Lonzo and his brother Chuck Cunningham and his other brother Chuck Cunningham
- Thread starter E5 Yaz
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I have come around and decided that I hope he succeeds with this brand, even though it seems like he is way out of his depth. It's DIY disruptive innovation and some fine trolling of huge companies if he somehow succeeds.
You can come around all you want, 500 dollar sneakers aren't going to sell. There is no market for them.
I just bought two $25 spinner things that cost maybe 18 cents to make for my kids.
There may be people as dumb as I.
In theory you have a point about the middle man. But Kardashians and Hiltons dont actually have any skills or talent that their brands are based on. If Brady retires tomorrow, the market for his stuff will be gone in a few months. Lonzo hasn't played a game yet. I guess until he does, "staying in the news to promote the brand" is a good thing. But then he has to produce. And since he doesn't have a shoe contract with anyone else except his father, if he isn't a star, he's not going to make any money from the shoes. (And that's assuming that people will spend 500$ on sneakers because they are those of a great player).
He's seeming increasingly out of his depth. There's nothing wrong with aspiring to control your own brand. The problem is trying to accomplish that simply by conjuring baseless dollar figures out of mid-air and expecting potential partners and customers to pony up, which seems to be his entire strategy. He's got no business sense whatsoever and it's his son who will bear the brunt of his mistakes.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19316479/lavar-ball-defends-premium-price-son-lonzo-new-line-shoes
He believes there is a market that exists between current athlete endorsed footwear and high end luxury footwear, Prada and Gucci being the labels he refers to by name. He may be right. But believing a one and done kid who hasn't been drafted yet and isn't even a household name in his own country is the brand that can make that market is pretty stupid. If Jordan or Lebron had a luxury line and decided they were going to hire well known designers and go after that market, maybe it works right? Lavar obviously has no idea of where he and his kids are in the pecking order of the universe right now. And that is fun in a watching a train wreck sort of way.
I'm saying the credible path would be a huge internationally known superstar and credible luxury item designers, neither of which Big Ballers have.
It's going to be interesting to see if Lonzo even wears these on the court. My guess is.... nope, he'll keep wearing Kyries.
If he doesn't give his own line the credibility by wearing them, who will? He has to wear them doesn't he?
Depends, they aren't performance shoes, they have no tech in them. He's selling them really as fashion shoes hence the Gucci comparisons where he's the celebrity name on them, or like some of the stuff Kanye does for Adidas. He may wear them off court, but I wouldn't bet on him wearing them in games.
So here's my guess. He'll "wear them", by "them" I mean a completely different shoe that looks the same. Spend the money to make really great basketball shoes for him that look the same, sell the bull to the consumer. Think of how delicious Carl's Jr. can make a burger look on tv to the real thing
That's pretty good. Reminds of when Colbert asked O'reilly to sign his book and it had a 90%off sticker on it.
Does 300 x 495 = 1 billion?
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/report-fewer-300-pairs-lonzo-balls-sneakers-sold-first-day-sale-172718050.html
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/report-fewer-300-pairs-lonzo-balls-sneakers-sold-first-day-sale-172718050.html
I think you're way, way off here. Ball will never make the money he could have made had he gone the traditional route and signed with a Nike. He will basically get 100 pct of a tiny pie.
Even if the shoes all came from the same factory in China and were made out to the same materials, the revenues from Lavar's joke of a company will never come close to what the big athletic apparel companies would deliver. They have infinitely more advertising prowess, economies of scale, distribution networks, etc.
Lavar is legitimately insane, and he's costing his kid a fortune. I won't be the least bit surprised if he ends up losing money.
Edit: look no further than BBB's return policy and shipping timing for the ZO2: Prime:
"No Refunds or Exchanges. Shipping by November 24th 2017."
So you could place your $495 order, wait 6 months, receive damaged goods, and you're SOL.
The company is a complete joke.
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IANAL, but there's no way that no refunds or exchanges can stand up in court for damaged goods, can it? I'm assuming that is only applicable for sales where the customer received the goods they actually paid for.
How much would he have netted in a shoe deal and at how many years? If his shoe fails but he is a success, how much more could he net in a shoe deal 2 years down the line as an established player? It's a calculated risk. It's possible he nets a bigger deal in 2 years and ends up ahead. That's assuming his shoe fails.
I'd bet most are either relatives, friends or people they gave a discount to to try to drum up some excitement and publicity, with collectors sprinkled in. Unless I'm mistaken, it's not like they need to show their books to anyone just yet.
The other two kids are likely not good enough to start on college teams, so this is BBB only shot. Yeesh
I'm just going by what was said in thre article.
All told, this means the Ball family cleared over $156,000 on its first day of business, not bad in the slightest for a company only now dipping its toe into the apparel game.
Gotcha. So my comment was not aimed at you, but at whoever wrote the article.
The Ball family are the owners. To say they "cleared" over $150,000 implies earnings, not revenue. That may sound like picking nits, but the difference is significant.
If they end up with a successful brand, owning it will be very lucrative, since their gross margins are probably obscene. And if they end up with a flop, they may not do much better than covering their start-up costs and promotional expenses.
In all likelihood, we're not going to know the result until they start shipping the shoes and eventually resolving the class-action lawsuits by unhappy customers who have been ripped off.
I will admit that I do admire the brashness. Puts the creators of the Pet Rock to shame.
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Yeah whoever wrote the article is clearly not too bright. The top line is $150k or so but obviously start up costs were much more than that so they will need to sell a whole bunch more than that to make any profit at all.
I'd bet most purchases were people just buying them because they assume failure and they will be collectors items in a few years.
I'd bet most purchases were people just buying them because they assume failure and they will be collectors items in a few years.
It's sloppy writing, because the story itself makes it clear that it was an attempt at figuring out the gross....(53 x 995) + (210 x 495)
Between startup costs and licensing fees, that $150,000 is gone in a second. If that's all they sold on the first day, that's bad. It will only go down from there until Lonzo proves that he's a star and only then will there be a big demand for the shoe.
Also, the accounting method for creating that estimate is highly suspect. He looked at numbers of available shoes on the site, and people on social media publicly saying they bought it. That is nonsense accounting.
If there was a significantly higher number than 300, I think The Biggest Ball would be saying something about it.
Michael Jordan couldn't command [$495] for shoes."
"Because he ain't Lonzo Ball, that's why," LaVar Ball said. "Did he have his own brand coming in? It's a new era called the Ball era."
I don't think I've ever rooted for a bus strike in order to save a family as bad as this guy. He may single handedly destroy the future of all his children in the NBA, seriously would you take this kid and the traveling circus he brings #2 if the Celtics end up in that spot?
"Because he ain't Lonzo Ball, that's why," LaVar Ball said. "Did he have his own brand coming in? It's a new era called the Ball era."
I don't think I've ever rooted for a bus strike in order to save a family as bad as this guy. He may single handedly destroy the future of all his children in the NBA, seriously would you take this kid and the traveling circus he brings #2 if the Celtics end up in that spot?
Absolutely. But Big Ball wont be talking about that.
Lonzo doesn't appear to be close to the once-in-a-lifetime player that would be worth it.
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I don't know why the guy engenders so much hate. I look at him as more of a cartoon character than anything - he is clearly saying outrageous things to keep the promotion machine going and its working. Its the coin of the realm today for people who want any sort of attention.
Insofar as he impacts Lonzo, I suspect any team that drafts him is going to have a plan for dealing with pops. If they don't shame on them.
Insofar as he impacts Lonzo, I suspect any team that drafts him is going to have a plan for dealing with pops. If they don't shame on them.
I think there are some solid reasons to hate the guy:
- obnoxious, insensitive comments about his kid's UCLA teammates
- exploiting the shit out of his kids
- crowding out, more than celebrating, his kids' accomplishments
- reducing his kids' chances at financial success (imo)
Cartoon characters are harmless. This guy's a jerk.
In what sense is it working? It's keeping his name in the papers but this isn't a 'any publicity is good publicity' situation. He could seriously eff up his kids career with this stuff, from him dropping in the draft to him flaming out due to chemistry issues with teammates or how he interjects himself into whatever team he ends up on.
You forgot how he was "coaching" his kids' high school team from the stands. Yelling out what to do, what plays to run etc. then saying the coach was reason team lost, etc. eventually led to coach being relieved of duties.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/03/lavar-ball-stephan-gilling-chino-hills-coach-lonzo-lamelo-liangelo-ucla-high-school
Again, the other two kids are not assured they will ever start in college never mind play in the pros. Neither is particularly good
Talentless "celebrities" need to keep the promotion machine going because there is no there there. It's the coin of the realm inhabited by Kardashians & Hiltons.
Lonzo Ball has a skill and he seems to have a good shot at a successful pro career.
"A plan for dealing with Pops" sounds all well and good. But they can't prevent him from speaking publicly. And when he says, "Lonzo would be God and Jesus and Michael and Kareem all rolled into one if his GM, teammates and coaches didn't suck so bad" then he inhibits that career, because the likelihood is that he isn't *that* good. There *might* be a handful of coaches who would say, just as publicly, "Pops should shut the fuck up. He has no idea what he is talking about and he is hurting his son's career."
What sort of "plan" could a team possibly have?
Where marketable players go to die.
If he's half the player his father thinks he is it won't matter where he plays because he'd still be the best or second best player in the league and he'll get his endorsements and headlines. If he's not a generational talent but rather just a middle of the road player but his father keeps spouting off to the contrary I think that will be endorsement suicide. Of course I could be wrong and maybe the circus somehow works to his favor but I wouldn't want it swirling around a team I root for.
Agreed and I'm glad to see this point of view somewhere. He's entertaining and I hope they are successful.
Man, we used to celebrate the little guy sticking it to huge corporations.
This is where I am at too. He's trolling the establishment and personally I enjoy it... sorry if I have no empathy for his son.