APL seeks to cash in on banned basketball shoe
22/10/2010
The NBA has said no player in the most prestigious basketball championship in the world will be able to wear APL’s Concept 1 shoe in the forthcoming 2010–11 season because the special technology built into it, called Load ‘N Launch, which instantly increases vertical leap, would provide “an unfair advantage”.
APL said it had received a statement from the NBA saying: “League rules regulate the footwear that players may wear during an NBA game. Under league rules, players may not wear any shoe during a game ‘that creates an undue competitive advantage (for example, to increase a player's vertical leap).’ In light of that rule players will not be permitted to wear the APL shoes during NBA games.”
The footwear brand is the brainchild of twin brothers Adam and Ryan Goldston, two former University of Southern California basketball players. The initial APL basketball shoe, the patented Concept 1, was introduced in July 2010, and has been sold exclusively through the company’s website. The company is currently exploring a potential expansion of its distribution into select athletic footwear and sporting goods retailers.
However, its immediate reaction to the NBA decision was to try to capitalise on the banned status of the shoe by highlighting it on the website and offering buyers free shipping on the forbidden product.
“To be quite honest, we were not exactly shocked to hear the NBA chose to ban the APL shoes,” said Adam Goldston, co-founder. “The Load ‘N Launch Technology not only provides an instant and dramatic increase in vertical leap, but the biomechanical testing showed that the players exerted far less energy as a result of this breakthrough technology. This aspect of the APL shoes should help players perform at a higher level deep into the third and fourth quarters of games when excessive leg fatigue normally sets in. I think the major problem the NBA has to deal with is the fact that the majority of NBA players are under contract to other footwear brands, and would be at a competitive disadvantage to players who would wear the Athletic Propulsion Labs shoes. The intriguing question is what would NBA players choose to wear if they were spending their own money, and there were no footwear endorsement contracts?”
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