I’ve been a Lakers fan my whole life. From a little kid to a grown adult, I’ve been a fan. I remember watching them play in the finals in the ’80s. I remember sitting in the nosebleeds at The Forum to watch the Lakers play the Tel Aviv Maccabi. I remember my first Lakers hat, my first Lakers jacket, and my first Byron Scott jersey. I bleed purple and gold. Nothing in sports means more to me than the Los Angeles Lakers.
We’ve been making Lakers-inspired product for 12 years. It’s a part of me and, therefore, a part of The Hundreds. If someone would’ve told me years ago when we started this brand that at one point I’d get to work with the Lakers and make my own jersey, I would have told them they’re crazy and to fuck off.
When adidas came to us with this project, I thought it was a joke. There is no way in this world that The Hundreds would get to work with the Lakers. No shot. But, it was real, they were dead serious. They wanted us to make a collection with adidas and the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Our love here at The Hundreds for the Lakers literally spans decades. It’s nostalgic for the team in the era we grew up in, from Magic to Shaq to Kobe, and celebrates the present with what’s to come. With this collaboration, we did it. I think I’m still dreaming.
When adidas Skateboarding presented us the opportunity to work with the Brooklyn Nets, we immediately took it. It was perfect. Lakers versus Nets. Old school versus new school. West Coast versus East Coast. That’s the theme of our lookbook below.
When the new Nets jersey emerged, it was a gamechanger with its black-and-white logo design. It’s minimal, and 100% new school. We also wanted to celebrate our roots in New York with our GRND location, and what better way to do that than with partnering with the Brooklyn Nets.
The Lakers jersey we made borrows from the classic, colorful ’80s Johnson-era—with a logo that never changed—while the Nets jersey we did falls in line with today’s minimal, sleek sensibilities. Brand new classics. That idea is reflected in the photos by Paul Sun below.
