He’s already dominated the NBA and defeated The Goon Squad. He’s a media mogul, a pizza mogul, and part owner of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club. All of that makes LeBron James’s latest venture seem like a layup—and helps explain why it’s launching with so much muscle from the jump.
That venture is The Shop, a line of men’s grooming staples that goes by the same name of the Emmy-award winning barbershop-based talk show that James co-hosts. Guests in the show’s barber chairs include Barack Obama, Jay-Z, Keke Palmer, Bad Bunny and DJ Khaled. As for The Shop grooming brand, it’s a joint venture between James and his co-hosts, Maverick Carter (the business mogul behind many of the above-linked ventures), as well as Paul Rivera (co-creator of the series). The 7-product line will be sold exclusively at Walmart starting this week, with all products retailing under $10.
“We created The Shop out of a deep love and passion for the barbershop experience,” says Rivera. “Our show was designed to bring people inside the shop for the debates, the arguments, and the therapy you can only get at a true neighborhood spot. Now we want to give people another side to the experience.”
“The barbershop is where you go for empowering and authentic conversation. This line is rooted in that feeling of leaving The Shop looking good and feeling good,” Carter adds.
The ideation of this product lineup initially sprung from conversations had off camera by the show’s own guests. “During breaks or after the show wraps, guests would ask each other: ‘What do you use on your hair?’ Or, ‘you have incredible skin… what are you doing?’,” Rivera explains. “It made us realize that there was a real opportunity in the space that aligned perfectly with The Shop brand.”
From there, they pulled together the production office behind the talk show—approximately 20 of The SpringHill Company’s male employees for a brainstorm. Rivera described the meeting’s dynamics: “This group was a beautifully diverse representation of our company. There were white, black, brown, younger, older, interns, and even LeBron, our chairman. During this discussion we all spoke about our grooming journey and what we’d like to see and use in our self care routines.”
That was the springboard for the launch assortment, which includes a face wash, 2-in-1 shampoo-body wash, post-shave toner, beard cream, shave cream, pomade, and face lotion. (Essentially, everything you need in a thorough grooming regimen.)
The Shop joins a growing roster of celebrity-led mens grooming brands, fresh off the heels of Papatui, a Target-stocked grooming line launched by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson—with 22 products all under $10. Other notable launches of late include John Legend’s Loved01 skincare targeting “melanin-rich skin”, Jared Leto’s luxe Twentynine Palms skin and hair line, as well as Beau Domaine (née Le Domaine), a vineyard-sourced line co-owned by Brad Pitt.
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