Leo Chang, lead designer on the Nike Zoom LBJ Ambassador II, a shoe targeted to the Asian market for outdoor play, talks about the shoe. If you’re like me, you’re always interested in the background on a subject and the story behind the story, so it might be worth a few minutes of your time.

The Nike Zoom Kobe IV Gradient home and away are now available at House of Hoops locations and are expected at Foot Locker’s in the next couple of weeks. Each shoe features a blue to either-black-or-white gradient fade—home being the pair that’s concord on the back fading to white on the front, away is concord on the back fading to black on the front—with gold accents (metallic gold on the blue/black pair). The shoes have been seen on the court on several Lakers this year, including of course Kobe, and feature the same gradient style as the Nike Zoom Kobe IV “4 Rings,” albeit with a slightly different arrangement of colors.

Part of a fitting trilogy along with the Air Jordan XII Flu Game and the Air Jordan XII Rising Sun, the Air Jordan XII white/black-varsity red, which features colors from each of the aforementioned AJ12’s, has an official release date set. If you’re a big fan of retro releases that don’t digress too much from the original, this might just be for you as it’s pretty much the same shoe seen so many years ago. In fact this is the only original colorway of the AJ12 that hasn’t been retro’d until now. It’s about time. The Air Jordan XII white/varsity red release date is set for December 19th.

In another Hiroshi Fujiwara x Nike Sportswear collaboration, Hiroshi has gotten another crack at the Nike Match Classic, Nike’s iconic tennis shoe. While the shoe had a Hiroshi-makeover earlier this year, some slight tweaks were made this time around and this Match Classic HF will get a quickstrike release, meaning you’ve got a much better chance at getting a pair upon this release. The shoe features a plain suede upper in either black, brown or red and sports that old-style small Swoosh, along with a vulcanized rubber sole unit similar in appearance to that of the Nike Blazer. Via CrookedTongues.com.

Here’s the secret to raising the profile on an underrated shoe, one that’s been flying under the radar lately: Add Safari print. Or elephant print for that matter, but Nike prints makes any shoe better. And that’ exactly the treatment that the latest Autoclave Nike is getting. The Delta Force Low AC “Safari” sports a white upper with university blue trim, obsidian on the Swoosh, collar, laceholes and tongue and finally that beautiful Safari print on the toe and heel. Via SneakerFreaker.com.

The Air Jordan 6 Retro White/Black still isn’t dropping until 2010, but VMVinc.com just released some HQ photos of the shoe, so what better time to share a preview. The upper features an even mix of black and white right down to the lace toggle, and the speckled midsole really brings the two tones together nicely. And of course who doesn’t like a transparent outsole?

Not like Reebok Pumps, come on man, why would Air Jordan collab with them? But perhaps more ridiculous than that, these are Air Jordan VIII heels. I don’t know what to say man, let’s be thankful Jordan isn’t trying to push these on people. And please don’t comment and say you saw these a year ago, that’s not interesting reading. Via Bossip.com.

In his latest collaboration with Nike, DJ Clark Kent has created a primarily earth-toned Air Force 1 heavily featuring different shades of brown and premium materials including canvas, 0.44 sticky rubber and leather, some of which is even in the dimpled ostrich style. A perfect colorway for the winter months, the Nike Air Force 1 Premium “DJ Clark Kent” release date is set for December 19th. I’ll update with locations if it winds up being über-limited. Pictures after the jump.

Set to release January 2nd, 2010, the Jordan Brand CP3.III is the latest in Chris Paul’s signature line and the clear successor in the evolution of the CP3, sporting a similar appearance to the CP3.II but with notable streamlining and aesthetic upgrades. The most noticeable feature on the shoe is again the print emblazoned across the lowest suede layer, this time a sort of coat-of-arms with an interlocking “CP” surrounded by fleur-de-lis, a logo typical of New Orleans, Paul’s adopted city. The shoe then sports white leather on the heel and mudguard, a plain black suede layer toward the toe and laces and a tri-colored midsole—black, white and orion blue—featuring the white speckling that is popular on Jordan basketball shoes these days. The outsole is orion blue and gold, and features a combination of the standard herringbone zigzags, small hexagons, and larger quasi-hexagonal masses made up of the herringbone pattern. While the shoe is similar in appearance to the CP3.II, it seems to have dropped that shoe’s uniquely rounded silhouette in favor of this more traditional shape, slightly similar to the Jordan Dub Zero. Via Foot Locker Unlocked.