Moolah Kicks ne traži više, oni to stvaraju

Moolah Kicks is the first basketball brand designed specifically for women. Moolah, the slang term for money, is not only a nod to culture. It’s also a declaration. Women’s basketball deserves more money, and Moolah Kicks is ready to lead the way.

Last month, the company launched its Neovolt Pro model exclusively at DICK’S Sporting Goods. The latest design of the revolutionary basketball shoe specifically for women can be found in over 45o stores and online, doubling the young company’s reach in just two short years.

Additionally, the company announced Indiana Fever point guard and former NCAA National Champion Destanni Henderson as a brand ambassador.

“The shoes are more comfortable than anything I have ever worn before, and the quality is definitely there. I am excited to partner with Moolah Kicks and be an ambassador for a brand I believe in,” Destanni Henderson said in the company release.

Further, Henderson appreciated the business synergy with Moolah Kicks. “As an entrepreneur myself, I love that fact that Moolah Kicks is a women-owned brand dedicated to making premium performance basketball shoes exclusively for women and girls.”

Natalie White founded the company in 2020 while attending Boston College. She was tired of seeing women play in sneakers designed with boys and men in mind. Yes, there have been women with signature basketball shoes, starting with the Air Swoopes. However, as White taught me, the biometrics of all basketball sneakers are designed based on the male foot form.

“Female players have been playing in sneakers that are built and fit for men labeled unisex, and that has a huge negative performance implication,” White said. So, she sought to change that.

“Entrepreneur means I did that sh*t by myself”

Imagine for a minute White’s journey from diligent research to nearly 500 retail stores carrying the Neovolt Pro, narrated by Issa Rae’s hilarious Emerging Entrepreneur Award acceptance speech.

“I’ve had to do everything from A to Z. I had to do things I didn’t even know existed. But, how I started is by always doing things that needed to get done,” White told me. That started with creating was is known as a last.

“Every single shoe in the sneaker or footwear creation process, the materials are pulled over top of essentially what is a skeleton of a foot,” White explained. So as she set out to design the first shoe biometrically created for women, she had to start with good bones.

‘The female foot form has a more narrow heel, has a more lifted arch, a slimmer width, and actually has slightly less volume on the lateral top side of the foot … and those small those small differences create huge differences over time,” White told me.

Wearing a shoe that does not take these slight but genuine differences into account creates a higher risk of injury, says White. So countless hours of research and discovery conversations with athletic trainers, athletes, doctors, and other experts led to Moolah’s first design, which has been improved for the Neovolt Pro.

“Did I know anything about creating a last? Not when I started. But by the end, consulting trainers, experts, doctors, and people in this space, working with the top last manufacturer in the world, and starting to do the testing, I quickly learned what the business would need and what the shoe would need to create the best last.”

With all that easy stuff out of the way, next up was the design.

The latest model features what Moolah Kicks calls a high-energy return midsole for faster push-off. The Neovolt Pro also features a stability control heel clip that powers a quicker first step and a webbing lacing system for a custom fit and extra give for the athlete who may choose, or require, additional ankle support such as a brace.

The first Moolah Kicks promotion was shot outdoors in the winter because that’s what the “bootstrapping” financial model, as White put it, could afford. However, those days are gone. After cold emailing her company into 140 Dick’s Sporting Goods stores for the Phantom One model, White is eager to expand the partnership and once again have Dick’s as the exclusive retailer of Moolah Kicks.

And in case you are wondering, Moolah Kicks does have a team of staff to help with the heavy lifting these days. I was able to visit the New York City offices and cop my very own pair of the NeoVolt Pros.

Astounding Growth

Moolah Kicks had a successful first launch, secured funding and endorsement from Mark Cuban and the newly launched DSG Ventures, a $50 million fund “that will invest in early-stage companies that believe in the life-changing power of sports.” Moolah Kicks is one of five companies identified in the first round of funding.

“The investment by DICK’S Sporting Goods, coupled with our distribution partnership, has propelled the Moolah Kicks brand from a basketball start-up to a category pioneer with a national footprint,” White said in the DSG Ventures release earlier this month. “We could not be more encouraged by DICK’S Sporting Goods’ continued commitment to providing performance products specifically for female athletes.”

In addition to Henderson, Moolah Kicks signed University of Connecticut guard Caroline Ducharme to a NIL deal. Moolah Kicks signed 40 NIL deals and 116 AAU teams last year over the summer. As the company grows, the long-term vision remains the same: growth and success for women’s basketball by the women’s basketball community.

“Every dollar that we earn naturally goes back into either more products for female basketball players or higher marketing and sponsorship dollars within women’s hoops,” White said.

She is adamant that her company remains exclusively in women’s basketball. Natalie White and Moolah Kicks are not asking for male-centered basketball companies to make space. Instead, white and Moolah Kicks are growing opportunities for women’s basketball by doing business in women’s basketball.

“We don’t need to ask anymore. We are able to launch our own growth and our own opportunities within the sport.”

The Neovolt Pro retails at $125.00, the Neovolt Pro and is available in four colorways nationally at Dicks Sporting Goods and online at dickssportinggoods.com and moolahkicks.com.