AND1

{{Infobox company

| name = AND1

| logo = AND1 logo.png

| logo_size = 200

| foundation = {{start date and age|1993|8|13|p=y}}

| founders = Seth Berger
Jay Coen Gilbert
Tom Austin

| key_people =

| type = Subsidiary

| industry = Sports
Textile

| hq_location_city =

| hq_location_country = United States

| area_served =

| products = Athletic shoes, clothing, accessories

| brands =

| num_employees =

| parent = Galaxy Universal (2021–present)

| homepage = {{URL|https://and1.com|and1.com}}

}}

AND1 is an American footwear and clothing company specializing in basketball shoes, clothing, and sporting goods. AND1 was founded on August 13, 1993. The company focuses strictly on basketball and is a subsidiary of Galaxy Universal.[https://sgbonline.com/sequential-brands-agrees-to-sell-active-assets-to-galaxy-universal/ Sequential Brands Agrees To Sell Active Assets To Galaxy Universal] – September 1, 2021, by Thomas J. Ryan at

SGB Executive

The company sponsors NBA athletes, as well as numerous high school and AAU teams in the United States.

History

= Early years =

In 1993, AND1 began as a graduate school project partnership of Jay Coen Gilbert, Seth Berger, and Tom Austin while they were graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}{{Cite web |title=AND1'S LEGENDARY HISTORY |url=https://and1.com/pages/our-history}} The company name is derived from a phrase used by basketball broadcasters to denote a free throw awarded to a player against whom a foul has been committed while scoring a goal.

The brand started by selling T-shirts out of the back of a car.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} Early advertising strategies included other basketball slogans and trash talk, such as "Pass. Save Yourself The Embarrassment". They marketed their shirts to street basketball players. Foot Locker began to sell the shirts, and within the second year of launching, the business reached 1,500 stores across America.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

In mid of 1996, NBA star Stephon Marbury became the first spokesman for AND1.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} With Marbury's signing, AND1 launched its first pair of basketball sneakers, its entry into the footwear category.

File:Taichissw.jpg

In late 1998, a videotape containing streetball stunts was delivered to AND1 by Marquise Kelly, coach of the Benjamin Cardozo High school team in Queens, New York. The tape contained low quality camera moves, poor resolution and nearly indecipherable audio featuring a streetballer by the name of Rafer Alston.{{cite web |last1=Christian |first1=Olivia |title=DJ Set Free On The Origin And Legacy Of The And1 Mixtapes |url=https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/12/21/and1-mixtapes-basketball |website=wbur.org |access-date=July 27, 2023 |language=en |date=December 21, 2018}} At the time, Alston was a student at Fresno State who had entered the 1998 NBA draft. The videotape would soon be known as the "Skip tape", referring to Alston's streetball nickname "Skip to my Lou".{{cite web |author1=AND1 |title=The Original AND1 Mixtape: The Skip Tape with Rafer "Skip 2 My Lou" Alston |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmoINTp6q24 |website=youtube |access-date=July 27, 2023 |language=en}} Alston later signed on with AND1.

In 1999 at Haverford College in Philadelphia, AND1 shot their first series of commercials and print ads incorporating NBA players Darrell Armstrong, Rex Chapman, Ab Osondu, Raef LaFrentz, Toby Bailey, and Miles Simon. When the traditional marketing campaign proved unsuccessful, a strategy was formed to use the "Skip tape". It was edited and reprinted into 50,000 copies, and over the next eight weeks, distributed across basketball camps, clinics, and record labels. The tape would become the first "Mixtape", and quickly made Alston into a celebrity. When AND1 became a product partner with FootAction, this strategy evolved into a national program.

Starting in the summer of 1999, a free AND1 Mixtape was given with any purchase. Approximately 200,000 tapes were distributed in the span of 3 weeks.{{cite web|work=Chicago Sports Review |url=http://www.chicagosportsreview.com/redesign/inprint/contentview.asp?c%3D167978 |title=And1: Well-Fed Street Cred|last=Busbee|first=Jay|access-date=December 6, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311015616/http://www.chicagosportsreview.com/redesign/inprint/contentview.asp?c=167978 |archive-date=March 11, 2007 |url-status=dead }}

= Peak years =

File:And1 basketball shoes.jpg

AND1 began to recruit more and more NBA players to wear their product, including Latrell Sprewell, Kevin Garnett and Jamal Crawford. AND1 products began appearing at Foot Locker and FootAction. By the 2001 season, AND1 was second only to Nike in market share among NBA endorsees. They later became the second-largest basketball brand in the United States only eight years after their inception.{{Cite web|url=http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/08/fascinating-look-history-b-corp-movement/|title=A Look at the History of the B Corp Movement|date=August 19, 2014|website=Triple Pundit: People, Planet, Profit|language=en-US|access-date=May 6, 2016}}

AND1 summer tours, having begun in 1999, were expanded in 2002 into the Mixtape Tour with the release of Mixtape 3. Noted streetballers such as “Hot Sauce” and “The Professor” would go from court to court to challenge other streetballers in one-on-ones. The streetballers who prevailed through the very end of the summer tours would receive endorsement deals from AND1. From 2002 through 2008, the tours were televised live on ESPN under the name “Streetball” and competed with ESPN's “SportsCenter” for the highest ratings. The summer tours began in the United States but soon branched into more than 30 countries, with their products promoted in 130 countries and territories.

AND1 apparel and footwear first appeared in the digital arena in Street Hoops in 2002, but in 2006 the brand officially made its entrance into the category, partnering with Ubisoft to release its first video game, AND 1 Streetball. A mobile version was also released by Gameloft. The game featured a story mode mirroring AND1's "Streetball" series on ESPN, where players were able to create their own basketball player and enter him in the AND 1 Mix Tape Tour in order to get a contract with the AND 1 team. Along the way, players were able to create their own stylized trick moves and pull them off with a two-analog stick system called "I BALL". The games were available on both PlayStation 2 and Xbox and received positive reviews.{{Cite web|url=https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/and-1-streetball-ps2/|title=And 1® Streetball|website=Playstation|language=en-US|access-date=May 6, 2016}}

= Later years =

Following a short hiatus, the AND1 Mixtape Tour returned in 2010, then known as the AND1 Live Streetball Tour. The tour continued to expand globally as the AND1 team toured the world. They remained undefeated outside the continental United States until they lost to the debuting Puerto Rico Streetballers in 2012.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Over the years, AND1 has changed hands a few times, first being bought out by American Sporting Goods in 2005 and subsequently sold to Brown Shoe Company in February 2011. On August 25, 2011, AND1 was sold to Galaxy Brands, a brand management company based in New York. The company later merged with Sequential Brands Group,{{Cite web|url=http://ir.sequentialbrandsgroup.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=856388|title=Sequential Brands Group Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Galaxy Brand Holdings (NASDAQ:SQBG)|website=ir.sequentialbrandsgroup.com|access-date=April 25, 2016}} a publicly traded brand management company, but the personnel managing AND1 never changed. Under Sequential, AND1 has reconnected with its roots, signing marquee NBA players and sponsoring tournaments worldwide.

In November 2012, AND1 signed then-Pacer Lance Stephenson to an endorsement deal.{{Cite web|url=http://www.slamonline.com/kicks/lance-stephenson-signs-endorsement-deal-with-and-1/#EwOiwETzGOODREiU.97|title=Lance Stephenson Signs Endorsement Deal With AND 1 {{!}} SLAMonline|website=SLAMonline|date=November 26, 2012 |language=en-US|access-date=April 25, 2016}} Stephenson had won the NYC basketball championships in all four years of high school, and became New York State's all-time leading scorer in high school basketball, named Mr. New York Basketball after his senior year. He would soon sign a multi-year deal with the Indiana Pacers, with AND1 signing him during his rookie season. Born Ready fit the AND1 streetball personality with his aggressive never-back-down attitude, which was put on national display during the 2014 NBA Conference Finals. Stephenson, who had led the league in triple-doubles that year and led the Pacers past the Knicks in the round prior, was paired against the Miami Heat’s LeBron James. From trash-talking to “mind games,” to even blowing in James ear at one point, Stephenson did whatever he could to get into James’ head and under his skin.{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/29/lance-stephenson-blow-ear-lebron-james_n_5410487.html|title=GIF: Lance Stephenson Got Weird With LeBron|date=May 29, 2014|website=The Huffington Post|access-date=April 25, 2016}}

In celebration of their 20-year anniversary, the brand hosted the AND1 Labor Day Summer Remix, a $100,000 winner-take-all basketball tournament in August 2013. The tournament took place in Temple University in Philadelphia, and also included a $10,000 dunk contest.{{Cite web|url=http://thehoopdoctors.com/2013/08/and1-hosts-100000-winner-take-all-basketball-tournament-at-temple-university-in-philly/|title=AND1 Hosts $100,000 Basketball Tournament Labor Day Weekend|website=The Hoop Doctors|date=August 28, 2013 |language=en-US|access-date=April 25, 2016}}

Paying homage to Brooklyn streetball culture, AND1 partnered with SLAM magazine to host numerous events surrounding the 2015 NBA All-Star Game (played at the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn). Various charity events with two of New York's greatest streetball legends Lance Stephenson and Rafer "Skip to My Lou" Alston were followed by the launch of an exclusive pop-up retail lounge on Flatbush Avenue across from Barclays Center.{{Cite web|url=http://ir.sequentialbrandsgroup.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=895849|title=AND1(R) Teams Up With SLAM magazine to pay tribute to Brooklyn Streetball and New York City Basketball Culture During NBA All-Star Weekend (NASDAQ:SQBG)|website=ir.sequentialbrandsgroup.com|access-date=April 25, 2016}}

Over one hundred AND1 High School and AAU teams play across America in various tournaments and leagues, and an AND1 circuit in the making.{{Cite web|url=http://respect-mag.com/2016/02/and-1/|title=And 1 To Host Wellington March Madness Tournament {{!}} RESPECT.|date=February 26, 2016|website=RESPECT.|language=en-US|access-date=May 6, 2016}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.slamonline.com/college-hs/high-school/and1-announces-tyba-3-session-circuit/|title=AND1 Announces TYBA 3-Session Circuit for 2016|date=April 13, 2016|website=SLAMonline|language=en-US|access-date=May 6, 2016}} The company's annual overall revenue is approximately $140 million.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

In February 2015, AND1 signed a lease to operate a retail store at 172 Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn, directly across the street from the Barclays Center. This is the company's first street retail location.

In 2018, Kevin Garnett returned to AND1 as Creative Director and Global Ambassador.{{Cite web|url=https://and1.com/blogs/news/kevin-garnett-talks-new-role-with-and1|title=Kevin Garnett Talks New Role with AND1, Future Designs and Growing the Brand|website=AND1.com|language=en|access-date=March 14, 2019}}

On August 31, 2021, Sequential Brands, AND1's parent, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.{{Cite news|url=https://www.retaildive.com/news/sequential-brands-files-for-bankruptcy/605860/|title=Sequential Brands files for bankruptcy|date=August 31, 2021}}

In September 2021, AND1 was acquired by Galaxy Universal.{{cite web |title=PE-backed Galaxy to acquire several brands from Sequential for $330m |url=https://www.pehub.com/pe-backed-galaxy-to-acquire-several-brands-from-sequential-for-330m/ |website=PE Hub|date=October 29, 2021 }}

AND1 Mixtape Tour

File:And1 team cropped.jpg

The AND1 Mixtape Tour has featured streetball players of fame, including Skip to My Lou, Main Event, The Professor, Hot Sauce, Spyda, 50, and AO. AND1 players have made annual tours around America to recruit the next streetball legend. This recruiting has since been edited for airing as Street Ball on ESPN and ESPN2. It is also parodied in the movie Like Mike 2: Streetball as "Game On".

The tour was televised in half-hour "Streetball" segments on ESPN2, and were compiled into highlight reels, offered under the mark AND1 Mixtape, which were sold on DVD. AND1 has released 10 volumes. The first mixtape was AND1 Mixtape Volume 1 (1998) and the most recent is AND1 Mixtape X (2008).

Following a short hiatus, the AND1 Mixtape Tour would return in 2010, now known as the AND1 Live Streetball Tour. The AND1 team has toured the world, meeting success against most international teams and scoring wins over adversaries as diverse as Chile and Angola, remaining undefeated outside the United States until they lost to the debuting Puerto Rico Streetballers in 2012.

Current sponsorship

Daryl Macon[https://bleacherreport.com/videos/31331-daryl-macon-with-the-and1 Daryl Macon with the And-1!] on Bleachreport
Thomas Beauchamp
Norman Powell

Video games

EA Sports' NBA Street, published in 2001, featured dunks and passes in AND1 fashion, but was licensed from the NBA. In 2002, Activision announced the first AND1 video game called Street Hoops, featuring AND1 players. Gameloft has also released a mobile game based on the AND1 franchise. In 2006, Ubisoft released the second AND1 video game, AND 1 Streetball. Both games were developed by Black Ops Entertainment.