looked at it, was like, I've been a Nike supporter since birth. So me, I was just stoked, I was just hyped to get on Nike. Rodriguez released his seventh signature model shoe, entitled the "Paul Rodriguez 7," with Nike in mid-2013. It was designed with Shawn Carboy, who Rodriguez first started working with during the design of his fifth signature model. Rodriguez prioritized the functionality of the shoe, and impact protection is its primary feature. The "P-ROD 8", Rodriguez's eighth signature shoe was released in May 2014. On May 25, 2014, Rodriguez, alongside fellow Nike team member and skateboarding veteran, Lance Mountain, promoted the model in a video interview, whereby the history of the Nike shoe in skateboarding culture forms the foundation of the segment—Mountain explained that prior to the official launch of the Nike brand onto the skateboarding market, skateboarders said, "This [Nike] is our shoe". Rodriguez described himself as a "Jordan baby", growing up during the peak of Michael Jordan's career, and explained that his eighth Nike shoe model is an "homage to all those things I grew up loving—even before I met skateboarding. And now it's intertwined." The P-ROD 8 features three of Nike's shoe technology developments: "Lunarlon", "Flywire" and "Hyperscreen". (Rodriguez explained in the video with Mountain that the Flywire grips around the foot in the event of a significant fall during the act of skateboarding.) Following the release of the P-ROD 8, Rodriguez was informed by a Nike executive that he is one of only four Nike athletes to have produced eight signature shoe models—the other being Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. In 2014, having been sponsored by Nike for ten years, Rodriguez stated: "it feels like I've also grown with them. I’ve become intertwined with Nike. Our stories are together — at least with Nike SB. The process of making a shoe, at this point, is like a well-oiled machine." Target sponsorship On August 13, 2010, the Target corporation announced in a press release that Rodriguez had joined its sponsorship ranks. He became the second professional skateboarder to have a sponsorship deal with Target, the first being Shaun White, though White is better known for snowboarding. A Target representative stated in the press release, "Paul is an amazing competitor and is the perfect personality to add to our program. With so many accomplishments and a promising future ahead of him, Paul