Like father, like son? LaMelo Ball launches own clothing line featuring $120 hoodies, $70 T-shirts
LaMelo Ball is on track to be a top selection in the 2020 NBA draft next week, and now it looks like he’s going into the family business. Not his family’s specific business, but his family’s field of business, so to speak.
Ball, who spent last season with the Illawarra Hawks in Australia, announced Friday that he is launching his own clothing line, entitled LaFrance. The moniker comes from Ball’s middle name.
He modeled some of his selection alongside his very good dog.
The youngest Ball child launching his own clothing line naturally inspired comparisons to his father’s Big Baller Brand, which is apparently still going strong, according to Ball family patriarch LaVar Ball.
Beyond sharing a bloodline, one major reason why is price.
LaMelo Ball’s clothing line is not cheap
Go to LaFrance’s website, and you see eight items up for sale: two T-shirts, two hoodies and four different pairs of socks. Unlike Big Baller Brand, Ball will not be selling shoes after signing an endorsement deal with Puma.
Here is one of those T-shirts:
Price: $70.
How about hoodies? Here’s another sample:
Price tag for that one: $120.
With the socks also coming in at $20, a complete outfit built from available LaFrance merchandise will end up running you $210.
Obviously, that’s pretty steep. However, if there’s really a market out there for LaMelo Ball merchandise at that price, Ball is well within his rights to take advantage of that and give his fans what they want.
The Big Baller Brand comparisons might even be off considering that exorbitant prices — $495 for a pair of shoes — weren’t the only thing that made Big Baller Brand the business that is so eagerly mocked. The inherent comedy of Big Baller Brand was in shoddy quality, a pitchman who insisted he wanted to take down Nike, questionable business practices and straight-up crime.
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