How Stria Sport Is Changing The Basketball Shoe Game

Picture this. A basketball shoe and apparel line ran solely by former basketball players. Sounds too good to be true right? Well, it’s not. Their name is Stria Sport, and it’s a name that you are soon to become very familiar with. Stria Sport has spent the better part of these last two years operating pretty much solely by word of mouth, and now they are ready to start changing that.

Approved by the NBA last season and in the last year, have had over 40 professionals across the NBA/G League and Overseas wear their shoes. The goal with Stria was to create the most comfortable and lightweight performance shoe while maintaining an affordable price, and the reviews have ranked them the 4th best shoe to release in 2020, making them the only non-major brand on the list. Stria has the ability to do custom shoes with personal or team logos which has been very hot for the brand.

Stria Sport is continuing to expand in 2022, with global rave reviews to match. We caught up with Porter to talk about where the brand has been and where they are going.

ONE37pm: Great to be talking with you, Eric! How was the concept of Stria Sport developed?

Porter: I’ve been a sneakerhead my whole life, and always wanted to have my own shoes. I got through playing in college and still had a passion for shoes, so I decided to just make one. It was early in the summer of 2018. I met some buddies and got connected with a former Nike exec. We understood what we wanted to do and spent seven months designing and a year-and-a-half overseas. Then the pandemic hit, and it kind of stalled things. Ultimately we decided that we didn’t want to wait any longer, and we put out the shoe.

ONE37pm: Now the Stria Sport team is composed of all college basketball players. How did that come to be?

Porter: I’m 26, and my buddies are all around the same age. We’re all friends, we all played basketball, and this is something that we decided to do our way using our experience and knowledge from growing up and playing. We constantly think about what would be good in terms of shoes, and it’s cool seeing people wear our sneakers. Our shoes are not just for basketball, they can also be used for volleyball, pickleball, or whatever we feel for the moment. So far we have primarily been using our connections along with word of mouth to promote, and we’ve been getting orders every day.

ONE37pm: What’s in store for the future? Stria has an old-school vibe that is pretty dope!

Porter: Well that was what we were aiming for from an industry and marketing standpoint. We went back to about ten years ago in terms of our design, and we’ve kept it simple with eight neutral colorways, along with a lightweight design, comfort, and affordability. We wanted something non-flashy, and we feel like we hit it on the head.

We want to totally keep expanding, and we are working on that already in terms of our basketball shoes and apparel line. We want to keep growing and show that you can really chase your dreams into a reality. Our 107 line is named after I hit 107 threes in a row, and it has sold out. So growing is definitely the goal.

You can continue to keep up with Stria Sport via their official website.