Caitlin Clark's first signature shoe hit stores in the middle of a Fever playoff run, and Indiana celebrated both. The Fever beat the Las Vegas Aces 99-89 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Tuesday, Sept. 29, to even their first-round series at 1-1. The run ended Thursday night in Las Vegas, where the Aces won Game 3 94-83 behind 36 points from A'ja Wilson. Clark had 18. Earlier that day, the Nike Caitlin 1 went on sale the same day. WTHR reports the launch is the latest of several events across the state. Good excuse to grab a donut.
Nike Takes Over a Drive-In Near Rockport
On game night, Nike took over the Holiday Drive-In Theatre near Rockport, in Reo in Spencer County, for a free Fever watch party. Get Indiana's Nate Spangle was there. In his reel, he calls it "the craziest activation I've ever attended."
The reel shows what that meant. Nike-branded NBA 2K stations sat on road cases in the grass. Kids shot at Pop-A-Shot hoops. Once the sun went down, a drone show lit up the sky with a glowing "22 CLARK," an outline of Indiana with a Swoosh inside it, and a player shooting a basketball. Nate says the crowd watched the Fever win on the big screen "in true Indiana fashion." He also picked up his own pair of the shoes, showed off the "C" pattern on one side and the "2" pattern on the other, and said they are headed for the back of the podcast studio. He got a friendship bracelet with his name on it, too.
Gates opened at 4:30 p.m. Central, with tipoff at 5:30. The lot held up to 520 cars, and fans reserved spots on the Nike website. Reservations did not guarantee entry. The first 1,000 fans in got free concessions, and people there were among the first anywhere who could buy the Caitlin 1. The drive-in opened in 1955, has been family-run since 1978 and has six screens, each 70 feet tall.
Claude Bradshaw, 70, showed up at 10:30 a.m. to be first in line and got a free pair of the sneakers. He told 14 News, "Well I'm old, old people always get there early, and I've been that way my whole life." Of Clark, he said, "She's just a good person that we need these days."
Long's Bakery Becomes Caitlin's Extraordinary Treats
Long's Bakery at 1453 N. Tremont St. in Indianapolis was the launch-day stop for donut fans. JD Sports and Long's promoted an event from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with "exclusive donut drops, giveaways and more," while supplies last. The bakery closed early Wednesday to get ready, and by Wednesday night the facade was covered in blue signage with Clark's logo and the message "Nothing special to see here. Just Caitlin's Favorite Donut."
A Caitlin Clark donut truck sat outside, and a claw machine gave fans a shot at a free pair of the shoes. Owner Crystal Smith told WISH-TV the shop would have gift cards, T-shirts and coins for Speedway. "We revamped the entire bakery for today," she said. "They told me this is one of her favorite places in the city. She even had an interview with Netflix here." Clark herself was not there. The Fever flew to Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Launch Day at the Remodeled Nike Keystone
The same morning the shoe dropped, the Nike store at the Fashion Mall at Keystone on Indy's north side held its grand reopening after a remodel. Staff cut the ribbon in front of a wall that borrowed the Long's line: "Nothing special to see here. Just the Caitlin 1." Nate went back for this one, too. "That place is electric in there," he says in his reel. The first fans showed up around 7:30 or 8 a.m. "Oh, that's actually not that bad," Nate said. "I thought it would be way earlier than that."
His first stop was the Nike By You customization bar. "What are the cool kids doing? Like I don't want to look lame," he asked. The answer: charms that clip right onto the laces, plus letter beads. Nate strung his name across one shoe, called the result "Nike by Nate" and was pleased with himself. "These are so fire. The last thing I need, Caitlin Clark's autograph to make them complete."
Then he walked the rest of the remodeled store. The Nike Caitlin Clark Collection had its own display, with an Indiana 22 jersey and basketballs printed with her numbers, including the 3,951 points she scored at Iowa, the NCAA Division I career record. Nate's haul: a T-shirt with her new logo from the collection (after a long look at a jacket), Fever gear because "you gotta support the Fever in the playoffs," something from the Pacers because "we support all basketball in Indiana," and a pair of running shorts he admits were a splurge.
He was not the only one shopping. Staff were bedazzling jerseys, and Yahoo Sports reported the shoes nearly sold out within two hours of the release and sold out at several national retailers, including Foot Locker and Champs Sports. A new Clark billboard also went up near Gainbridge Fieldhouse last week.
The Shoe, Briefly
It sells for $140 in North America on Nike.com, the Nike App and at select Nike Basketball retailers. It launched in Caitlin Blue and Warning Code Yellow, with more colors expected. Per WTHR, Clark is the fifth active WNBA player with a signature shoe, joining Sabrina Ionescu and A'ja Wilson (both Nike), Angel Reese (Reebok) and Breanna Stewart (Puma). Clark first wore the shoes in public on June 18 against Atlanta at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Talking about it during an interview in Germany at the FIBA World Cup, she said, "I don't even think that's something I dreamed about as a kid, because it felt so far away from something that I could ever achieve. I was always a kid that wanted the coolest shoes and I'm so excited." Want the backstory on why this team moves the needle in Indiana? Start with how the Fever lit a new era for women's sports and why hosting the WNBA All-Star Game was a big deal for Indianapolis.
