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NBA's Dwyane Wade Loves Socks Enough to Launch a New Company

NBA's Dwyane Wade Loves Socks Enough to Launch a New Company

(Bloomberg) -- For NBA star Dwyane Wade, you can’t put your best foot forward without the right socks.

The Miami Heat guard is co-founding a new company, PKWY, where he’ll also serve as chief executive officer. It will be a joint venture with the Jay Z-backed sock brand Stance and will feature Wade’s design sense.

NBA's Dwyane Wade Loves Socks Enough to Launch a New Company

Why socks?

“I just like them,” Wade said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, while wearing a pair of Stance socks with a yellow, green and blue pattern.

Socks “are the things that kind of give your outfit just a little bit more, and it’s a special touch to you,” he said.

The new brand will be more affordable than Stance’s products, which have been worn by a slew of celebrities, including rapper Drake. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau famously donned a pair of the company’s Chewbacca-adorned socks at a United Nations General Assembly event last year.

NBA's Dwyane Wade Loves Socks Enough to Launch a New Company

The move is the next step in Wade’s five-year collaboration with Stance. In 2013, he partnered with the San Clemente, California-based company on a sock collection. PKWY socks are available at retailers including Kohl’s and Target and the company has licensing agreements with the NBA and Major League Baseball. This fall, it will launch a PKWY lifestyle collection.

PKWY isn’t the basketball star’s only business venture. He already has a line of suitcases with Away Luggage that will be available next week. That’s in addition to his wine label, tie collection partnership with Mission apparel and his online store at Amazon Fashion.

All of this may serve as a stepping stone to another dream for the 2006 NBA Finals MVP.

“I definitely want to be a part of ownership in the NBA,” he said, with the caveat that he’d need to retire first. “I’m not going to try to buy a team. I don’t have that kind of bread, but I definitely want to be a part of ownership with a great group.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Hema Parmar in New York at hparmar6@bloomberg.net;Joel Weber in New York at jweber66@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Roeder, Lisa Wolfson

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