July 3, 2025
After shutting the brand down in 1996, it was brought back in 2012 and is still selling sneakers today
The first NBA player to have his own shoe, former New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing, expressed the reason he placed his fate in his own hands after leaving Adidas back in 1989 to start his own footwear brand, Ewing Athletics.
According to The Basketball Network, the NBA Hall of Famer was signed to the German company after the New York team selected him with the overall No. 1 pick in the 1985 NBA Draft. He was making $750,000 a year from Adidas. He was with the sneaker company for several years before leaving the company after they told him that he “wasn’t the player that they thought” he would be, since he injured himself.
“I think during my first two years with the Knicks, I got hurt, and I was with Adidas at that time. Adidas came to me and wanted to reduce my payment because they said that I wasn’t the player that they thought I was going to be. So, I told them to buy me out,” said Ewing.
And that’s exactly what the company did.
Ewing ended up partnering with Phoenix Integrated shoe executive and Pony shoes founder Robert Muller to come up with Ewing’s first signature sneaker, and Ewing Athletics was born. The company did well for the Jamaican basketball player as it brought in $100 million in 1990 after launching the previous year.
The sneaker brand did well enough to continue making money, but shut down in 1996. As his career started to come to an end, he eventually signed with Nike.
After retiring, he started his coaching career and was often seen in public. People would ask him if he would ever bring the Ewings back.
“Over the years, I’ve had a lot of people ask me when they’d see me at appearances or when I was coaching if I was ever bringing the shoes back,” Ewing said. “I just didn’t feel comfortable doing it.”
That changed in 2012 after he met shoe collector Dave Goldberg. Goldberg convinced him to bring Ewing Athletics back, and in August, the brand relaunched in 33 shoe stores across the country. The brand still flourishes today as it continues to sell the sneakers throughout the world.
Fresh for the summer, the ROGUE is back with an all new clean look. Featuring a premium tumbled White leather upper contrasted against our signature Gum sole, this all new colorway will complete your look this summer. Available now at https://t.co/LkHzC6Ru9I. pic.twitter.com/YTn3GfPXFQ
— Ewing Athletics (@EwingAthletics) June 27, 2025
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