Kyrie Irving is a strapping 6’3” (190cm) champion American basketball player who has an affinity with sneakers, so much so that what he wears at games is almost as compelling as how he plays. He is also, surprisingly, an avowed fan of SpongeBob SquarePants , the enduring cartoon about the underwater characters who live at Bikini Bottom; he is able to recite lines from episodes verbatim. So having an Irving-designed sneaker collection predicated on the life and times of SpongeBob SquarePants and his motley crew seemed almost a given. “Kyrie is a huge SpongeBob fan, knows all his favourite episodes, and he’s been talking about doing something together for a while,” says Jose Castro, senior vice-president, soft lines and global collaborations at Viacom Nickelodeon Consumer Products, which is the division in charge of all things SpongeBob. “It’s going to be one of our biggest collaborations, and being so secretive about it has been part of the building of the buzz. It’s pretty deep in the SpongeBob world.” The collaboration, named the Nike Kyrie x SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, was unveiled on July 20, with a projected August 10 availability worldwide. Irving has pulled extensively from the SpongeBob universe, basing the sneakers on characters like Patrick Star, Squidward Tentacles, Mr Krabs and Sandy Cheeks. There is a watermelon red and a rose pink and a signature cheddar yellow with a smattering of brown splotches replicating SpongeBob’s pores. The collection coincides with the 20th anniversary of SpongeBob , which ranks as one of the most popular TV cartoon series of all time; according to reports, the merchandising revenue alone for Nickelodeon, which broadcasts the series, is in excess of US$13 billion since the characters first appeared on screens. The latest offering meets the street wear/sneaker craze head on, tapping into a young consumer base that may or may not love the cartoons, but can appreciate the innate whimsy of the offerings. “Everything from the characters Kyrie chose and how they were designed was done from a true fan’s perspective, and it shows,” says Castro. “The sneakers, clothes and accessories became extensions of SpongeBob’s world.” The Nike release is the latest in a pretty extensive line of SpongeBob fashion – in high/low iterations – that have been on the scene for the past several years, proving that the cartoon character and his entourage are more than just a pop culture phenomenon. They are also valuable fodder for fashion brands. In 2014, Jeremy Scott, in his first showing for Moschino in 2014, sent out SpongeBob sweater dresses, leggings, puffer jackets and weekend bags. The surprise turn from the edgy designer got other fashion wunderkinds thinking, resulting in tie-dye tops last summer from Hot Topic’s Lisa Frank x SpongeBob SquarePants collection, and T-shirts from the Chinatown Market x SpongeBob partnership, which were unveiled by Urban Outfitters late last year. Even Cynthia Rowley, the New York-based designer known for her swim and surf wear, showed a SpongeBob wetsuit at her catwalk show earlier this year. Clearly, there’s a market. “People are genuine fans of SpongeBob, and have watched it for years,” says Castro. “It’s just great content. There’s always something to laugh at in it. Combined with two decades of content, it’s created a really big base of true fans.” Ultimately, says Castro, the biggest criterion for any collaboration is the sincerity and enthusiasm of its fan base. “If not, the product is never going to be great,” he says. “A consumer knows it when the designer is not into it. It doesn’t feel authentic.” The designers and celebrities who are given a chance to work within the SpongeBob world are given free rein, says Castro, allowing them to create something that fits within their own branding while still adhering to the cartoon’s aesthetic. “We are extremely flexible when it comes to interpretation,” says Castro. “Sure, there are standard rules, making sure that the integrity remains. But we allow for a lot of creative flexibility, which is why these collaborations have been so successful. “When a designer starts working on these for the first time, they feel they have to be true to the character. We say, ‘push the envelope further’. It’s a great back-and-forth conversation. The designers are happy. This is their vision. They’re not just slapping on a character and calling it a day.” Castro says it’s also been his aim to keep prices in line, although the fact that many of the collaborations are limited edition does drive prices up; a collaboration with shoe brand Vans yielded product that was only available for a weekend, and “people flipped out”, says Castro. The Irving/Nike shoes will retail from US$55 for toddler sizes to US$140 for adult sizes. “We don’t want to be an only high-priced product,” he says. Castro says he sees no end in sight to just how much more entrenched SpongeBob can be in our lives; that instead of taking up space in our wardrobes, he can be in the living room, kitchen, as part of our everyday wearable technology. “We’re open to a lot of those conversations,” says Castro. “SpongeBob is an evergreen property. Anybody can draw that simple shape, and people would know what it is. It’s a drumbeat that will not go away.”