OT - The decline of And1 and streetball culture

[Double Helix]

After watching this "Spiderman plays basketball" video:

http://youtu.be/m7D-67xqwYE

I began to wonder about the decline of And1 as a company. The company was started by a couple kids in Graduate school. They launched one of the most successful advertising promotion concepts in US retail history with And1 Mixtapes. In 2003, they posted a revenue of 175 million dollars. From 1999-2003 street ball tapes were being watched more regularly than NBA mixes. Players like Rafter Alston added legitimacy to the streetball circuit by proving that they could play in the pros. You could walk past foot locker and see And1 merch and card board cutouts. In most of the big cities in America you'd have the tours come through and they were packed with onlookers. It's been 7 years since that peak and only 3 years ago And1 was sold to American Sporting Goods. Considering the revenue of American Sporting Goods it's hard to imagine that the purchase was anywhere near what it could have been had the company been sold earlier.

What went wrong? Was it just a phase in America? Does the concept still have potential overseas in other markets? Should they have tried to sell off or partner up with one of the larger shoe makers sooner? Does anybody still follow street ball at all?

Just curious.

[BBall_IQ]

And1's marketing was based on Hip Hop and streetball, tied together. In a way, they did go hand and hand considering both came from the "ghetto" neighborhoods. Hip Hop grew exponentially in the late 90s, early 2000s and the NBA entered an era of flashy basketball players like Iverson, Jason Williams, Vince Carter, Francis, ect. Hence why And1 blew up. Eventually NBA implemented the dress code and Hip Hop had lost some of its popularity edge due to other genres. Also, flashy players became the norm since the sport has become so athletic. Behind the back passes and monster dunks are expected instead of wished for.

Thats just my opinion.

[lake_show]

And1's marketing was based on Hip Hop and streetball, tied together. In a way, they did go hand and hand considering both came from the "ghetto" neighborhoods. Hip Hop grew exponentially in the late 90s, early 2000s and the NBA entered an era of flashy basketball players like Iverson, Jason Williams, Vince Carter, Francis, ect. Hence why And1 blew up. Eventually NBA implemented the dress code and Hip Hop had lost some of its popularity edge due to other genres.

Thats just my opinion.

Solid analysis.

[kakaman]

And1's marketing was based on Hip Hop and streetball, tied together. In a way, they did go hand and hand considering both came from the "ghetto" neighborhoods. Hip Hop grew exponentially in the late 90s, early 2000s and the NBA entered an era of flashy basketball players like Iverson, Jason Williams, Vince Carter, Francis, ect. Hence why And1 blew up. Eventually NBA implemented the dress code and Hip Hop had lost some of its popularity edge due to other genres.

Thats just my opinion.

Also And1 just didn't evolve with the times. When it was popular you had baggy jeans, oversized jerseys, super long shorts. Eventually the fashion trends went more towards the hipster look. The company just couldn't adapt to how culture was evolving.

[theBlackMagic]

I was 12 in 2002, and And1 was probably at the peak of it's popularity, even here in Iceland, you had kids rocking and1 jerseys, shorts, shoes (my first pair of bball shoes were and1's) that's how big And1 grew, it was the predominantly popular brand among icelandic youth in basketball

[Shook Ones]

Stern/NBA abolished it's association with Hip Hop Culture.

:/

[Dominator83]

in the REALGM world its been quite the opposite. Theres been a pretty extreme rise in AND1 activity around here over the past few months

[BBall_IQ]

Also remember And1 was not only a solid marketing company, but they were also offering their sneakers at 1/3 of the price of Jordans and Adidas (Kobes). They organized national tournaments and TV shows to promote their brand, along with mixtapes that I still think I have on VHS today.

They would be an interesting case study for someone in business school to look at.

[Double Helix]

Great responses so far.

Excellent points about them not being able to adapt their clothing/look to the changing times. I hadn't considered the dress code's impact at all actually. That's an interesting point about the dissociation of hip hop culture in an attempt to reach out to other demographics.

[JustOneFix]

Personaly, i think Nike and Jordan are just too strong and have by far the best shoes.

And1 lacks quaility. As soon as people realized this, they stopped buying them.

[kakaman]

Personaly, i think Nike and Jordan are just too strong and have by far the best shoes.

And1 lacks quaility. As soon as people realized this, they stopped buying them.

LOL you must be joking. Whether it's Adidas, Nike, And1 or your typical Payless shoe, they all cost a couple dollars to make. A shoe is a shoe. The rest of it goes into marketing. The $100m contract Lebron and D Rose get is paid by you, the consumer.

[bigboi]

Personaly, i think Nike and Jordan are just too strong and have by far the best shoes.

And1 lacks quaility. As soon as people realized this, they stopped buying them.

Jordans are hot garbage in terms of quality these days. They beat them off of name

[BBall_IQ]

Personaly, i think Nike and Jordan are just too strong and have by far the best shoes.

And1 lacks quaility. As soon as people realized this, they stopped buying them.

Quality wise for longevity I would agree with you. But if you used their shoes only for basketball games, they actually lasted a while. I remember they were the lightest pair of bball sneakers I have ever used in high school, yet sturdy for my ankles. They just never made fashion shoes which limited their sales.

[azuresou1]

Personaly, i think Nike and Jordan are just too strong and have by far the best shoes.

And1 lacks quaility. As soon as people realized this, they stopped buying them.

LOL you must be joking. Whether it's Adidas, Nike, And1 or your typical Payless shoe, they all cost a couple dollars to make. A shoe is a shoe. The rest of it goes into marketing. The $100m contract Lebron and D Rose get is paid by you, the consumer.

Uh, no. I used to think the same, then I made the connection between why I couldn't run down the court without pain and my cheap $40 FILAs.

[kakaman]

Personaly, i think Nike and Jordan are just too strong and have by far the best shoes.

And1 lacks quaility. As soon as people realized this, they stopped buying them.

LOL you must be joking. Whether it's Adidas, Nike, And1 or your typical Payless shoe, they all cost a couple dollars to make. A shoe is a shoe. The rest of it goes into marketing. The $100m contract Lebron and D Rose get is paid by you, the consumer.

Uh, no. I used to think the same, then I made the connection between why I couldn't run down the court without pain and my cheap $40 FILAs.

You mean the ones Stackhouse played with in the NBA? I find it hard to believe you had pain wearing cheap shoes but they suddenly disappeared with more expensive shoes. If shoes really did matter that much, D Wade would not go from Jordan brand to a Chinese brand that you can't even buy in America, especially since he's so injury prone.

[azuresou1]

Jerry Stackhouse whose career was plagued by injuries? Not really helping your point. Wade's at the end of his career, I doubt he cares about that injury risk compared to the fat stacks of money he's being paid.

All I know is that wearing FILAs I had shin splints and knee pain, and when I switched to Huaraches after about a month my knee pain disappeared, and a month after that my shin splints did as well. Maybe you don't believe it and are fine with cheap sneakers. Good for you - I'm sticking with what's been proven to me to work.

[tranjSAIC]

One big reason why the brand fell off was they sold out. Now you can find their gear at freaking Wal-marts! No offense to Wal-mart shoppers here but once a clothing brand goes there, it's popularity dies.

[Dominator83]

LOL you must be joking. Whether it's Adidas, Nike, And1 or your typical Payless shoe, they all cost a couple dollars to make. A shoe is a shoe. The rest of it goes into marketing. The $100m contract Lebron and D Rose get is paid by you, the consumer.

Uh, no. I used to think the same, then I made the connection between why I couldn't run down the court without pain and my cheap $40 FILAs.

You mean the ones Stackhouse played with in the NBA? I find it hard to believe you had pain wearing cheap shoes but they suddenly disappeared with more expensive shoes. If shoes really did matter that much, D Wade would not go from Jordan brand to a Chinese brand that you can't even buy in America, especially since he's so injury prone.

Starbury and Big Ben played in their brand shoes which cost 15 bucks. I agree 100% your paying for name much more so than quality

[kakaman]

Jerry Stackhouse whose career was plagued by injuries? Not really helping your point. Wade's at the end of his career, I doubt he cares about that injury risk compared to the fat stacks of money he's being paid.

All I know is that wearing FILAs I had shin splints and knee pain, and when I switched to Huaraches after about a month my knee pain disappeared, and a month after that my shin splints did as well. Maybe you don't believe it and are fine with cheap sneakers. Good for you - I'm sticking with what's been proven to me to work.

Comeon, you can find dozens of players with a history of injuries wearing Nike/Adidas. I'm glad you found success with Nikes, but I can't see it being the shoes (sorry Spike Lee).

[VC-INJURY]

As others have mentioned there was a close tie between hip-hop and basketball in the late 90's early 2000's. Go read any SLAM magazine from this time and it's riddled with hip-hop references and rap culture.

i.e.

Streetball was an extension of rap since it had many of the same qualities; it was underground, against "mainstream"/organized basketball, it was raw, gritty etc.

AND1 was also associated almost exclusively with basketball. Nike, Adidas etc all have much more diversification in terms of the products they produce and sports they are affiliated with.

I think it was a blip in time and the timing was perfect where hip-hop exploded and basketball was looking for a new identity after MJ retired (and AI was the face of this new NBA for a while).

As a side note, hip-hop started becoming garbage around 2002 so that might have something to do with it too

Edit: This was Nike's attempt to get in on the streetball craze

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i-4rn5xCnU[/youtube]