CONFESSION: In 2014, we launched our team uniform catalog and NO team dealers were interested. Like, none.
We had an authentic basketball brand 🏀 featuring our patented DRYV Technology💧✋, a line of best-selling backpacks 🎒 (with sales backed proof of concept) and testimonials from coaches that our uniforms were better quality, with better designs at better prices 💰.
Nope. Not even a bite. Airballed at no less than 10 dealer trade shows. 👎
Turns out, selling something new is hard. It takes extra effort, more explanation, a ton of grind, sprinkled with a dash of salesmanship. That did not align with the dealer model at that time.
So, what’s an enterprising (read: arrogant), scrappy (read: desperate), forward thinking (read: lucky) upstart company to do?? WE DID IT OURSELVES.
From 2014-2019, the POINT3 Team had a presence at over 300 youth basketball events. This was “hand to hand combat” engaging with 50K coaches and close to half a million players at the point of sweat. Meeting our customers where they were and explaining the benefits of our products directly to the end use consumer.
Where does that leave us today?
✅ POINT3 is the largest direct-to-coach outfitter of youth basketball programs IN THE COUNTRY.
✅ We outfit over 3,000 teams each year, ranging from local rec leagues to elite travel clubs and Jr. NBA programs.
✅ We have built a proprietary database of over 100K youth basketball coaches that our sales and support teams service directly.
✅ We launched category extensions into volleyball 🏐 and flag football 🏈 using the same model/mindset and guess what, we’re crushing it there too.
🤫 There’s an old saying amongst “garmentos” that every time a pair of hands are placed on a garment, the price goes up. POINT3 is not available through any team dealer. We are sold exclusively DTC (“direct-to-coach”). Our supply chain was built to get uniforms directly from our sourcing partners to our team customers, allowing us to offer best-in-class product at industry leading prices.
Were we smart enough in 2014 to see the future of the team uniform industry? OBVIOUSLY YES 🤓 (read: NFW). Sometimes, better to be lucky than smart and in our case, desperation fueled innovation and hustle drove the results.