SV Sports is your one stop shop for sports gear, sportswear, novelties and more. Browse online today and get free shipping on $75+ orders!
Source: Online Sporting Goods & Sportswear Store | SV Sports
Under Armour is making a considerable effort to ramp up their activities in Youth Sports. I discussed this in a recent post on their program “Access to Sports”:
Under Armour’s “Access to Sport” Needs to Get Graphic About the Professionalization of Youth Sports
I’ve explained in various articles how sport has become professionalized, contributing to a decrease in participation from athletes who don’t have access to the programs needed to garner the elusive college scholarship. On a smaller scale, young athletes are losing the chance to learn important decision-making skills and understanding teamwork, because competing is an expensive series of steps. While Under Armour is fighting to offset these issues, the sportswear industry also fuels the separation via grassroots campaigns providing elite talent with footwear and uniforms for free, while school programs and smaller programs struggle to fund their teams.
One of the most expensive aspects of youth sports is the purchasing of uniforms and the lack of facilities. What if a business found a way to combine the two aspects in a cost-effective manner providing youth sports the chance to compete and outfit teams? Consider this strategy, a large distributor of team uniforms and footwear builds a sports strategy aligned with training facilities throughout the country? Athletes and coaches can build programs with diminished costs associated with the most expensive aspects of team sports, uniforms and facilities.
SV Sports is ramping up their business with a concept that immediately differentiates it from other team sports dealers focused solely on footwear and apparel.
POTTSTOWN, PA, March 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — SV Sports Holdings, Inc. today announced a funding round that included participation from Chris Paul, the 12-time NBA All-Star and Businessman. This announcement comes amid a fast start to 2022 for SV Sports also including expansion of its internal TEAM Sales force and the mid-March opening of a new sports destination retail space in Lakepoint (Ga.) Sports Complex.
SV Sports is a retailer and team dealer of uniforms, equipment, apparel and footwear for youth, high school, and college athletes. The business, initially founded in 1971, was recently acquired by John Scipio (CEO), Jason Lutz (President), and Ralph Greene (CMO), veterans of the sporting goods industry. The three executives came together to capitalize on the opportunity to inject cultural relevance into the team dealer model and deliver empowerment opportunities to diverse communities.
Scipio boasts a 25 year career at Nike that includes a stint managing the footwear giant’s team division, where SV is a key account. Nike is where he met Lutz, who grew Villa from a single store owned by his parents into a mid-Atlantic powerhouse with 125 locations and $250 million in sales. And Greene was familiar with both Villa and SV from his days as VP of Nike’s Eastern Region—the largest in the athletic brand’s domestic portfolio.
“Coming from the lifestyle category in footwear and apparel, we all recognized that the key elements that drove success there—delivering personalization, self-expression, and cultural relevance—were largely missing from Sporting Goods,” said Scipio. “And you have a landscape where we just 2 out of over 500 sporting goods companies have African American ownership, yet the major influences come from Black culture. So, we think there is a great opportunity to redefine the way the youth athlete is served.”
“We are thrilled to have Chris and his brother CJ join the SV Sports family and team,” said Greene. “Their grassroots youth teams and camps, their long history working with HBCUs, and their commitment to supporting Black-owned business is a perfect trifecta for us.”