Marshawn Lynch runs for a first down in the Seattle Seahawks’ NFC wild-card win over the Philadelphia Eagles. (Steven Ryan/Getty Images)Steven Ryan/Getty Images
Marshawn Lynch’s Beast Mode apparel line is partnering with Zoombang, the maker of a protective undergarment worn by NFL and NHL players. Zoombang affixes a stiffening polymer in key impact areas for athletes and is collaborating with the Seattle Seahawks running back on new designs as it begins to push its products to the amateur sports market.
“I’m hella excited about being a part of the Zoombang team,” says Lynch, whose Seahawks play the Green Bay Packers on Sunday in the NFL playoffs. "The technology is dope and it protects—like really, really protects. I’m wearing it when I take the field, and if you aren’t, you should be.”
Zoombang launched in 2001, with NFL stars from a prior generation—such as Ray Lewis, LaDainian Tomlinson and Donovan McNabb—being among the early adopters. Baltimore Ravens quarterback and NFL MVP frontrunner Lamar Jackson and his teammate, safety Earl Thomas, are among the current players who wear Zoombang under their pads. NHL referees wear the product during games, and there are several non-sports use cases: military, industry, law enforcement and medical.
The new Beast Mode line of Zoombang products will publicly debut at the American Football Coaches Association convention that begins on Sunday in Nashville.
Nathan Dagley and Paul Marsh—the CEO and CFO, respectively, of Dagley Insurance in Katy, Texas—acquired Zoombang six years ago and have assumed day-to-day operations of the company within the last year after the previous chief executive resigned. They recently decided to invest in making a bigger marketing push. Zoombang’s senior VP of sales, William Thompson, is a former sales rep for Riddell and equipment manager at Appalachian State; his contacts led to a meeting with Lynch’s team.
DAVID STERN’S LEGACY: A Mentorship That Felt Like Friendship
“We’ve been in the professional ranks but really haven’t had the marketing prowess or ability to go to the larger opportunity, which would be youth and high school and college,” says Dagley, who played wide receiver at the University of North Texas in the 1990s. “Beast Mode is very descriptive and very much in line with what we’re offering to the professional athletes.”
Dagley and Marsh met with Lynch a few months ago at his Bay Area restaurant. Dagley says he expected maybe a 45-minute meeting, but it turned into two hours and was followed by a trip to the nearby Beast Mode retail store in Oakland where the Zoombang executives met Lynch’s family. Dagley says that Lynch was shown multiple designs that he liked enough to try on immediately.
MODERN @THLETICS: Why Sports Clubs (Must) Innovate
Dagley raves about how “awesome” Lynch was and also about his business acumen, wanting to be protective of the Beast Mode brand. He says Lynch did due diligence and called around to NFL equipment managers for their input. Lynch has also partnered with and/or invested in Bionic fitness gloves, Skittles and Shopify, the latter of which was a charitable endeavor to bring business education to schools.
While Zoombang’s priority is protecting athletes with performance gear, Dagley knows that rack appeal is important in catering to the youth market. “With Marshawn coming onboard,” he says, “we’ll have a look and a name behind it.”
Question? Comment? Idea? Let us know at talkback@sporttechie.com
