Cleveland Cavaliers forward Isaac Okoro is excelling in an expanded role with the team and making even bigger moves off the court. The first-round pick out of Auburn in 2020 recently partnered with HOLO Footwear in an equity deal to release a signature sneaker called the IO:01 and an accompanying apparel line. Perhaps even more significant, he’s also part owner of the company.
Okoro said he initially heard about HOLO in late October 82023 through his agent. As he started researching the company, he became more intrigued. Okoro flew out to Portland, Oregon, met with the HOLO team to learn about their backgrounds, and realized they all had similar upbringings. When the footwear company brought a deal to the table, the decision to sign was easy.
“I wanted to be a part of a company that wants me,” Okoro said. “[HOLO] told me that from the beginning.” He was also encouraged by the idea of building something from scratch. “You have to start at the bottom to get to the top,” he said. “Me and HOLO, like we both started at the bottom. [They] saw me. The process, and us building this together, is going to be fun.”
Richard Payne/Young Money APAA Sports
HOLO and Okoro’s partnership means he’s essential to the company as an athlete and investor.
“I think a lot of companies out there today throw out the equity language because it sounds good,” said Daveed Cohen, an agent with Young Money APAA Sports who leads HOLO’s brand strategy in social media, content creation, and community engagement.
The Atlanta-born hooper said having an equity deal has been a learning experience that he appreciated.
“It’s kind of the right thing to do in today’s day and age with athletes,” he said. “But after you’ve put out that storyline that the athlete got equity, what are you actually doing about that?”
David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images
As part of HOLO Footwear’s priority in basketball, Okoro participates in everything from shoe design and testing to social media marketing for the yet-to-be-released sneakers. It’s a two-way working relationship between him and the company’s founders, Rommel Vega and Yuri Rodriguez.
“It means constant communication, man,” Vega said. During the interview held on the Zoom platform, he held up his phone to show how often he and Okoro communicate. The text message thread shows almost daily conversations between both men. As for Okoro’s role in the company?
“He’ll be at the board meetings, interacting with other investors. Having equity equals voting rights. Voting rights means we make moves together, or we don’t move at all,” Vega said.
Richard Payne/Young Money APAA Sports
Richard Payne/Young Money APAA Sports
HOLO Footwear was started in 2020. The company aims to create sustainable and attainable sneakers. Its goal is to make great shoes that don’t break the bank. HOLO understands cheaper performance shoes used to be more frequent but now feel rare.
“We live in such a different world. I don’t know that shoes have to be sold for $35, but they don’t have to be sold for $200 to make a living. We swung the pendulum from one direction or another,” Vega said. He believes there’s a market for an inexpensive basketball sneaker with the requisite tech to compete with the traditional powerhouses.
“If you’re looking at the marketplace, everything is between $160 and $200. But if you’re coming in at between $100 and, say $120 to $130, and you’re sending the sneakers out to a pretty premium retail space and it has a performance attribute, I think you have something really special,” Vega said. “I think that’s a sweet spot many people struggle to hit.”
Affordability is another vital characteristic of HOLO Footwear products. Vega’s parents immigrated from Nicaragua to Miami in the 1990s.” I went to school in the areas of Miami that were really disenfranchised,” he said. “I grew up in a trailer park that was near 36th Street. You hear people rapping about the Miami Jai Alai. That was across the street from where I grew up.”
Vega knows from personal experience how expensive it can be for families trying to outfit their children with high-quality sneakers. He wants to use the company to make a difference.
The co-founders have more than 50 years of combined experience in the footwear industry, having worked for Merrell, Columbia Sportswear, Saucony and Puma. Before the deal with Okoro, HOLO Footwear’s bread and butter was outdoor sneakers and boots.
HOLO aims to bring the same high standard to the IO:01. “We use a lot of our learnings that we’ve [picked up] along the way from the other industry, and we apply it to how we made this shoe,” Vega said.
“We study. For [Okoro’s first shoe], we wanted a ‘keep it simple, stupid’ kind of thing. He’s an athlete. His body is his temple. We want to make sure the knees are good and his foot is really good, so we added the strap,” Vega said. “There’s so much design power at this company. We wanted to make sure that Isaac can put it on the court night in and night out.”
Cohen said HOLO’s flexibility is a massive benefit to Okoro.
“Isaac put them on, he said, ‘man, these are so comfortable.’ From there, the next phase was to test them out. He’d run and practice and give us some feedback.” HOLO quickly made adjustments based on Okoro’s opinions, whittling down the process for testing and adjustments from two to three months to a matter of weeks.
“Because Isaac, again, has a seat at the table, and he’s working directly with the co-founder, that can get done,” Cohen said. “[The sneaker] was a huge priority, but I think the unique value proposition, again, is the ability for HOLO to be nimble and make quick decisions because you’re talking directly to the head honcho.”
The amount of care HOLO has shown for Okoro’s first release is part of a long-term strategy that includes an apparel line. Vega said the company is taking its time to ensure all the pieces are in place before the IO:01 officially goes on sale in the fall. They’re working with retailers nationwide and establishing partnerships to maximize sales. HOLO wants to build things from the ground up.
“We keep getting [excellent] feedback. Now, we’re playing with color and personalizing it for him. I think it’s going to be important. And we’ll see which ones get the most heat and then be able to release them. We are making some special editions for some people who requested the shoe. So, we’re excited about that. We’re not in any rush to make a buck on them. And we really, really want to do it correctly,” Vega said.
Okoro said he’s honored HOLO let him be the first player to represent its brand and have an equity stake. He shared that his favorite part of the sneaker-building process was picking out the colorways “and seeing what stands out and what pops out.”
Equity deals are increasing, but it’s still a relatively new landscape, especially for someone like Okoro and a company like HOLO, making their first foray into making high-performance basketball sneakers. They’ll pay attention to sales numbers, but they’re also looking at engagement across social media and how the release of the sneaker affects underprivileged neighborhoods.
“Those are things that drive success for the storyline,” Vega said. “Were we able to get [the shoe] in the hands of kids? And can they afford it? We want them to wear it, and they enjoy it. Have we educated them on the sustainability piece? And, really, what does that truly mean in today’s day and age?”
