Hardwood Heaven: How 19Nine Mastered College Classics

March is no better time of year for both hardcore and casual college basketball fans alike. Whether youâ€ve been following your alma mater all year, or havenâ€t been paying attention at all, this yearâ€s tournament is guaranteed to be madness. One up-and-coming sportswear brand that is steeped in college basketball tradition has some exciting new drops, just in time for this yearâ€s tournament.

College basketball apparel company 19Nine has been releasing a ton of classic shorts, tees, and hoodies over the past six years, and the cat is out of the bag on how good their quality is.

This month, 19Nine is dropping the classic ‘97 Arizona Wildcats collection as part of their Hardwood Heaven campaign. We caught up with co-founder Josh Barnett to talk about all things collegiate hoops and kicks related.

SoleSavy: How did 19Nine start?

19Nine: We got started in 2012 with a team of four co-founders, and were basically off the grid that whole first year. We started off by printing shirts for a charity event for a friend of ours who had passed away from melanoma, and everyone kept asking us for one of the tee shirts. We thought maybe we had something here, so the four of us came together to decide what to do next.

Two of us were Indiana University grads, and the other two were Michigan State grads; every time we went back to IU or Michigan State, we could never find apparel that we really liked, so we decided to make tee shirts we would wear. We realized we could make a better tee shirt compared to what was out there. We didnâ€t know a lot about the licensing side of it, so it was a long, slow climb to get to where we are now.

SoleSavy: The shorts 19Nine produces have always been on point. What were the first teams you guys dropped?

19Nine: We got the shorts going around 2016, and four schools allowed us to do shorts to start off: Purdue, Indiana, Evansville, and Butler. Michigan State came shortly after that as well. I think technically Butler was the first school to give us a collegiate license. We just kind of kept building from there. It wasnâ€t very long ago.

We kept going and kind of did everything. For example, we also tried producing football shirts, hockey script shirts, anything we could get a hold of, anything that tied into the schoolâ€s history, and anything that the university would allow. 

Eventually, after a lot of brainstorming, we realized our brand was pointed in one direction. We realized we were a basketball company, so we should stop pretending to be something weâ€re not passionate about. We decided to refocus on college basketball apparel because thatâ€s where our passion was. After that, we were able to put blinders on. We knew we were super niche, but college basketball has a culture unlike anything else.

SoleSavy: How challenging has it been to get college licensing for your apparel?

19Nine: At first, it was very challenging, but now we have great relationships with the people that control those licenses. When you are the low man on the totem pole, itâ€s very very hard for colleges to take you seriously. But, they become allies as you get bigger.

At first, we would go around and find people at the schools that loved the concept; they would say “We want 19Nine”  – thatâ€s how we had to build it up. Before the pandemic, we would go to college campuses, but we all had our normal jobs as well. I was a middle school social studies teacher for 17 years, so this gig was on the side. We still do that when we can, but we feel like we got a little cheated with COVID because we couldnâ€t visit schools when 19Nine started blowing up.

SoleSavy: What about some of the older logos? How difficult is it to recreate them?

19Nine: We have to do some things from scratch; some of our shorts date back to the late ‘60s, so we have to go off of archives, pictures, or programs if the logo is lost so that we can get it as close as we possibly can. In the past, for schools like UMass and Butler, we recreated old logos and then handed them over to the schools so they can use them for future use. For the most part, however, the schools have the logos that we need.

SoleSavy: How passionate are you guys about getting your designs 100% right?

19Nine: Weâ€re completely OCD about getting it right, but we also have to work within the parameters of our clients and the people that weâ€re working for, so sometimes we have to let our ego and OCD passion go to just get something out there.

SoleSavy: Are you able to do jerseys?

19Nine: Jerseys are a lot of red tape. We would want to start that process from scratch, which takes a lot of time. I would never rule it out, but there is just a lot more red tape around the jerseys compared to the shorts. It would be a full-time job to get that off the ground.

SoleSavy: Any teams that you havenâ€t done yet that are on your radar?

19Nine: Arizona was our number 1, so weâ€re excited about that release. Thereâ€s really only a handful left now – weâ€re looking at Duke, UCLA, North Carolina off the top of my head. Weâ€d love to do NC State so we can do the Jimmy V and David Thompson era shorts. Itâ€s all about bringing back the stories – as a basketball geek and nerd I get a ton of pleasure from bringing back memorable stories.

SoleSavy: What length are your shorts, and do you ever think about making them shorter or longer?

19Nine: We get asked that quite a bit – it gets very very niche when you look at the short lengths. And making them shorter or longer. Our short lengths are about 7.5 to 8 inches; I think weâ€re niche enough already, so it would get confusing if we started making shorter or longer lengths. Iâ€d just say if you want them baggier, just buy a bigger size. We were skewing longer maybe four years ago, and we took 2 inches off because consumer trends were headed in the opposite direction. Iâ€m 5 foot 11 inches, so I wear a large, and it comes down to my kneecap. 

Overall Iâ€d say that we donâ€t chase fashion. Our company is predicated on the past and chasing fashion is really hard. What do I really know about fashion anyway? But Iâ€d say that we do have to keep an eye on consumer trends without totally selling out.

SoleSavy: Since this is a piece for SoleSavy, we have to talk about sneakers —  are you a sneakerhead?

19Nine: Iâ€ve been a sneakerhead before “sneakerhead” was a term. I grew up in Indianapolis, and I would get up at 4:30 in the morning to line up at the Castleton Mall. There was a group of maybe like 12 dudes; we were all always there and you got to know each other. The FinishLine workers started knowing that you were cool, so theyâ€d leave a door open for you by the dumpsters so you could get into the mall early and get in line up before everyone else for the big releases. This was before hypebeasts and reselling were a thing — those were the golden days.

SoleSavy: In terms of college basketball, which teams had the greatest footwear?

19Nine: Iâ€ve got to go with Michiganâ€s Fab 5, with their Air Force Max and Huaraches, and then Arizona in ‘97 – the Foamposites that Bibby wore were a game-changer. Also the ‘96 Air Max Uptempo —  everyone was wearing them — the Syracuse players, Mississippi State who made the Final Four, Marcus Camby at UMass had them on — probably my favorite basketball sneaker that Nike ever made – I loved those so much. The teardrops on the bottom and the ad campaign were so brilliant. UConn had heat too, Rip Hamilton in the Penny 2â€s and the Jordan 14â€s they always had it too man it was always those primo Nike schools, Syracuse, Georgetown, UNC.

Check out the 19Nineâ€s Hardwood Heaven campaign, which starts on March 13 and runs through April 4 at 19Nine.com. 

Drew Hammell is a renowned Nike historian, a SoleSavy member, and an editorial contributor. You can follow him on Instagram and read more of his work here. 

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