Brand Spotlight: The Baptist
We spent 5 minutes with Peter Paul with The Baptist Collection who shared how the brand is translating real time magic on the court into a dynamic fashion brand.
Enter the #FLO
You have a strong history with fashion and marketing. It's been your thing for decades. So I'm curious about the story. What drew you to John Collins?
Peter Paul: Steve Canal and John Collins all came together based on Steve. He mentioned to me, he said, you know, there's a gentleman I met, through Swin Cash, his wife, and just their collective ecosystem as they were out doing their NBA and WNBA stuff that I met that's really interesting. John Collins. And he reminds me of throwback players and things of that nature and his game. I actually started watching John play and I saw the clips and I was like, oh, this guy is different. A finesse game and reminded me of the old school days of Charles Barkley and Jordan and Patrick Ewing. He brings that flare back and that ruggedness, that blue collar kind of game. And I was like, yeah, I like this guy. And then we found out that they have nicknamed him and, I'm talking about fans, The Baptist. And I was like, well, what's that all about? And then when we found out the concept. Baptizes people at the rim.
Why was it important for you to join the FLOURYSH?
Peter Paul: I feel like FLOURYSH has its finger on the pulse in regards to technology and access. And it's giving people a platform that's unique. It's a niche kind of platform in a sense, but it's necessary. You've got to pick and choose what you want to communicate? How do you want to communicate? What pipeline do you want to communicate that through? It sends another message along with the message within itself. And I'm a marketer, I've been in marketing my whole life. And I think that's just as important as getting the message, but how you received it. And I think that's what FLOURYSH stands for, all of the things above. All of the boxes are checked.
What are people buying into when they buy John Collins' clothes?
Peter Paul: What's interesting is that as we were coming up as kids it was like, you couldn't always attend the game, you watch it on TV, but you wanted this extra extension to the particular person. So you would buy the poster and the shoe and all these things that were a connectivity in your mind psychologically. And then the physical aspect of being connected to that particular person you were a fan of. I'm going to date my age... But coming up under Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, Jordan and Kobe Bryant, rest in power, you wanted an extra connectivity. So you buy the jersey, buy the shoe, you eat the cereal, they ate. "Be like Mike" that whole campaign itself. It was always prevalent in my life. And I've always said, if I had ever had an opportunity I would love to do something on that level. And I felt like with The Baptist, we had that opportunity. He's at such a young age at 24, he's conscious and he's woke and he's grown up very family oriented. He's got all the right things that make up for a great person.
How involved is John with the day-to-day operations of the brand?
We have this group text that goes around and he throws in all these ideas and he goes, "Hey, remember guys, I'm from the West Indies. I want some West Indian colors." Like, this shirt right here came from John. This was actually John's idea. He had the foresight to say that I'm going to catch a dunk on this guy and I want to create the t-shirt the next day and they basically captured it in real time. I think with the younger generation, they're very much real-time in all things. So I think that's what we love about John and what he brings to the brand is the excitement and him saying, hey, let's act on that. Let's get that in real time.
What have been some of the best selling products? What are people loving right now?
Peter Paul: I would say the real time dunk series. So that's the concept now because of John and what he does on the court and what we talked about. So that's one of our number one sellers, and it's called the dunk series and it's like a collection, like Topps cards. And we positioned it that way where it's a real-time moment. It's something that he did. And a lot of fans have reacted and said, we want that. So we try to keep up with John and that's hard cause the guy's dunking on everybody. The hoodies and the tees have been the bestsellers, but now we're expanding to the sweatsuits and the head to toe gear and just staying within what kind of like what John likes. So one thing I would say is, you gotta be on the lookout for The Baptist, cause you don't know what's going to come next because you don't know what John's doing. If you're following John, you know, we're right behind him with something that's going to come as a result of what he's done on the court. So that's the excitement about our brand.
And it will show up right here at FLOURYSH. Thank you so much for your time, Peter Paul!
Peter Paul: Thank you again, guys. Congrats on everything with FLOURYSH.
