Who is Tom Austin? How is related to AND1 and what is his net worth right now?

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Between the late 90's and early 2000's, AND1 was one of the hottest brands in the basketball market. What started as a small idea by a couple of college students eventually grew to a multi-million dollar operation.

The two original co-founders were Seth Berger and Jay Coen Gilbert, but things took a turn when Tom Austin was brought on board. Together, the three came up with the idea of making a clothing line with catch phrases commonly said on the basketball court.

After initially selling their shirts out of the back of their car, the trio landed a deal with Foot Locker to get AND1 merchandise in stores. From there, the company built an entire culture based around hip-hop and streetball.

While all three co-founders played a part in the company's success, Tom Austin was a key piece to the company. He fell in love with what they were building, and put his heart and soul into getting the brand into the mainstream.

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Tom Austin's contribution to the growth of AND1 was unmatched

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Along with logging long hours to grow the company, Tom Austin had multiple ideas that led to AND1 taking off the way it did. For starters, he was the one who thought of putting phrases on shirts to sell. Without an eye-catching product like that to start, who knows if the brand takes off the way it did.

Austin's biggest contribution to the growth of the brand was with their signature shoes. In order to keep up with the likes of Nike, they decided to get in the sneaker game. However, things did not go how they hoped. Stephon Marbury wore their first shoe in his NBA debut and hurt his ankle after landing awkwardly.

Following this blunder, Austin took over the design and production of AND1's signature shoes. His models ended up becoming a big hit, even among NBA players. In his iconic dunk contest performance, Vince Carter wore a pair of AND1 sneakers. Unfortunately for them, the All-Star forward signed an endorsement deal with Nike not long after.

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It became clear how important Austin was to the operation when he decided to step away from the company for good. While he enjoyed the work, all the long hours finally caught up to him. Feeling burnt out, he felt it was time for him to resign from his position.

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After Austin left, nothing was the same. The company quickly started to downspiral, and eventually Seth Berger and Jay Gilbert sold the brand they'd worked so hard to make a household name. Now, Austin spends his time as the CEO and co-founder of a company called Masterchats.