Shaq’s Affordable Shoes

In the 90s, Michael Jordan dominated the NBA while making a fortune off of his shoe deal with Nike. Every basketball player wanted a shoe deal and every brand wanted to sign the next superstar. Shaquille O’Neal was on the rise and he was high on every brand’s shortlist.

Reebok offered Shaq a 40M dollar shoe deal, which he refused. Why?

He recalls a moment in which a women scolded him for selling his signature shoes at a price that most of his younger fans can’t afford. He then says,

“So, I started the Shaq brand. I went to my favorite store, Walmart, and we did a deal. I was in all stores and my price point for the shoes was $29-$19… It’s not kids that don’t want to wear $20 shoes, they don’t want to wear shoes that look like they cost $20.”

He ended up selling 400M shoes anyways.