Why Do Knicks Stars Jalen Brunson & Josh Hart Love This Equestrian Clothing Brand? (EXCLUSIVE)
You’ve seen the hat. Maybe you watched Jalen Brunson don it on The Tonight Show a few days ago, saw it on his sister as she hugged him after the final Game Five buzzer sounded, or caught it atop countless Josh Hart tunnel fits. The simple truth is, Siegelman Stable’s hat is everywhere.
As the Knicks return home in time for a massive parade celebrating their NBA Playoffs win in downtown New York, some of its stars will be wearing custom-designed Siegelman hats and sleeveless shirts, a specific request that Hart himself made at 4am while flying back to New York after winning the big game. “Hart texted me asking for a sleeveless shirt and sent over a few references,” founder Max Siegelman says. “I designed it, and it became the first sleeveless piece we’d ever produced." Brunson got in touch shortly after to request custom championship hats for himself and the team.
Now, that's love. But why are Brunson and Hart so keen on trading their NBA Championship snapback for one with a horse-and-sulky logo on it? Clearly, it’s not just the horse, and Siegelman Stables is more than just a hat, though it did start with one.
“The brand started during the pandemic. I was stuck at home and wanted to make sweaters and hats for my dad’s racing stable. He was a racehorse trainer and also used his horses for equine therapy with kids with special needs, veterans with PTSD, and other communities who really benefited from that work,” Siegelman explains. “I made a couple of sweatshirts and hats and handed them out to family and friends. Some musicians and athletes I’d worked with before saw me reposting those pieces and started asking for them.”
The New York-based label might not have set out to become a professional athlete’s off-duty ensemble, but that’s becoming its niche — and it’s been a successful one. While the racing-cart logo might now be synonymous with Jalen Brunson’s style, it’s been a long ride for founder Max Siegelman to Brunson’s locker, let alone his wardrobe rotation.
“Early on, I got the address to the NBA bubble with basically no real relationship to any players,” He says. “I thought, ‘If this is the address for one player, it’s probably the address for all of them.’” Siegelman picked a few guys, changed the player and team name on the label, and sent them each sweatshirts and hats. “Before long, a bunch of players were wearing the pieces. Tim Hardaway Jr. was one of the first, and he’s still one of our best customers and biggest supporters.”
Six years later, gone are the days of mailing a giant box of product to an arena and praying for results. Brunson and Hart now rep Siegelman on the daily (give or take). The designer attributes their ongoing support to his acute understanding of what the players actually want. “They trust the cuts, the fabrics, the quality, and the fit,” he says. “A lot of our ready-to-wear and loungewear is styled with tunnel walks in mind, but we're just as focused on making those looks feel great for a regular person walking down the street or heading to work.”
This trust is the core of the Siegelman-Knicks relationship. By the time of the custom parade pieces, Siegelman and the players are on a texting basis. He’ll send Brunson and Hart a PDF of the new pieces, and they text him back with what they want and their sizes. “Karoline, the creative director for Siegelman, and I just got married, but even during our honeymoon, we were sending product to make sure they were set [for the playoff games].”
The couple's grind during the championship week — and their honeymoon — paid off. “The deeper they went into the playoffs, the more intense it got for us: More pieces to make, tighter timelines, more pressure. And that mirrored what they were going through on the court—the more games they won, the longer and harder the season became.” Siegelman says. “What we couldn’t plan was Jalen choosing to wear the hat into Game 5, and then on the plane home, sitting with Josh and the trophy. That ended up being one of the most iconic visuals of the entire weekend.”
The Knicks’ recent success has boosted Siegelman Stables to its highest sales to date, but the brand's success can't be measured in numbers alone.
The hats are worn by everyone everywhere from the West Village to Williamsburg. And, even though this is the year of the Knicks, it's also the year of the horse, with the ticker-tape parade as much a victory lap for the athletes as Siegelman Stable.
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