Crossover Culture
Source: Crossover Culture – Kicks for the crossover culture.
I’m about to be repetitious in discussing basketball in the U.S.A. and the difficult aspect of building a bridge to the consumer in a shrinking market. I’ve discussed my own basketball shoe company Sho-Shot on different occasions. I bring it up because it’s critical to understanding my depth of knowledge on brand building, sales and marketing. Discussing Sho-Shot also allows me to establish that I’m not just a blogger talking about sneakers. I’m a former head high school basketball coach and college basketball recruiter who has been involved in the sneaker industry for 16 years.
Basketball is dead in America.
That’s my Nas moment. When Nas said, “Hip-Hop is dead,” he didn’t mean that it needed to buried. Nas went on to release a number of albums, some of his best work in his 30 year career, post the “HHID” statement. My basketball is dead statement is in regard to the death of neighborhood hoops and the rise of professionalized youth basketball. Kids can’t make their local high school teams because that’s controlled by travel team politics. This has led to a disillusioned young fan/athlete who no longer aspires to be “like Mike”, but is just find with being like “Ninja” (the professional video gamer). Back to CC.
Crossover Culture makes the shoes I created look like budget bobos. They have created a serious shoe for ball players. The YouTube channel “Weartesters” has done several videos of the brand. One video proclaims one of their models as the “Best You’ve Never Heard Of.”
But, I’m always skeptical of YouTubers and their suggestions; as brands have fallen into the process of giving shoes to YouTubers in hopes of influencing a purchase by followers. Weartesters, however, is a trustworthy source, so his commentary carries weight.
The shoes look incredible and I remember seeing the brand before, but in 6 years of changing the content on this site from ARCH the clothing company, to ARCH – the content and news site, I never dropped an article on Crossover Culture (It seems the brand launched in 2018). I didn’t see any reason to dig into the company. It wasn’t just my site that didn’t cover the brand. I took a moment to visit the more prominent sneaker sites: SoleCollector, Nice Kicks, Sneaker Bar Detroit, and Hypebeast, and none of those sites had any information about the Crossover Culture. Highsnobiety does have what looks like a PR release from 2018 and there is where my interest was piqued.
Crossover Culture entered the market with a launch via Eastbay.
That is unheard of… How does a startup immediately jump into the catalog that shaped my passion for kicks? How does a new sneaker company hit the catalog I used to make decisions on team shoes for my high school program?
Recently, I’ve taken a deep interest in understanding why brands are born. Crossover Culture allows me to probe and write on several topics. It also allows me to introduce a brand that I don’t have a true understanding of why it was born, outside of wanting to sell basketball kicks. Let’s jump into a few points. I’m interested in this company; which means that I will begin by dissecting it from the outside and then I will begin to look at who, what, and why because right now, there are a few glaring problems for me.
Initial Analysis
My first visit to the site is always where I gather most of my information. It’s the place where the purchase takes place. A brand has to have an amazing DTC strategy when their competitors have a roster featuring the best players in the world. https://crossoverculture.com/ The CC website doesn’t have a story at all. The site leads with gear. Chris Chiozza is a PG for the Brooklyn Nets. He wore shoes from Crossover Culture during his play in the bubble. The NBA doesn’t allow brands to utilize images without the league’s permission. This means there aren’t any pics of Chiozza in the kicks in his Nets uniform.
Lead with Chiozza above the fold wearing the gear.
The product shots are fantastic of the gear on the site. It doesn’t matter. There isn’t any product photography featuring ball players.
There isn’t any video of the shoes being played in. Weartesters did a review, carry that review on the site in a blog/news section.
The biggest initial analysis, the about page. The creation story is a vital aspect of brand building. adidas and Puma is the fight of brothers. Nike is the death of Pre. Jordan Brand is the rise of MJ. What is the why of Crossover Culture? Who created the brand? Why should I care when I could just wear what NBA All-Stars are wearing? CC doesn’t even have an About Page.
Transitional Thoughts
Crossover Culture is carried in over 50 stores worldwide. The product looks great, but they don’t control their narrative in search. There isn’t any video of the product in action via their own social channels. On the footer of the site there is a link to IG which displays more cool product shots, no people in the photos.
Crossover Culture has just jumped on my radar. They are entering a market that has changed dramatically in the last 16 years. A company born in Los Angeles faces a fight where guys like Etop run the city for adidas grassroots and Nike Basketball is so well rooted that every Nike/Jordan Brand kid attends a Nike or Jordan college. The NBA is not aspirational for the new generation of kids. This can be seen in footwear sales. (If you’d like numbers I can build you a report based on my sales.) Basketball in the U.S. is a young man’s game, but a midlife demographic. Get it? Crossover Culture is attempting to break through, but the brand hasn’t decided to make itself endearing.
I’m going to dig in though and follow this post up. Hit me with any questions you’d like me to find answers to.