By: Amie Smith
Shirtless J.R. Smith will undoubtedly be a piece of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA Finals win forever. He’s made his mark on history. C’mon, even President Obama urged Cavs Coach Ty Lue to tell his sharpshooter to put his shirt back on.
And now you can look like shirtless J.R. Smith, as Cleveland-based apparel company Fresh Brewed Tees has created a highly detail T-shirt depicting Smith’s shirtless torso. (With permission from Smith and the tattoo artist, of course.)
“We did a mock up of what the shirt would look like as a joke and it went viral,” Fresh Brewed Tees owner Tony Madalone told ESPN.
Little did Madalone know how viral it was going to go at the time. The tweet has over 6,500 retweets and over 4,000 likes.
Because of the outreach, Madalone said something had to be done, so he called Smith’s marketing team, New Generation Management.
“People were talking about how he didn’t have his shirt on in Las Vegas, and then he comes off the plane with no shirt and social media explodes,” said Andrew Hoenig, co-founder of New Generation (via ESPN).
“And it continues when he doesn’t wear a shirt to the parade, and then Obama calls him out. So there’s no argument that J.R.’s shirtless streak isn’t a part of this championship story.”
Quickly after Madalone got the go-ahead, photos were being taken at Smith’s house of all of his tattoos for the shirt.
“It’s going to do well, but the truth is, we would have been happy to have even broken even here,” Madalone said.
The shirts went on sale Monday afternoon, costing $34.99 each.
And they’ve been a success thus far.
The approval from Smith’s tattoo artist was a major key in the whole process. And he, Jayme “Bone” Faulkner, was on board with the whole idea.
“[Smith and I] have a cool relationship,” Faulkner told ESPN. “He paid me thousands of dollars for my work, so I try to support him whenever possible.”
If you look close enough, you can see that the Jumpman logo (center, above the Michael Jordan jersey), was slightly altered, as well as the New Jersey Devils logo, to keep kosher with licensing.
If you want to look like J.R. Smith, because let’s be real, who doesn’t, you can buy the shirt here.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/06/28/this-t-shirt-makes-you-look-like-a-shirtless-j-r-smith-tattoos-and-all/
Shirtless J.R. Smith will undoubtedly be a piece of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA Finals win forever. He’s made his mark on history. C’mon, even President Obama urged Cavs Coach Ty Lue to tell his sharpshooter to put his shirt back on.
And now you can look like shirtless J.R. Smith, as Cleveland-based apparel company Fresh Brewed Tees has created a highly detail T-shirt depicting Smith’s shirtless torso. (With permission from Smith and the tattoo artist, of course.)
“We did a mock up of what the shirt would look like as a joke and it went viral,” Fresh Brewed Tees owner Tony Madalone told ESPN.
Little did Madalone know how viral it was going to go at the time. The tweet has over 6,500 retweets and over 4,000 likes.
Because of the outreach, Madalone said something had to be done, so he called Smith’s marketing team, New Generation Management.
“People were talking about how he didn’t have his shirt on in Las Vegas, and then he comes off the plane with no shirt and social media explodes,” said Andrew Hoenig, co-founder of New Generation (via ESPN).
“And it continues when he doesn’t wear a shirt to the parade, and then Obama calls him out. So there’s no argument that J.R.’s shirtless streak isn’t a part of this championship story.”
“It’s going to do well, but the truth is, we would have been happy to have even broken even here,” Madalone said.
The shirts went on sale Monday afternoon, costing $34.99 each.
And they’ve been a success thus far.
The approval from Smith’s tattoo artist was a major key in the whole process. And he, Jayme “Bone” Faulkner, was on board with the whole idea.
“[Smith and I] have a cool relationship,” Faulkner told ESPN. “He paid me thousands of dollars for my work, so I try to support him whenever possible.”
If you look close enough, you can see that the Jumpman logo (center, above the Michael Jordan jersey), was slightly altered, as well as the New Jersey Devils logo, to keep kosher with licensing.
If you want to look like J.R. Smith, because let’s be real, who doesn’t, you can buy the shirt here.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/06/28/this-t-shirt-makes-you-look-like-a-shirtless-j-r-smith-tattoos-and-all/
