The Detroit Pistons and StockX announced a jersey partnership on Wednesday that will put the online marketplace’s logo on the Pistons’ uniforms beginning with the start of the 2024-25 NBA season. The aim of the partnership is to bring the Detroit Pistons and StockX together at the intersection of sports, fashion, and culture.
StockX’s sponsorship of the Pistons’ jerseys will lean into both entities’ hometown of Detroit with community activations. It’s a proud moment for StockX co-founder, president, and COO Greg Schwartz, a Detroit native who grew up going to Pistons games and can recite the opening lineups from the team’s Bad Boy glory days.
“I was eight years old when they won in ‘89,” Schwartz says. “So there’s just a deep history of me personally being a fan of the team.”
The Pistons and StockX will celebrate the start of their deal on Wednesday with the Detroit Kickback, a free event at Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit from 12:30 to 5 pm. Detroit luminaries including Big Sean, Jalen Rose, Lindsey Hunter, and Pistons guard Cade Cunningham will be in attendance.
StockX will also sponsor the Pistons’ tunnel walk-ins and partner with the team on community events. Via StockX
Rich Haddad, the Pistons’ COO and chief legal officer, sees the collaboration with StockX as a natural fit considering the extent to which players on the team already buy sneakers there. He and Schwartz can’t name names, but both say there are Pistons players who regularly use StockX and have been to the headquarters.
“I think it just speaks to how authentic this partnership is when it’s not just the leadership at the organizations,” Schwartz says, “but also the team that is excited about what we’re doing together.”
StockX will be the presenting partner of tunnel walk-ins for the Pistons.
“What they’re wearing head-to-toe is very analogous to our catalog,” Schwartz says.
The logo on their jerseys does not mean that Detroit Pistons will get free footwear or special deals from StockX.
“Discounts and things like that we’re not in position to do really because of NBA rules,” Haddad says. “I can tell you that our players are going to be fired up about this—they love StockX.”
The partnership between the Pistons and StockX has implications globally—its appearance across the NBA will make the StockX logo exponentially more visible—and locally in Detroit. StockX will participate in the Pistons’ annual Community Give-Back event around Thanksgiving. StockX is also working with Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design, a Detroit-based hub for footwear design, to bring in students to work on programming and products.
StockX’s logo appears opposite Nike’s on the chest of the jersey. Via StockX
That StockX’s logos will be affixed to Nike jerseys feels like a bit of a coup given the marketplace’s ongoing legal battle with Nike.
“We feel like we’re in good company with the Swoosh on the other side of the jersey,” Schwartz says.
While NBA teams work with jersey manufacturers like Nike years in advance on designs, logo patches for sponsors can happen faster.
“The patch is something that we’re able to move quickly on,” Haddad says, “and Nike is able to move quickly on.”
What does the longer term hold for the partnership between the Detroit Pistons and StockX? Neither party offers hints, but a tie-in to footwear at the games feels like the most obvious opportunity.
“We’re just scratching the surface here,” Haddad promises.
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