There is an old saying in sports that goes, “Look good, play good.” Though the adage has been around for a long time, it rings truer in today’s game. Athletes from the pros all the way to high school care more about how they look than ever before.
Athletes caring more about what they look like in 2023 probably has to do with the fact that people carry high-resolution cameras in their pockets and can end up on someone’s social media instantly. But it’s also because looking good builds confidence, leading to these athletes playing their best.
The latter point is exactly what Pittsburgh Steelers’ WR Anthony Miller told me recently when I asked him about TONS –- an e-commerce store in Pittsburgh.
Miller was excited a high-end store that mixes many of his favorite brands with up-and-coming fashion had opened in a city like Pittsburgh.
“I love looking my best, and it’s great to have somewhere to see and try on the brands that I could only find online before,” Miller said during the TONS grand opening event last weekend.
I grew up just outside Pittsburgh and knew the city to be gritty and full of hard-working individuals. At first thought, it did not make sense that a store like TONS would open in the Steel City, but once I walked around and talked to some people, I quickly realized that The ‘Burgh is the perfect spot for TONS.
One of the people I talked with at the grand opening event was Velissa Vaughn, a native of Pittsburgh and co-founder of JxV The Collective – a marketing and PR firm. She and her business partner Jayla Akers were there supporting their client, BTFL Studio.
Vaughn was excited to be back in her hometown, connecting a brand she loves with a store she fell in love with.
“We have a pulse in the fashion and culture scene in Pittsburgh,” she said, “and that if anyone could publicize the store, garner attention, and bring new clients, it would be us versus working with a larger agency out of New York City or abroad.”
It’s A Lifestyle in Pittsburgh
TONS owners Adam and Diana Kucenic are not just opening a fashion store in Pittsburgh, they are offering a lifestyle. They are owners of multiple restaurants in the city and are a huge part of the modern city of Pittsburgh. Adam grew up in a suburb of the city, Greensburg, and struck me as the type of person Pittsburgh is known for: hard-working sports lover with a love for doing things the right way.
Adam and I both played college football and grew up in the area. Adam played defensive line at Indiana University of Pennsylvania – a Division II powerhouse.
A lifelong Steelers fan, Adam and loves that the players come into his restaurants, and now TONS. He knows that professional athletes are real people who need places to go and feel like normal people.
TONS offers a store where they can go and shop and connect with the community. Adam and Diana are doing their best to build a community around their store and make it more than just a shop.
Vaughn was spot on when asking TONS and the lifestyle surrounding it and its customers.
“TONS is more than just a retail space,” she said. “It’s a lifestyle, an experience, an immersive artistic and architectural landscape that puts Pittsburgh on the map globally and is truly a treasure for local Pittsburgh natives, and we’re really happy to be a part of this history.”
Vaughn went on to point out how TONS isn’t rivaling other retail stores in major cities, it’s actually ahead, saying, “Jayla lives in New York City, and I live in Los Angeles and can say that this flagship rivals retail spaces located anywhere in the world.”
Steelers safety Tre Norwood was supportive of the concept, saying, “I think TONS is a great store in Pittsburgh to bridge the old school city and the new age of fashion because it’s educational.”
A lot of stores took a huge hit after COVID-19 because they could not recover from people not going to their stores. Many fashion brands rely solely on Internet shopping. But for many people, shopping in stores is a fun way to connect with their friends or loved ones.
Being able to try and touch the things they are about to buy is important when they are about to spend their hard-earned money. TONS wants people to come in and hang out and talk with their employees and other shoppers. The new age of shopping is the opposite of Internet shopping, it’s interactive, it’s an event.
New Age of Sports and Shopping
The pandemic also hit sports the same way it hit retail stores. People were forced to watch solely on TV and could no longer go to the games and interact with other fans. Now that it has passed, people are more eager than ever to go to the games and sit in the stands to support their favorite teams.
And the players are excited to have the fans around, hearing their screams and feeling their energy. The athletes of Pittsburgh can feel the support of the fans and the community at TONS which is a new way to interact.
Norwood enjoys this experience and thinks it’s important that athletes have an outlet to express themselves.
“I think it’s important for myself and other athletes across the country to be able to express ourselves because it allows us to show our personalities and things we enjoy outside our respected sport, and fashion is the most unique and expressible way to do that,” he said. “Giving fans and others who engage in sports a chance to see how we are outside our uniforms.”
The founder of BTLF Studio, Alejandro Rodriguez, was asked to speak at the TONS grand opening event. He talked a lot about bringing the feel of work clothes to TONS because he believes Pittsburgh is one of the most important working cities in American history.
The shirts BTLF Studio created to be sold exclusively at TONS had an old blueprint from the Monongahela Bridge Company, which built bridges around Pittsburgh. Rodriguez wanted to mix the rich history of Pittsburgh with modern fashion, and he did so beautifully.
Pittsburgh will always be an old-school Steelers town, but it is also changing, and the athletes are changing with it. As the times change, coaches like Mike Tomlin have to learn how to motivate the new age of athletes without losing their old-school approach.
Pittsburgh, as a city, is doing the same. It is developing and becoming more modern but keeping the blue-collar feel. Pittsburgh is known for its beautiful bridges, and TONS is the bridge for the new age of Steelers football and its fans.
