FCTRY LAb Co-Founder Omar Bailey
In a recent Q&A Interview with FCTRY LAb Co-founder Omar Bailey he talked about the future of the brand, what the brand is about and what could potentially be coming in the year 2024.
How would you best explain your brand to people who aren’t aware of FCTRY LAb and what it is about as opposed to other footwear brands?
“The Core of the company is centered around our innovation lab, which is where we can develop prototypes for shoes. Developing shoes is a difficult task and this innovation lab gives us the ability to create prototypes faster domestically. As a brand we wanted to use our infrastructure to design, develop, distribute and sell footwear, we also use our infrastructure to help support other creators like athletes, creators, influencers, and entertainers. What we are trying to do is to make entering into the footwear industry easier for everyone.”
What made you want to go after an NFL player to make a cleat and have your footwear in the NFL? What was the design process like? Was Jalen Ramsey hands on?
JALEN RAMSEY FOOT BEING MOLDED FOR HIS CLEATS
“My passion for footwear started at 7 years old and it really started with performance design by designing football and baseball cleats. As I have gone through my career I have worked with professional baseball, football and basketball players so it was important to me because I gained a lot of experience through this journey. I met Jalen Ramsey a few years ago. We happened to run into each other at the right time, and he was looking to do something different and disruptive by designing his own football cleat. We dove in head first, Jalen was extremely involved in this process. It was also helpful that we lived nearby each other so we could work on this project. The most important thing to Jalen was the fit and the construction of the cleat itself, the design part he left to me but we both worked together creating this cleat. Once we went through the design process, Jalen was very descriptive about his game and the way he plays and the way he wants to feel on the field. It was my job to translate his needs into a product that can deliver on his performance requirements he was looking for. Jalen said this was the most comfortable cleat I haves ever played in”
What was the process like getting it approved by the NFL?
“My prior experience working with athletes in baseball and basketball in the past, I knew exactly what steps we had to take in order to approve the performance of our product. Once we followed those steps I did my own testing first then I handed off the cleat to the NFL and their third party testing where they test their helmets, cleats, and pads. We got extremely positive results from them and we ranked top 5 among cleats in the NFL.”
Is the cleat specifically made for Jalen Ramsey and will it see a release date?
“For the cleat we have not decided but it is something that is possible to release in mass production. The plan for the cleat is to develop a sneaker version of the cleat or a trainer version. Our next project with Jalen is more for off the field and how he trains. Almost like a cross trainer shoe where you can do anything in them.”
Do you plan to pursue any other NFL players besides Jalen Ramsey? Or possibly other sports like basketball?
“Yes absolutely, we have had discussions with other athletes and a lot of players have taken notice with the Ramsey cleats. This is bigger than a cleat and a collaboration this cleat is more about safety and comfort for athletes. We have a lot of athletes reaching out to us about doing collaborations and making products for these athletes.”
What can we expect from FCTRY LAb heading into 2024? Are there Any more collabs and projects?
“2023 was really about establishing FCTRY LAb who we are and what we do. It started with the Knight RNR and we wanted to demonstrate that we can create and release products on our own. This next year will be a slightly different tune where we build off of everything we learned from 2023 and attach it to partners such as content creators, athletes or a rapper. We want to be able to help them launch their brand through footwear. We have about 5 collaborations for next year and there are a few other conversations happening. We have another collaboration coming very very soon in addition to Jalen Ramsey and Symba. There are some fun collaborations coming up and something really special is coming in April.”
FCTRY LAb is set to have a busy 2024 with many collaborations and sneaker releases coming over the course of next year. FCTRY LAb also has a special collaboration coming in 2024 which could potentially be announced in the summer of 2024 which Bailey explained as “Something the footwear industry will be talking about.” For now take a look down below at Jalen Ramsey’s FCTRY LAb Cleat.
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