Shes collected every single award thats up for grabs across the basketball landscape. Shes inspired countless women and young girls to be their authentic selves along the way. Shes an author, an Olympian and now, shes ready to unveil her signature sneaker.
Aja Wilson has been on an insane ride for the past few years.
In May 2024, she announced her inaugural Nike signature collection had been in the works for over a year. The ensuing Of Course I Have a Shoe Dot Com campaign completely took over the Aces preseason contest against the Puerto Rican National Team from the tunnel to the Jumbotron.
A little over a month later, Nike revealed her signature logo. And in December, she announced a six-year extension with the Beaverton brand featuring photos of her on a private jet decked out with the same insignia from the planes hull to blankets and tumblers that awaited inside. That brings us to February 2025, the reveal of Ajas signature sneaker, the Nike AOne.
While she was winning a WNBA Championship, the regular season MVP, the Defensive Player of the Year award and an Olympic Gold medal, Aja was simultaneously building out the foundation of her signature line, a foundation centered around her family.
When Nike Basketball senior footwear designer Ben Nethongkome and team met with Aja for the first time, they learned of her familys deep connection with pearls.
At around 10 or 11 years old, Ajas grandmother gifted her a pearl necklace. As she navigated the highs and lows of finding herself, her voice and who she wanted to be, the pearls were a persistent symbol of strength.
She was, like, You know, these pearls are going to make you beautiful, it dont matter what you look like, no matter how youre growing into your height and leveling yourself, Aja says.
I wore those pearls forever. I dressed it up, I dressed it down because it gave me that sense of confidence. So, when it came to pearls, I just instantly thought of confidence and being your true self. And thats something that I carry on, not just the tangible pearls, but little pearls of mental aspects to my game or to life that I hold are those pearls. And so we kind of wanted to implement that, especially when it came to my shoes so I can then share my pearls with the world.
At its core, the Nike AOne revolves around the two-time WNBA Champions connection to pearls, and the design team began their research with how the gem was created in the wild.
To understand where pearls come from, heres a quick lesson from the field of malacology, the science of mollusks. (Stay with us) The process starts when a grain of sand gets caught inside a mollusk, which coats the irritation with layers and layers of crystalized calcium carbonate. Over the years, one layer forms after the other into a hardened sphere of beauty. Nikes team of designers instantly pulled on that thread, inspired by the potential applications of the stacked appearance thats found at the cross-section of a pearl.
Stamped with a raised satin-finish Swoosh, the Pink Aura colorway sees a pink gradient take over the uppers breathable mesh panels, spreading from soft pink at the center to a collection of more saturated shades that outline the silhouette at the outsole, heel, tongue and inner lining.
From an expression standpoint, her energy is so infectious. She walks in the room, you feel it. And we wanted to bring that vibrancy into the product. So the echoing of color from being very vibrant to neutral was something that we wanted to capture onto the product as well that really speaks to her style, Nethongkome says.
The pearl motif extends to the structural integrity of Ajas signature silhouette, too. Underfoot, the low-cut model sits atop a bed of Cushlon 3.0 foam that peaks through the lateral midsole with a pearlescent finish. Thats all surrounded by a firmer support carrier and a bright white TPU frame that acts like a clam shell protecting the treasure inside. And the monochromatic pink layers boast varying levels of support, with a firmer feel near the base and more wiggle room where you need it.
Through numerous design meetings and wear testing sessions, Ajas journey gave the design team a neverending assortment of inspirations and potential storytelling opportunities. Eventually, they stumbled upon a hidden IG handle that Aja had left dormant: @motherofpearl. And suddenly, the inspiration for the outsole was born.
The idea of the mother of pearl [is] it harnesses the pearl. Its a shell, the clamshell around it, and theres these really cool lines that reverberate out, Nethongkome says. And so the grip does have that idea of the Swoosh being the prominent detail, and then this grip element reverberates out from the Swoosh.
In keeping with Ajas request to keep the silhouette as light as possible, each traction element across the outsole is decoupled, allowing for a higher deflection rate and quicker cuts.
He [Ben] really kind of brought my vision to life. And I think that was from the first day, when Im entering into a room when Im a visual learner, so Im surrounded by colors and pearls and choices, and Bens like, Alright, heres the keys, like, Do your thing. And Im just like, Oh my gosh. So it was a big, big moment, Aja says. And I think when you get to finally see the shoe and the hard work that was put behind it and in it, it just brings all those feels and emotions back of just pure happiness and joy.
The visual storytelling of the AOne is as concrete as its muses rsum of accolades. Yet Aja admits that she was surprised at how often the design team would defer to her opinions. Theyre actually looking at me like, What do you want to sell? You have the pen to your notebook. What do you want to do? Aja says.
There were moments in meetings where she was, like, What do you guys think? And then were looking around like, No, youre the tastemaker in this room. And shes like, Well, I love it, I dont care if you guys like it or not, but I love it. And thats what we needed to hear. We need that confidence. She puts the seals and authenticated [that] the shoe was great, Nethongkome says.
While Aja balanced her love for the design with how the consumer would eventually react, the newest member of the Nike Basketball signature family entered her very first design meeting with a crystal clear picture of what she wanted the AOne to look and feel like. A sleek, low-top silhouette that evoked speed with the necessary amounts of comfort.
I constantly, always had in the back of my mind, What would I want as a player? But also, What is something that the audience would want? Aja says. I feel like I always remembered the buckets of being versatile, whether you want to jump, whether you wanted speed. And I was like, I want all three. Like, How can we make it all three? Because I didnt want to just feel like I was excluding one particular thing, because I feel like I dont exclude anything from my game, in a sense. So when it came to those meetings, I wanted to make sure that we got the best of all worlds.
For the design team, crafting a sneaker that echoed versatility, speed and cushioning posed more than a few challenges as they shifted between multiple different paradigms. Historically, fast-looking kicks require a low-profile tooling that keeps the wearer close to the ground. Prioritizing comfort reverses the process, lifting you further off the court with additional pockets of air or foam. Aja challenged the team to capture both at once.
Thinking about the silhouette didnt stop when the meetings ended. After each design session, Aja received a recap notebook that held all the information, insights, sketches and designs that were covered so she could ruminate over the updates and progress. No. 22 was locked in.
I think the biggest thing that I tried to share was storytelling. And I think thats one thing that makes Nike who they are and what we are. Its because of the ability to tell stories through clothing, through sport, Aja says. When it came to our first meeting and talking about What do we want? It was really breaking down to truly, What do you want? What do you want to tell? And when it came to storytelling, I wanted it to be a shoe for everyone. I wanted the shoe to be fun, low, sleek but also very comfortable.
Rounding out the AOne is Ajas signature logo, inspired by the star that she draws inside the A of her signature. The staple trademark thats already been spotted on tees and private jets emerges proudly at the tongue while Ajas hand-drawn signature appears at the heel, both gleaming with a metallic finish.
And her stash of iconic quotes paved the way for a litany of details that her true fans will immediately connect with.
A sentence from a 2021 Players Tribune essay is an engraved at the heel: Weakness? Weakness? We dont have time for that.
The words her grandmother repeated to her as a young girlAs a matter of fact, the best is yet to comearrive along the outsole. Even her Celtic tattoos that pay homage to her parents can be seen on the backside of each tongue.
We wanted people to really feel those words and believe those words, and then hopefully translate that over into their life, or whatever theyre doing in the shoe, Aja says. And I think that is why its so special to me, because those words, they arent just words, theyre stuff that I live by. Theyre stuff that I meant when I said, and I hope that people can see that and feel that as well.
This coming May doesnt just mark the launch of a signature sneaker; Aja and the Swoosh have been up to much more than that. Whether its her signature one-leg sleeve or pulling up to the arena sporting a jersey dress and heels, Ajas always kept it authentic with her distinctive style, an aesthetic that the brand looks to capture through the AOne Signature Collection.
Complete with a hoodie, tee, shorts and an ASymmetric leg sleeve that Aja helped make iconic across the game, the all-pink collection was tailored to the often overlooked needs of the modern hooper, implementing pieces of Ajas life and what she does even further into the collection. You really kind of have to think about diving into your closet, Aja says. What is something that you wear often? What is something that you love?
Gone are the days of taking a pair of scissors to tights. A sateen-lined hood makes a bonnet optional on travel days. Matching pink Nike Calm slides keeps the energy consistent from the bleachers to the hardwood. And a redesigned waistband makes folding down your shorts feel natural instead of bulky.
The platform thats been built leading up to this moment has been carefully curated to the very last detail. Teasers tweeted, announcements made and logos unveiled. Themes, stories and inspirations ring true of pure collaboration. After spending the last two years in the lab, Ajas debut signature collection will be released this May in adult and youth sizing.
I want that shoe, and whoevers wearing that shoe, to feel like theyre top tier in all that they do, and know that they have a shoe and people behind them thats going to be with them along the journey, every step of the way. Because thats how I got to this point. Thats how Im able to even say that Im a signature athlete, Aja says.
I didnt get here by myself. And I hope that people understand that in that shoe. When you put this on, you are top tier. Youre empowering. Youre trying to help the next generation or the next person thats looking up to you.
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Images via Nike.
