Why Ryan Gordon Took the Entrepreneurial Leap to Redesign Basketball Shoes
Ryan Gordon’s love of basketball and social justice fueled his dream to redesign the basketball shoe. Images c/o Common Enemy.
Ryan Gordon’s love of basketball started early on. As the youngest in a busy family of six, basketball always provided an anchor point for Gordon to rally around, a place to clear his head and be in the present of playing the game. This passion propelled him into his 20-year career, first working in the footwear industry leading commercial strategy for global brands like PUMA and Keen, and now as the founder of his own company, Common Enemy. He worked with an all-star crew to bring his brand to life, including execs and design developers from Reebok, adidas, And1, and even Vans.
Noting all of those brands, plus the giant Nike, where does Gordon see Common Enemy standing out? The first is the custom-designed herringbone sole, a well-tested solution to the biggest ask from players for strong traction on any surface they play on. And, second, developing timeless style designs that hold up for years. In an era of weekly drops, Gordon and team are stressing long-term value and thoughtful consumption.
Here, Gordon goes deeper into why he redesigned the basketball shoe; what it felt like to leave global brands to strike out on his own; and how his love of basketball influenced his career choice.
Portrait of a basketball player wearing Common Enemy shoes.
Why redesign the basketball shoe?
With a lot of signature athlete shoes in the design world, new redesigns happen every season as a kind of dramatic push towards the “new” and “the updated.” And that’s counter to how things were for many years in the industry. I wanted to return to that idea of establishing timeless silhouettes, to take some of the pressure off of those constant redesigns or re-implementations of designs. I’ve seen it resonate with players when we slow down and rally around the stuff that we love and make incremental improvements over years.
What’s your unique point of view with Common Enemy?
I wanted to establish this notion of a timeless universal design that applies to the most amount of players and games. That was the ethos behind the more understated, minimalist design to our shoe, The One.
Why timeless? If you could generate revenue from drops every week, why is timeless better?
We have a strong social mission, and we feel like there is a tie-in with being slightly averse to conspicuous consumption. We stand behind the philosophy of “less is more.” And there is a customer service component to it as well. We see basketball shoes as critical to playing the game, from sublateral movement support to cushioning for an enormous amount of motion. But ultimately, it’s still a problem you’re trying to solve, to get out and to do something that’s healthy. We want to remove some of those barriers, perhaps less of a fashion play and more of a function play.
What is the most challenging aspect of designing a basketball shoe?
The hardest part of designing a basketball shoe is recognizing that there are countless aesthetic tastes. Shoes are such a large cultural marker, so you’re looking at a lot of history. All that is to say, it’s going to be a total crapshoot. You’re trying to apply your own personal tastes and aesthetics and see how far you can extrapolate that out to the most amount of customers.
We partnered with Robert Purvy, who was the Global Head of Basketball at Adidas. We wanted to start with expertise, obviously. We knew that this was going to come down to real-time wear testing. Before launch, we had 20 different live play wear tests occurring across the country for R&D.
What were some of those biggest learnings?
The first design iteration was based off of this dual strap design in lieu of laces. We had some tearing occurring, which was tough because we liked the distinction of this two-strap holding system from an aesthetic standpoint. It was a “form versus function” moment for us. We ultimately went with laces because we realized what we might lose in form, we gained more with getting the function right.
The herringbone pattern is on the sole of Common Enemy’s basketball shoe and it helps players with traction.
What were the most important elements players wanted in their shoes?
The number one concern is traction: being able to play on different surfaces and get out into a dusty corner on an outdoor court, especially during the pandemic. To address this, we designed a herringbone pattern on the sole. The pattern is historically a go-to for basketball shoes, and in fact originates from boating shoes!
It’s a go-to for basketball because it works so well for multi-directional movement and across so many designs. It allowed our designer free reign on establishing a distinct aesthetic while we took comfort in the historical precedent. But of course the quality of the product had to be tested for validation, and we logged hundreds of hours to ensure it worked on multiple surfaces compared to the best of the best.
What has it been like to leave the security of a global brand and take the leap to start your own business?
The most interesting thing is the empowerment of the decision making process. When you remove that red tape, it can expedite the process of the decision making. But sometimes when you have those management layers forcing the original owners to slow down, it can be a boon to the idea itself. As the final decision maker without those guardrails, I realize the importance of applying discipline because it makes the idea better in the long run.
What is a key lesson you’ve learned about building a business, while being in the thick of building your own business?
I’m sensitive about asking people for things. One of the hardest parts of starting this business is being willing to ask people for support. It’s critical to success. And they’re not going to hold it against you.
What is your special sauce that you bring to this company?
I can’t purport to know or even measure the level of passion that might be reflected from competitors as it relates to this game. I can tell you, however, the passion that I have for the sport, playing it firsthand for 25 years at a recreational level and what it’s meant to me from a physical, mental, and community standpoint. It can’t be overstated how important basketball is to my life.
I see the game as a larger embodiment and terrific symbol of public health in this country. And I’m aware of the need for improvements to health, well being, and dignity in this country. The sport and this need for improvements seem to be such clear bedfellows to me. That’s something that I can bring to this company — my passion for these two areas.
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