Today’s guest author is Moolah Kicks’s CEO and creator, Natalie White.
Basketball has been a constant throughout my life. Being up in New York City, it was simple to develop a passion for the game.
When my teammates and I dribbled over a garbage can cones in sweltering gyms, we fantasized of playing in the NBA. We fashioned our games after those we saw on television, such as LeBron and Kobe, and on YouTube, such as Skip to My Lou and Shammgod. We admired them and were thrilled to get sneakers with their names. We never considered that wearing their shoes may have detrimental consequences.
As I grew older, the disparity between men’s and women’s basketball in terms of treatment, opportunities, and resources became more apparent. At Boston College, I managed the women’s basketball team, played club ball, and studied finance. In 2019, I came across a commercial showcasing four prominent WNBA players holding and endorsing four pairs of sneakers that were all named after NBA stars. This advertisement caused me to consider the negative societal ramifications and stigma faced by young female athletes. The advertising conveyed a clear message: As a girl’s basketball player, you can become the best, but you will be exploited to market items designed and named for males. As a lifetime supporter and player of women’s basketball, this was the sufficient inspiration for me to launch Moolah Kicks, a company that offers top-performance sneakers that fit our feet and represent our game.
I was astonished to see that just 6% of sports exercise science and research completed between 2014 and 2020 centered on ladies when completing preliminary study. This was a fantastic opportunity to conduct my own research with my women’s basketball network. To determine the design of the footwear, I consulted hundreds of sportsmen. I stood outside the basketball stadium of my college’s home games, distributing questionnaires and asking female players what they desire in a performance sneaker. During this process, I learned that the shape of men’s and women’s feet differs in four major areas, that sneakers are constructed on a “last” (the inner shape of the sneaker) that reflects male or female biomechanics, and that female athletes who play in “men’s”/”unisex” sneakers are more prone to injury. With the information in hand, we collaborated with trainers, physical therapists, and industry specialists to design a female-specific Moolah Kicks last. Once we had refined our patented last, we incorporated other cutting-edge technology, selected the ideal manufacturer, and manufactured our first model, the Phantom 1.
After we had created a wonderful shoe, we needed to get them on the market and find a partner that shared our commitment to female athletes. Early in 2021, I saw an episode of Good Morning America in which Lauren Hobart, CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods, emphasized the company’s newfound emphasis on supporting female athletes. After sending her a cold email, the corporation graciously granted me the chance to pitch Moolah Kicks. With their leadership, distribution, and funding, Moolah has grown from a tiny startup to a category leader with a nationwide presence.
The Phantom 1 debuted in more than 140 Dick’s Sporting Goods locations in November of 2021. The Phantom 1 launch was a wonderful chance for Moolah and demonstrated Dick’s dedication to serving its female athletes appropriately. In October of 2022, we introduced the Neovolt Pro model and increased distribution from 140 to more than 450 retailers.
Our partnerships with college players, regional girls’ basketball tournaments, and high-profile athletes helped increase our brand’s visibility within the basketball community while we expanded our retail footprint. As brand ambassadors, we obtained the services of Chicago Sky point guard Courtney Williams, Indiana Fever guard and NCAA national champion Destanni Henderson, and UConn player Caroline Ducharme.
Title IX has also played a significant role in the saga of the Moolah Kicks. Women’s basketball has reached a turning point as a result of the arduous work and adversities suffered by so many outstanding pioneering women in athletics and academia. We may now aspire for more than equality; we can build our own validity without needing to compare ourselves to others. When I founded Moolah, I gravitated toward phrases such as “equality” and “equity” and toward proposing remedies to the differences between men’s and women’s basketball, but this approach was myopic.
We no longer discuss equality since the comparison to men’s sports stunts our development. That diminishes the special importance of women’s basketball. By comparing women’s and men’s basketball, we establish men’s basketball as the benchmark against which women’s basketball is evaluated. When someone says, “She’ll never dunk like LeBron,” or even a “positive” statement like, “She shoots like Curry,” an unrealistic comparison is made, one that frames women’s basketball as “other” and men’s basketball as the pinnacle.
For women’s basketball to flourish, we must stop seeking legitimacy by comparing ourselves to men’s basketball. Instead, Moolah is emphasizing the independent worth of women’s basketball. Every dollar we make is re-invested into the production of additional items for women’s basketball players, the sponsorship of youngsters around the nation, and marketing, all of which result in better products and more possibilities for female ballers.
Women’s sports are flourishing, as seen by rising ratings, attendance, item sales, and participation rates. It is an honor for Moolah to be at the forefront of women’s athletic excellence and to be a driving factor in developing the next age of women’s basketball.
White, a product of Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, created Moolah Kicks in 2020.