Maverick N.Y. Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury is creating a lot of talk with his new, shockingly affordable shoe design. The NBA all-star, who grew up poor in the projects of Brooklyn's Coney Island, will be wearing a $14.98 pair of shoes on the court this season that he insists are equal to other high-end basketball sneakers.
"It's the same shoe," he says, comparing The Starbury One shoe to the $150 models that are endorsed by Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant.
"Sneakers don't cost $100 to make," Marbury explains. "If you don't know that and you don't understand that, it's hard for you to grasp how much the shoe costs. It costs less than $14.98 to make a $150 shoe. That's not what people are being told."
"I knew it'd be a phenomenon, because I remember how it was when I was a kid," says Marbury of The Starbury one which has been selling well. The NBA star, who grew up as one of seven children and now makes $17 million per season, adds, "Walking into a store and wanting a $100 pair of sneakers and my mother just looking at me like, `Don't even think about it.' For me, this was easy."
"Kids are not allowing themselves to see the big picture," he says. "And the big picture is not having a $200 pair of sneakers when your mother's income is $15,000 to $20,000."
"It's not like it's a bad shoe or anything," Carmelo Anthony told the Denver Post. "It's a pretty good, well-made shoe. For him to sell the shoe for $14.98, I think that's great. That's giving back. That's way under the affordable price. A lot of kids can afford that."
Comments
That shows childeren u don't have 2 have a hundered dollar shoes 2 b kool
Posted by: cynthia wright | November 15, 2006 8:30 AM
i luv them
Posted by: gale | January 7, 2007 9:04 AM
a can i have one of your shoes
Posted by: randy | March 27, 2007 6:50 PM