Aligning yourselves with the New York Knicks does wonders for a self-funded brand. Just ask the co-founders of New York or Nowhere.
By now you’re probably familiar with New York or Nowhere, the streetwear brand often worn courtside at Knicks games by celebrities like Jerry Ferrara, Bryan Greenberg, and Timothy Chalamet.
Well, get ready to see more of it.
The New York-based fashion line has launched a fourth collection with the Knicks, building off momentum from a season in which NYON was the No. 2 best-selling brand at Madison Square Garden. The collection is now available on New York or Nowhere’s website, at MSG, and on Shop.MSG.com.
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“Our partnership came together pretty organically,” NYON co-founders, Quincy Moore and Liz Eswein, wrote to Boardroom in a joint email. “NYON has established itself as the preeminent brand about New York, and the Knicks are New York, so it was a natural fit for us to find a way to work together in a collaborative capacity. It’s akin to creative kismet: the perfect marriage of IP, plus undeniable brand synergy, and a shared desire to reimagine what team-centric merchandise can (and should) look like.”
Founded in 2020, NYON is a self-funded brand that’s grown to foster major collaborations with companies from AMEX to the Knicks. The brand has gone viral, organically growing its own Instagram page, now sitting at 139,000 followers. And while celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and Tracy Morgan have continued to flex the brand, last year’s third collaboration with the Knicks blasted the company into a new stratosphere.
New York or Nowhere has generated around $1 million in gross revenue (from the collaboration) since its initial launch and is a top-three best-selling apparel brand for the Knicks at MSG, according to the brand.
Following this success, NYON recently officially licensed the Knicks logo for all upcoming collections. This means the highly successful collab will soon be available for purchase outside of MSG for the very first time — both in NYON’s flagship store in lower Manhattan and through their online store.
Partnering with the Knicks is a huge step for the self-funded brand that’s only two years old, but their plans expand beyond the arena over at 4 Penn Plaza. They’re thinking big — after all, there are several New York teams to work with.
“At its core, NYON is a brand about (and for) people’s fandom for New York, which is a very similar psychology to how one feels about their favorite team,” the email statement said. “Expanding into other leagues has always been part of the plan, and we’re in active discussions for another collaboration with a different New York franchise that will hopefully launch in the first half of next year.”
Think outside of the Knicks. The Rangers play at MSG. Then you’ve got the Nets and Liberty over in Brooklyn, the Islanders on Long Island, the Giants, Jets, Red Bulls, and Gotham FC in New Jersey, the Yankees in the Bronx, and the Mets in Queens.
NYON wouldn’t reveal the next team it would partner with, but hinted that the team’s best player wore NYON throughout the 2022 playoffs.
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