ABA announces apparel plans

March 16, 2007 - American Basketball Association (ABA) News Release


Indianapolis, IN. The American Basketball Association (ABA) (OTCBB: ABKB) today announced that it has signed a letter of intent with International Apparel Group, Inc. for the creation of ABA Apparel, LLC. The professional basketball league is fostering this potentially lucrative partnership in order to capitalize fully on the rapid expansion of the ABA, its increased globalization efforts and the new status of the league as a publicly-traded entity. ABA Apparel will have the exclusive rights for the development of ABA on and off court team apparel and retail merchandise. ABA Apparel will enable the league to maximize its profitability in an area that has been extremely successful for other professional sports leagues including retail sales of licensed apparel. It will also allow the league to create uniformity, consistency and creates the potential for revenue sharing with its member teams. The ABA anticipates that an estimated 60 plus teams will be playing in the US, Canada and Mexico for the 2007-2008 season and it expects the league to grow to its target of 100 teams over the next 4-5 years.

International Apparel Group, Inc (IAG) is a division of Total Luxury Group, Inc., which is a publicly-traded company on the OTC BB (Symbol TLEI). IAG creates functional and lifestyle apparel that appeals to a broad range of retail consumers due to cutting edge designs, competitive pricing, and associations with famous, dynamic personalities in sports and music. The company has also implemented a successful and growing, full-service private label design and production program, serving recognizable names like Converse, the oldest sneaker and athletic apparel brand in the US; Randy Moss Clothing, a new line from one of the NFL's highest profile players as well as official licensed apparel and jerseys for the NIFL, and other professional sports leagues. IAG is expanding through key acquisitions, joint ventures and licenses. The company is actively pursuing potentially lucrative volume-based alliances with US retailers, international distributors and has established key relationships with a consortium of manufacturing facilities around the globe. IAG will experience immediate growth and achieve economies of scale that will position it as an industry leader with a diverse stable of apparel brands.

Janon Costley, IAG President stated, "I am extremely excited about the potential of this relationship. We have witnessed the rapid expansion of the ABA over the last several years. By analyzing the league and its target audience, we feel that we have put together a good strategy that will appeal to the league, the teams, the fans and the average consumer that will allow ABA Apparel to succeed at a league level and in various retail categories." Costley continued, "We started our first company several years ago by focusing on sports apparel. Since that time we developed products in many different apparel categories for company owned brands and for companies such as Converse, Inc. We feel that the ABA partnership brings us full circle by allowing us to utilize these experiences to assist in building an apparel brand for the ABA."

"We are very pleased to be able to form this partnership with IAG," stated Joe Newman, ABA CEO. "Because of the size of the league and our expansion into Mexico and Canada, we have been approached by many apparel companies. IAG is an outstanding company. Their design team is extraordinary, they understand our league and its objectives, they have tremendous reach into the retail market and they are very knowledgeable about the sports apparel industry. We are really looking forward to working with them to maximize the potential that this extraordinary opportunity provides for the league and its teams. Complete plans will be announced shortly."

Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.



American Basketball Association Stories from March 16, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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