As someone who is around many extremely well off black people daily, most of whom are friends and not just business associates, I can say I knew where this thread was going. Listen just because you don't have the courage to bet everything you have on yourself doesn't mean that someone who does so is wrong. Yes a job is stable and provides benefits, but to a person chasing a dream that stability (aka lack of freedom) is tantamount to a mental prison. I read through this thread and I see " No one with money would do that" "The designs are wack" "how will he manufacture" "he can never beat nike" "he doesn't have the money under armor has to launch it won't work" "black people only want to do vanity businesses" just real defeatist shyt, because it's the way you've been shaped to look at the world. And I'm not knocking you guys, but odds are your parents didn't pass you down a business or help you start your own business. They had jobs, and needed stability to take care of their children and that mentality was passed down to their children. I understand/overstand that but it is why we are primarily a race of workers and consumers in the US, but rarely owners.
We have these conversations all the time, especially when one of my friends is trying to do something outside of the box and bring something to the table that shakes up the status quo. A black person tries to do something that white people are already doing and have been doing since the US was formed and our own people are always the most skeptical, negative, and pessimistic when it comes to a new venture succeeding.
For you guys bringing up Shaq and Marbury trying this already you both miss a critical point, they didnt do this at the apex of their fame and that has a huge influence on how well their shoes did. Shaq already made Reebok Millions (billions?) off of Shaq merchandise before he got hip to the game. Stephon literally did what Lavar is trying to do now, but for a white man's company, AND 1. Their entire original rollout and big push was based around signing Steph as rookie and being the gear of "the Streets" by tying themselves to a baller with a huge street following. During that time period every court in NY had people in And 1 shirts and shorts and people were only jacking them heavily because of Marbury. Did they give him stock? No. Did he get a piece of the And 1 mixtape tour that spawned off of his Rucker reputation? No. So BBB can't at least get to an And 1 level? would you rather own And 1 or have a shoe deal with Nike?
When Floyd decided to leave Bob Arum people had all of the same criticisms you guys are throwing at Lavar. He's a boxer, how can he run a promotion company? thats a full time job that takes experts and experience, Floyd has no education. What did he do? Took his money and hired the most capable people money could buy for every role needed to run his company (The Same thing Nike and Adidas does) A decade later Floyd can compete with Bob Arum directly as a promotor, opening an entire career for himself post boxing so he doesn't have to whore himself out for a paycheck like the good brother Tyson. Floyd doesn't have to wait on a white man to setup his fights or negotiate with HBO and Showtime and makes more money off of the fights than any fighter in history. (not just a purse, but part of the door, all merch, pay per view revenue etc)
To give you guys a direct equivalent to Lavar in the fashion world, I present Christian Louboutin. He is a black man from one of the most notoriously racist places on earth (Paris, France) and has no formal fashion training (two huge strikes in the high fashion world). He was relatively poor and had no real connections in the fashion world. All he had was a book of drawings of shoes that he did and he took them to fashion houses and was hired to freelance design for Charles Jourdan, YSL, Chanel, and got a check but no real credit or influence in the brands. Just a check (like every player in the NBA). He felt he was being exploited and he completely stopped doing fashion for a few years, saved up some money, whipped up some of his own designs and found two backers. Not 2000 funders, not a Gucci or LV, or a million people on IG buying his shoes. Just two backers and himself, opened just 1 store in Paris in 1991 and only sold 200 pair of shoes his first year. That's not even one pair per day. Should he have quit?
No that was a start, and that is all you need in this world. The Princess of Monaco was one of his early customers and she complimented the store to a big fashion journalist (Vogue if i remember correctly) who wrote about her compliment in the magazine and his shyt took off. That's all it takes in the world of marketing, the right affiliation and/or pitch person (which is why Nike wants to sign every NBA All-Star if they could). Just 26 short years later this man that used his own name as his brand (No different than BBB), and had a goofy idea to hand paint the bottom of every shoe he made with red nail polish (which he was widely criticized for when he first gained mainstream attention in the fashion world), is now synonymous with the creme de la creme of women's shoes. I have over 20 pair personally. They sell 700,000 pairs per year, make over 300 million yearly, have 50+ stores and he employs thousands of people (including many of his family members).
Mattel made a Louboutin Barbie and it retails for $150 and sold out the first day. Does this happen if he just remained an employee of Chanel? Of course not. None of this is possible if he didn't think he could take on 200 year old fashion houses with just an idea and one small store in '91.
Why can't Lavar Ball have the even a sliver of success with basketball shoes and apparel as Christian Louboutin? Why can't BBB bring in $20 million in shoe sales yearly (Kanye proves it can even be done by a non athlete endorsing an athletic brand) if two of his sons become All-Stars and celebrities outside of sports? Is that impossible? And even if it doesn't challenge the biggest companies, Nike made $19 Billion+ in revenue last year from shoe sales alone, why are we going at Lavar for wanting a small piece of that for his sons and family?
If his company ends up employing even 100 people that he chooses then he already did more for his family/community than signing with Adidas, Nike, UA, or Reebok would have done.
If nothing else this loud mouth black man from South Central LA just insured that Lonzo will get the biggest endorsement check out of all of this years draft picks. I would speculate that at bare minimum Nike would have to pay twice the amount of money to sign Lonzo as they would have to pay to sign Markez Fultz or Josh Jackson. The man knows what he's doing. Let him cook.
and while Chris's shoe didn't take off here, Starbury is a legend in Asia 
