Growing up in a Coney Island household with parents struggling to make ends meet, Stephon Marbury knows first-hand the pressure kids, parents and playground basketball
players feel to spend top-dollar on the latest clothes and sneakers. Today, as a high- profile NBA player, he’s now in a position to realize a lifelong dream to “change the world” by eliminating that aspect of our culture.
Marbury is teaming with national casual apparel retailer Steve & Barry’s to introduce the Starbury Collection. The Starbury Collection is an arsenal of high-quality apparel and sneakers with extraordinarily lower price points than similar merchandise sold by the country’s other top retailers and manufacturers.
The Starbury Collection features nearly 50 casual and comfortable items for men and boys, including jackets, jeans, hoodies, tshirts, athletic tops and shorts, lifestyle and performance sneakers, work boots, hats and other accessories, with nearly every individual item priced at $10 and under.
Perhaps no item reflects the extraordinary value of the Starbury Collection more than the Starbury One, a new high performance basketball sneaker that Marbury will wear on NBA courts beginning this coming season.
Available in a variety of colors and all sizes for adults and kids, the Starbury One found on Steve & Barry’s shelves will be identical to those Marbury will wear during games. Incorporating a sleek design and the same technical features for comfort, stability and durability found in
basketball sneakers sold by the nation’s top brands for $100 to $150, the Starbury One will carry a price tag of just $14.98. It’s believed to be the lowest price for an NBA quality sneaker during the modern era.
Stephon Marbury said: “Kids shouldnt have to feel the pressure to spend so much to feel good about the way they look. Im blessed to be in a position to do something about it, to help change the world. I couldnt find a better partner to create the Starbury Collection with than Steve &
Barry’s. For 20 years, their entire business has been about selling great quality clothes for much less than people expect they should cost.”
Winner of the 2005 Hot Retailer of the Year Award from the International Council of Shopping Centers and called the “the fastest growing retailer you never heard of” in a recent Forbes Magazine profile, Steve & Barry’s are giant sized, shopping mall anchor stores. Each of the chain’s 140+ locations in 31 states offers full lines of casual,
comfortable clothes for the entire family at extraordinary low prices, presented in a specialty retail environment featuring wood floors and fixtures, huge aisles, and plasma TVs. The Starbury Collection will be featured in huge, dedicated showrooms within each store, to include
monitors running The Starbury Story, a four-minute documentary on Marbury’s life and vision for the Starbury Collection.
Steve & Barry’s co-CEO Barry Prevor said: “This is a very exciting moment for Steve & Barry’s. When Steve and I founded our company in 1985, it was with a mission to bring people the most unbelievable values on clothes theyve ever seen. That’s exactly what Steph’s vision for the Starbury Collection is all about, so this has been a fantastic partnership from the first day we met. Like Steph, we want to revolutionize how people shop, and this new line will help us continue to make that happen.”
As part of the launch of the Starbury Collection, Marbury and Steve & Barry’s worked with the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club’s Thomas S. Murphy Clubhouse in Brooklyn, New York, to offer local children participating in the Club’s art program the opportunity to display their design talents. The winner of the “Starbury Design a T-shirt contest” will see their design featured on a special edition tshirt sold at Steve & Barry’s Manhattan
location as part of the Starbury Collection for a limited time. In addition, a portion of the proceeds from sales of the Starbury Collection is being donated to the Club.
Marbury commented, “It was very important to me that the Starbury Collection have a strong social component for kids and parents, especially in urban areas. Steve & Barry’s and I decided to conduct the design contest so kids could give real input into how the Starbury line is created and as a means to give back to youth and the community.”
In creating the Starbury line, Marbury and Steve & Barry’s called upon the best possible resources to collaborate on the product development and marketing of the Collection.
Leading athletic gear design firm Rocketfish, perhaps best known for providing high performance basketball sneaker concepts to Nike, Reebok and Converse, worked closely with Marbury to create the Starbury One and ensure
it delivers all the comfort and stability required for professional basketball players and recreational ballers alike.
Rocketfish co-founders TJ Gray and Ashley Brown commented, “We have worked with many of the largest sneaker brands in the world. Cut the Starbury One in half and youll find that it is constructed the same way as other high performance basketball sneakers.”
The Mastermind Group (TMG) serves as the lead marketing agency on the Starbury Collection under the leadership of Principal Erin Patton, formerly director of the Jordan Brand at Nike for five years. In addition to providing advertising, public relations, online and other marketing
services, he has been an integral member of the Starbury product development team.
Marbury’s marketing representatives, Jordan Bazant and Peter Raskin of The Agency Management, and urban marketing agency The Run Group also played critical roles in helping develop the Starbury Collection brand and roll-out.
“We knew that if we were going to partner with Steph and help change the world with the Starbury Collection, it would require us to pool the talents of world class experts,” said Andy Todd, president of Steve & Barry’s. “Thankfully, we found them with Rocketfish, Mastermind, The Agency, and The Run Group. Todd and Steve & Barry’s Chief Partnership Officer Howard Schacter serve as Brand Managers of the Starbury Collection.
