Titan on collaboration with Brand Black: 'Open-minded and very easy to work with'

Titan has been the place for Sneakerheads to purchase the latest basketball shoes with brands like NIke, Jordan, Adidas, Under Armour and Brand Black. Speaking of Brand Black, they've been around for about 2 years. Their sneakers made their way to Philippine shores in 2015 with the release of J.Crossover II -- signature of LA Clippers Guard Jamal Crawford -- at Titan stores.

Brand Black may be new to the sneaker scene but the quality of their products have been very much up to par with top brands like Nike, Adidas and Under Armour. The Philippines is the only country in Asia crazy about basketball, it's the best place for Brand Black to market their sneakers in Asia and Titan made it possible. And the rest is history.

Sons of Anarchy inspired

This year, Titan and Brand Black collaborated to create a shoe inspired by the hit TV series "Sons of Anarchy." On August 25, the Brand Black x Titan J.Crossover III "Mr. Mayhem" LE was officially launched at Titan's flagship store in Two Parkade, Bonifacio High Street, The Fort.

"The whole concept and the story behind the shoe is basically, mahilig kami sa show na Sons of Anarchy. So, we thought of playing around the shoe using that concept. It really just started there," Titan's Co-Founder and Marketing Director said.

Milestone

Titan pitched their concept to Brand Black about a year ago. Due to a common interest in basketball, Brand Black was cool to the idea and gave Titan the seal of approval. For Raoul Reinoso, the collaboration was indeed a milestone for Titan.

"We pitched them the idea and they were cool about it. So we came up with our own design and they also got involved with the process. Obviously, the end result was this shoe. We're both happy with the outcome."

"It's a milestone for us to have our own shoe with a brand like Brand Black. It's an upstart company with their focus on basketball. There's really a common interest in the sport so it's a mutual respect with each other that's why it worked."

J.Crossover III "Mr. Mayhem"

Brand Black has already released a lot of sneakers in the market. Their latest sneaker, the J.Crossover III, has been making heads turn for many sneakerheads as of late. Obviously, it was a no-brainer for Titan work on Brand Black's flagship sneaker.

"The shoe was pretty much their latest shoe. It was logical enough to work on that shoe because that was their latest basketball shoe they came out with," Titan's Co-founder said. "So, I think it's a silhouette that's easy for us to play with and it worked for us as well."

Easy to work with

Titan clearly has a good relationship with Brand Black. Basketball has indeed brought together a lot collaborations and the like. Titan obviously had a wonderful time working with a shoe company like Brand Black. They could've collaborated with Nike or Adidas but they chose Brand Black simply because they're easy to work with.

"They're very open-minded and very easy to work with," Reinoso said. "So, it was a no-brainer for us to work with them 'cause they were open to idea of doing a shoe together. So that's why we worked with them."

The Brand Black X Titan J.Crossover III "Mr. Mayhem" LE retails for Php 7,995 and is still available at all Titan stores.