Freshnessmag presents the 3 Kings

Rev Run may be the most influential non-athlete sneaker endorser in the world. In the late 80′s, as part of the legendary Run DMC, Rev Run and his group mates released the hit “My adidas,” which led to the group signing a $1.6 million dollar endorsement deal with adidas. That endorsement lead to the adidas Superstar sneaker becoming a pop culture phenomenon with sales that reached the hundreds of millions – or perhaps even into the billions. Then in the late 90′s, when brother and mogul Russel Simmons started working on the Phat Farm Phat Classic sneaker, Rev Run was once again called to be the celebrity endorser. The Phat Classic sneaker became another successful pop culture mainstay, and it enjoyed sales nearing the $1 billion mark. Now in the 2000s, after a chance meeting, Rasheed Young was introduced into the ‘Run’ family, and from this meeting Run Athletics was born. And from Run Athletics, the next generation of footwear endorsements was created under the ‘Run’ family. Daughters Angela and Vanessa Simmons, and son Diggy Simmons are now the face of and run sneaker brands Pastry and Chiv Culture. Pastry also became a huge hit with revenues grossing in the $200 million range; the latest brand Chiv Culture is poised to become another promising run away hit. With the Phat Classic, Run Athletics, Pastry and Chiv Culture, one man can be credited with getting them off the ground: Solomon Dabah, the President of the Vida Group. Freshness recently caught up with Rev Run, Rasheed Young, and Solomon Dabah, to talk about building this footwear empire, in the two-part mini-documentary “The Three Kings”. Check out the trailer above, a few behind the scenes photos below, and be on the look out for Part 1 of The Three Kings on April 16th, 2011, exclusively on Freshness.

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