’ve got a product of Kazuki Kuraishi. But he doesn’t just go around stamping his name on everything. There are dozens of products which he has contributed to which he gets little to no recognition for, with the McNasty collection included. Kazuki is the one to bow down to and praise for introducing Mark McNairy to the adidas family. It has unleashed quite more creative freedom onto the more classic models. He also worked extensively to help create the entire collection. I’m sure Kazuki would’ve loved his name to be incorporated but unfortunately the rest of adidas wasn’t down for calling it the “MkzkNasty” collection.

All the sneakers from the McNasty collection are said to be based on classic models. The “RoMcNasty” is easily identified as the Rom model. The “Rod Laver” – they could’ve at least tried to make a more creative name – well it’s a Rod Laver in case you were wondering. And then there’s the “McNasty Lo”. It leaves no hints of what model it could possibly be derived from. At first I jumped to the conclusion that it’s a modified Campus. But I knew that wasn’t right so we, here at eatmoreshoes, decided to dig a little deeper. After searching through the large archive of classic adidas models, we landed on the adidas Hook Shot. Although it has been seen recently, it hasn’t been revived in the low version until now. And this time it has a new, less appealing name applied to it. But if we set aside their differences and focus on the raw model behind it, it can be traced back to the days of the famous Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Although he went through many brands in his career, Jabbar always seemed to favor the stripes during his basketball games. He was the man who set this model in motion by displaying its performance with his trademark Skyhook Shot. This lead to the model’s name, Hook Shot, and got Jabbar’s name behind the endorsement.

With the mix of Mark McNairy, Kazuki Kuraishi, Elvis Presley, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, there’s only one thing to say about the McNasty Lo. I’m lovin’ it.

written by Kyle Zemborain

photography by errol