This young French brand is a hit in the NBA

When he sees this order, the name of the buyer makes him shudder. Edrice “Bam” Adebayo. To get to the bottom of this, Florent looks at the delivery address. It is located two minutes from the thermal room!

It’s definitely the Florida pivot who orders sweatshirts, T-shirts and phone cases bearing his image.

A few days later, the interior speaks directly to the creator of “DearBBall”. This is how the relationship between the brand and the NBA player was born. Since then, the man has appeared in public with the shirt on during a gift distribution in Miami.

He is not the only one who fell for the French clothing brand. Anthony Davis dressed several members of his family, Jamal Murray called for a special collection to celebrate his recent return to racing, Michael’s daughter Jasmine Jordan posted a selfie on social media wearing “The Goat” shirt, obviously.

Dress for confidence

What’s to turn the head of a 26-year-old based in Alsace? No way. “ I was very happy, but it didn’t change anything in my mind. This is my personality. I continued working on the brand with the idea of ​​creating something lasting, not something that lasts six months “, shows a certain, entrepreneur, contacted on Zoom.

Despite the dazzling success of “DearBBall”, Florent does not want to miss the stages of the adventure that began four years ago. His idea, as you can imagine, took root on the basketball courts. This amateur, who has been training since the age of 7, has never forgotten the sensations he felt after wearing the jerseys of his favorite NBA players.

” I felt really confident. I told myself that wearing Iverson’s jersey, I would chain dribbles, stay in the air with Jordan more. He wanted to regain this confidence away from the parquet. But” wearing an NBA jersey in everyday life is really sporty “. Since he could not find an existing clothing brand that matched this spirit, he chose to create his own brand.

Aiming big from the start. Its first market will be the United States. ” We will see if the conception will take place, the Americans will tell me The ambitious young man, who was not yet connected on the spot, said to himself, and added today: The goal is not just to build a brand, I see it as a life project. It is not a problem for him to take a school course in the world of sports and not in marketing or the textile industry. Especially since he already had a very international basketball community to rely on with his 150,000-follower Facebook page where he shared NBA or “sneaker” news.

First compliment from Russell Westbrook

During 2018-2019, he builds his site in terms of logistics: which company to mobilize on site for design, which textile to use, which scheme to choose to ensure delivery within a week… All in perfect English, sometimes making exchanges difficult. “ It used to be hard to integrate into basketball communities on Twitter because you had to use the right vocabulary. »

This language barrier explodes once the clothes are on. The style used is clean and understated: the cartoon face of a superstar whose eyes intersect with an expression appealing to all major league audiences. “Chef 30” for Stephen Curry, “Mamba” for Kobe Bryant, “GreenMamba” for Jayson Tatum, etc. Behind these patterns and color choices is the touch of designer Daniel, who is highly sought after by Florent and whose great basketball culture facilitates collective work.

The first highlight for the brand takes place not in the Atlantic Ocean, but in France, at Quai 54. The 2019 edition features Carmelo Anthony, Blake Griffin and Russell Westbrook. Florent is ready and dressed as he should be. ” “I love the logo,” Russ says when he sees my shirt. That was already a nice little signal. »

NBA stars will start making news. A few months later, Covid invites itself into our daily lives and has a positive effect on brand recognition. ” The basketball players were at home and browsing social networks. It was finding a way to express his passion. Bam Adebayo and others place their first orders here.

Alexis Ajinca joins the adventure

The “DearBBall” concept, “proven” in the US, could attack the French market. And at the same time it attracts a famous representative: Alexis Ajinca. A logical connection for a former player who spent several seasons with SIG Strasbourg in the middle of two NBA eras.

The former France international also bought into the concept, happy to support the young locals who saw him play there. And give an opportunity for fans to express themselves with their favorite players “. ” Being able to talk about certain designs was something I really enjoyed. Especially the designs I want to do on French shorts. It’s a big thing as a gamer but also as a fashionista “The former Pelicans player says he represents the brand in the United States with professional players.

A fourth person in a small team manages accounting aspects and relationships with suppliers. This is how the brand grows and now has 15,000 people in its private club, which allows subscribers to inform about, for example, secret collections.

A physical store launch is not yet in the news. However, the trademark is the object of the application” The number of different stores is increasing all over Europe “. To be more on the shelves? ” So far we’ve slowed down a bit. We preferred to implement B2B policy. But demand is growing and all signals are green. We are ready “, shows Florent wearing an Ant-Man sweater featuring Anthony Edwards on the day of our interview. history ” showing youth and freshness ” brand. He doesn’t miss it.