Starter Preps Your Summer Vibes With New NBA China Collaboration

STARTER X NBA China Spring/Summer '22 Collection

Source: Starter / Starter

If vintage NBA clothing is part of your summertime vibe, Starter’s got some additions to your warm-weather fits.

NBA China has become super popular as the country’s natives have fallen in love with the American-made sport and the culture surrounding it. So Starter has connected with NBA China to celebrate the league’s legendary iconography through nostalgic images.

The brand leads with some of the most storied franchises’ logos, like the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns, and Orlando Magic, who are known for their fire jerseys. The mix of the materials corduroy, patent leather, mesh, and rhinestones give the already detailed t-shirts a pop of texture. Elsewhere in the collection are matching shorts and baseball-like button-ups.

As popular as the NBA is overseas, the optics of the connection has long been debated because of China’s human rights violations, including its treatment of Uyghur Muslims, which human rights organizations have described as a genocide. However, with China’s interest in NBA being so huge, plenty of the owners seem not to care, including Sri Lankan-born Canadian and American venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya who has a stake in the Golden State Warriors.

“Nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghurs, OK? You bring it up because you really care, and I think it’s nice that you care, the rest of us don’t care. … I’m just telling you… a very hard, ugly truth. Of all the things I care about, yes, it is below my line,” he said on his podcast in January.

However, you can check out the entire collection below: