EnySpree wrote:Balls sneakers are selling.... last I checked 5k pairs were purchased and that number is growing... That's Well over 2 million- almost 3 million dollars... they are essentially selling these sneakers hand to hand like a mixtape out someone's bookbag on the train. No big company backing them. It's unprecedented. If they do this right they could seriously change the who game as far as being independent in the shoe industry.

maybe maybe not
http://www.nicekicks.com/facts-many-pairs-sneakers-big-baller-brand-actually-sell/

Yesterday was an incredible day for the unveiling and launch of Lonzo Ball’s first signature shoe with his family’s brand, Big Baller Brand. His shoe, the ZO2: Prime, was offered for sale via pre-order, with an expected November 24th shipping date. Prices started at $495 in sizes 8-13.5, with sizes 14 and 15 retailing for $695. Also too, collectors could purchase autographed versions, starting at $995.

This morning, word began to circulate that the launch sold 5,000 pairs of the $495 shoes, with some even saying that volume happened in as short as 4 hours. While we haven’t been able to trace the source of the rumor — we can confirm that this is not the case. As you’ll see in detail below, the total number sold was actually a fraction of that.

Soon after the shoes went live, I purchased a pair. I checked out at 1:26PM PDT, and at that time only two pairs had sold – either I was the very first to purchase or the second. My invoice number for my transaction was #4384. Below is a copy of my order confirmation receipt from my email, complete with the bigballerbrand@gmail.com email address, item purchased, and transaction number.
Big Baller Brand order confirmation email
Big Baller Brand order confirmation email

For some reason, the sales tax was not only improperly calculated, but I was not charged. (My bank statement is posted below that to confirm.)
Bank Statement showing charges by Big Baller Brand
Bank Statement showing charges by Big Baller Brand

Throughout the afternoon, the Ball family received a lot of support on social media from famous athletes, including Michael Bennett of the Seattle Seahawks, who declared he would buy two pairs to support.

Retired wide out Chad Ocho Cinco also posted a screenshot of his order.

While the time stamp of the email is not known, it was posted at 3:35PM PDT, and the invoice number was #4418. This means that between my purchase approximately two hours earlier, a total of only 34 transactions had taken place at BigBallerBrand.com. Those orders could be for shoes or the various other apparel and accessories on the site.

I had tracked the inventory levels of the footwear items on the BigBallerBrand.com site throughout the day, and found that while quite a few pairs were deducted from inventory since the shoes went on sale, it was nowhere near 5,000 pairs.

This afternoon at 1:10PM PDT, our features writer Nick DePaula placed an order on BigBallerBrand.com for a pair of sweatshorts that he had been excitedly eyeing. The invoice number for his order was #4712. This means that in the first 24 hours after the shoes went online, there was a total of 328 total transactions for all items on the site, including the wide variety of t-shirts, hats, and other accessories.
Nick DePaula's receipt from Big Baller Brand
Nick DePaula’s receipt from Big Baller Brand (Nick lives outside of California, so sales tax was not calculated in his transaction.)

Out of the 328 transactions that happened on BigBallerBrand.com in the first 24 hours that the shoes were offered for sale, we tracked that a total of just 263 pairs of sneakers had sold in both signed and unsigned versions of the ZO2 Prime.

While we have no access to sales receipts, transactions or traffic data, we have been monitoring the inventory levels of the footwear listed on BigBallerBrand.com. After noting the initial product levels at the start and deducting the current units sold, we can confidently say that 210 pairs of unsigned ZO2 Primes had sold (103 pairs in sz 8.5 alone), along with 53 autographed ZO2 Primes.

Not accounting for shipping or sales tax (that doesn’t appear to be properly applied to transactions anyways), the total revenue for footwear in the first 24 hours was $157,685, based on the numbers sold for signed, unsigned, and the larger sizes that are priced at an extra $200.

While $157,685 is an incredible amount of sales in one day, it is far from the $2.5Million that numerous outlets have reported today online.

Feel bad for the kid

Chandler wrote:Lavar = bozo

Feel bad for the kid

Disagree...His act is all for marketing and its working. Dude is innovative and I hope more athletes take control of their own brand so to speak....Why do you feel bad for a kid who's pops is teaching him to own his own business?

Nalod wrote:

Uptown wrote:

EnySpree wrote:Balls sneakers are selling.... last I checked 5k pairs were purchased and that number is growing... That's Well over 2 million- almost 3 million dollars... they are essentially selling these sneakers hand to hand like a mixtape out someone's bookbag on the train. No big company backing them. It's unprecedented. If they do this right they could seriously change the who game as far as being independent in the shoe industry.

Couldnt agree with you more....Ive always said that Jordan, LeBron etc do not need nike. They are brands all by themselves...i love the idea of being an entrepreneur rather than being another endorser of a sneaker brand. Very innovative...

Jordan at some point didn't need nike, but they sure as hell built the brand and that jump man logo. It was an incredible collaborative of an athlete whose image was managed and guarded. Nike spend big money promoting the brand putting huge resources and talent into building it. At the same time, Jordan was careful to not over expose himself and chose his endorsements carefully.
Jordan is not a nice person or great family man but that was never an issue as he was protected.

At some point the brand is established and Jordan years after retirement is making big money with the brand extensions as they exist.
Could he take his jumpman logo himself? Perhaps he can buy it, or its trademark time was negotiated at some point.

What Ball is doing is what Marbury has been doing but the Star in Starbury faded at the wrong time. Ball needs capital and marketing expertise as well as product development, stylists and those that can spot trends and implement marketing strategies with products and change as need be. Underarmor hit gold with Curry when his star rose but to some degree the sneakers failed and underarmar is struggling a bit because its growth, as has the athletic leisure segment in whole has flattened out with many companies in the mix now. Underarmor growth has slowed, but that does not mean its failing. Nike too has flattened while Addidas is now doing real well with a bit of nostalgic products. Same with Rebock. They all seem to come and go. Puma a few years ago was back in fashion as its euro look was hot but they too have slowed down. Can "PONY" be far behind?? LOL Of course they will!!!

I hope Ball does not bankrupt his kids by trying to self fund the venture with there money and using their lines of credit venturing into an area he knows little about. He will likely partner with venture capital money that to a large extent will own a good portion of the venture and at the same time provide the expert backing. Not much further than what he'd do with Nike and others other than be on the hook if it fails.

They are going for the high end with expensive sneakers. There is a market for it but its low volume. certainly the price of the show is giving them exposure that would be tough to buy outright!!! Smart. As for the product, hopefully they can deliver the goods as promised. They will be status symbols.
https://bigballerbrand.com/collections/all
$50 tee shirts? "Slides" for $220? $70 Hoodies!

I can see how the status symbol will be attractive. young kids wearing the stuff will reek of "Baller". Counterfit will be quick and dilute the brand. Interesting path. Be fun to see how it pans out.

Well said...I'm pretty sure he's already getting calls for capital backing as they we see what he's doing on his own. The cost is a but much for kids, but I get why he's doing it. One, as you said, status symbol. Two, he has to make and distribute himself for the most part and that is costly, and three, the outlandish price is the conversation starter.

People are watching. I think this can/will be a trend as future athletes come up and will try to build their own brand and cut out the middle man and sell directly to the fans. The future is now, I can see the NBA and other sports start selling their games, etc directly to fans....Very innovative and I am intrigued....

Uptown wrote:

Nalod wrote:

Uptown wrote:

EnySpree wrote:Balls sneakers are selling.... last I checked 5k pairs were purchased and that number is growing... That's Well over 2 million- almost 3 million dollars... they are essentially selling these sneakers hand to hand like a mixtape out someone's bookbag on the train. No big company backing them. It's unprecedented. If they do this right they could seriously change the who game as far as being independent in the shoe industry.

Couldnt agree with you more....Ive always said that Jordan, LeBron etc do not need nike. They are brands all by themselves...i love the idea of being an entrepreneur rather than being another endorser of a sneaker brand. Very innovative...

Jordan at some point didn't need nike, but they sure as hell built the brand and that jump man logo. It was an incredible collaborative of an athlete whose image was managed and guarded. Nike spend big money promoting the brand putting huge resources and talent into building it. At the same time, Jordan was careful to not over expose himself and chose his endorsements carefully.
Jordan is not a nice person or great family man but that was never an issue as he was protected.

At some point the brand is established and Jordan years after retirement is making big money with the brand extensions as they exist.
Could he take his jumpman logo himself? Perhaps he can buy it, or its trademark time was negotiated at some point.

What Ball is doing is what Marbury has been doing but the Star in Starbury faded at the wrong time. Ball needs capital and marketing expertise as well as product development, stylists and those that can spot trends and implement marketing strategies with products and change as need be. Underarmor hit gold with Curry when his star rose but to some degree the sneakers failed and underarmar is struggling a bit because its growth, as has the athletic leisure segment in whole has flattened out with many companies in the mix now. Underarmor growth has slowed, but that does not mean its failing. Nike too has flattened while Addidas is now doing real well with a bit of nostalgic products. Same with Rebock. They all seem to come and go. Puma a few years ago was back in fashion as its euro look was hot but they too have slowed down. Can "PONY" be far behind?? LOL Of course they will!!!

I hope Ball does not bankrupt his kids by trying to self fund the venture with there money and using their lines of credit venturing into an area he knows little about. He will likely partner with venture capital money that to a large extent will own a good portion of the venture and at the same time provide the expert backing. Not much further than what he'd do with Nike and others other than be on the hook if it fails.

They are going for the high end with expensive sneakers. There is a market for it but its low volume. certainly the price of the show is giving them exposure that would be tough to buy outright!!! Smart. As for the product, hopefully they can deliver the goods as promised. They will be status symbols.
https://bigballerbrand.com/collections/all
$50 tee shirts? "Slides" for $220? $70 Hoodies!

I can see how the status symbol will be attractive. young kids wearing the stuff will reek of "Baller". Counterfit will be quick and dilute the brand. Interesting path. Be fun to see how it pans out.

Well said...I'm pretty sure he's already getting calls for capital backing as they we see what he's doing on his own. The cost is a but much for kids, but I get why he's doing it. One, as you said, status symbol. Two, he has to make and distribute himself for the most part and that is costly, and three, the outlandish price is the conversation starter.

People are watching. I think this can/will be a trend as future athletes come up and will try to build their own brand and cut out the middle man and sell directly to the fans. The future is now, I can see the NBA and other sports start selling their games, etc directly to fans....Very innovative and I am intrigued....

With the internet, anyone can self publish their own book, or sell music online without a big time publisher or music Label.
The Lavar has gone on talk shows and making a spectacle of his sons and self promoting. We are talking about it. They have launched a line and no inventory!!! They will have little profit but its getting the brand out there. Im not sure its the wave of the future as the field can get crowded fast. Seems that they are hoping high rollers will gravitate to this expensive brand. Kids will emulate this as all kids like to. I see urban well to do baby boomers spending on this as well as many celebs. Kanye had his own line and it was all the rage. Is it still? As for kids, I doubt many will be wearing $500 shoes. I hope not, and I hope no kid gets killed for them. I think Starbury and Shaq low priced line fills a need, but this is a luxury item and I don't see where its a negative they do this. Does Ball know what he is doing? I have no idea. I will without a doubt say I have no interest in these products and I am far from the demographic they are going for. Thus, Im just looking at it from a neutral business standpoint.

I did own a pair of Starbury's which i bought for $15. They were awful. Man made uppers were good for when I power washed my deck and kept my feet dry. for $15 they were worth the experience.