The Young Bucks spent a long time securing their deal with Reebok.
During a recent interview with Sneaker History, Matthew and Nicholas Jackson explained how their deal with Reebok, which was two years in the making, came together.
Featured below is an excerpt from the interview where they touch on this topic.
Nicholas Jackson: “That was two years in the making, just about. We had heard they wanted to do a deal with us after our first release signature shoe with Diadora went so well. They contacted us pretty quickly after that.”
Matthew Jackson: “Right away.”
Nicholas: “They had interest and we didn’t realize how long the process takes because now, two years later, we finally had a release. After that shoe went so well, they wanted to do something with us and we couldn’t believe it. Matt went into detail a little how we used to wear Pumps back in the day, so it was full circle for us. That was bucket list. The first release was cool, but Reebok is a big deal. It’s a little bit bigger than what we had just worked with. I would have never thought we would have our own.”
Matthew: “I remember the beginning stages. They were like, ‘What kind of aesthetic are you looking for?’ I pretty much put up an entire storyboard of ideas. I must have sent them 10 or 12 different ideas about colorways. We brainstormed. They were cool. They were open to collab with everything. I sent them old pictures of gear that we had worn, just so they got an idea of what the Young Bucks aesthetic is. I want to say we nailed it down almost immediately. Within a few days, they sent me a mock up of what they could do. I had to alter a couple of things, but we were 90% there. We knocked it out pretty quick. We hadn’t heard anything. It must have been a year, ‘Are we still doing this project?’ They are like, ‘We’re good. This is just how long it normally takes.’ I remember seeing a pair for the first time. It was one of those bucket list moments of ‘Woah.’ We had the Diadora, but this is a sneaker I literally wore as a backyard wrestler in the ring. I have a picture of myself in 2002 or 2003 wearing a pair of these sneakers. To come back and do it 20 something years later and have our own logo on their, it’s one of those things where, I don’t know if we’re ever going to be able to beat this.”
Check out the complete interview via the YouTube player embedded below. H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.
