Starburys Are Coming BACK (Again): Stephon Marbury Says He's Bringing Back His $15 Basketball Shoe Next Summer

Complex - Starbury is back. Well, not quite yet. But the brand founded by former NBA star Stephon Marbury that became famous for its $15 sneakers from 2006 may be making a comeback next year, according to the man himself.

I got the chance to talk to Marbury on his birthday last month. He came into the Complex office sporting a full Stone Island sweatsuit with light-changing wraparound Chamelo glasses, and a smile. Yes, we talked about his first sneakers that changed his life, the Air Jordan 3s. Yes, we talked about the time he brought out a pair of New Balance 801s on the cover of SLAMMagazine, thanks to Russ Bengtson. On the topic of the 801s, he said New Balance maybe should have given him a kickback for that shoe selling over a million pairs in Foot Locker.

But more importantly, we talked about Starbury—where the brand was in the past and what its future will be in a few years.

“I want to drop it next summer,” Starbury says about the potential return of Starbury. “Because after 2025, going into 2030, we’re going to see a whole new breed of athletes.” 

Once every few months I'm reminded of a magical place called Steve & Barry's. There was a brief few year stretch in my life, probably the peak of my hometown Bowling Green, Ohio's existence, where our complete wasteland of a local mall added a Steve & Barry's. Steve & Barry's moved in where the indoor skate park used to be. Almost certainly the largest piece of available real estate in town. Picture an whole ass Dick's Sporting Good's, but instead of being filled with a wide variety of apparel and equipment for every sport under the sun, it was stuffed wall-to-wall with non-officially licensed college & university sweatshirts and t-shirts. T-shirts were $5. Sweatshirts were $10 (I think.. they may have even been less). 

They had the most random colleges and universities you could imagine. Almost every shirt and sweatshirt was the same. The school's primary color was the base, and the school's name was written across the chest in block letters. For example... 

Then every once in a while you'd find a sweatshirt that actually did have an official logo. I'm not sure if Steve & Barry's paid to use them, or if they were using the old school Barstool strategy of "sell as many units as possible until you get a cease & desist letter then pull them down immediately". But I remember one time I scored a sick $5 black Texas Longhorns t-shirt with the actual logo. Like this but with the colors reversed. 

There was also a leather jackets section. Which I didn't think were cool at the time, but from what I'm seeing online right now, they were actually pretty sick.

If my memory serves me correctly, they also had jeans. And I'm sure I'm missing some other signature Steve & Barry's items as well. But Steve & Barry's was primarily about the t-shirts and sweatshirts. Everybody in town had a collection. I remember whenever our travel hockey team hosted a tournament in Bowling Green, one of the teams from out of town would inevitably make a trip to S&B's, then show up to their next game decked out in Rutgers, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Robert Morris, etc. etc.

Sorry I got distracted by nostalgia there for a second. The one other thing I remember about Steve & Barry's, which to many people is probably their lasting legacy, is that they were the home of Stephon Marbury's game-changingly affordable basketball shoe, the Starbury. Out of the goodness of his heart, Stephon Marbury wanted to give kids across the world a functional, stylish, and above all reasonably priced shoe. They hit the shelves of Steve & Barry's for $15 a pair.

Bloomberg. Getty Images.

David Sherman. Getty Images.

I can't exactly speak for how they were received by the rest of America. I wasn't even on the internet enough to know what the national reaction to the Starbury was. But in my small town of Bowling Green, they were nothing more than a punchline. None of my basketball playing friends were going to be caught dead on the court in a pair of Starbury's. Nobody was wearing Starbury's to school. In Bowling Green, Ohio, you were most likely to find a pair of Starbury's on the ends of some Cookie Monster pajama pants. They were never cool. Again, I don't know how they were received in big cities, or inner-cities, or literally anywhere else than in rural northwest Ohio. We probably weren't quite the demographic. But considering the Starbury's were released in 2006, and taken off the shelves when Steve & Barry's went out of business in 2009, I'm guessing they didn't do too great anywhere in the country. They never fully broke into the mainstream shoe market. 

But now Stephon Marbury wants to bring them back. Again. I swear when I saw this story I was having déjà vu. Because in 2016, Stephon Marbury made this exact same announcement. 

ESPN (2016) - Former NBA star Stephon Marbury has built his basketball legacy in China by winning three championships for the city of Beijing, but he brought more than just his game overseas. In the past year, Marbury has relaunched his Starbury sneaker line, focusing on affordable basketball and lifestyle shoes inspired by his time in the country.

"I'm from the housing projects, where people can't afford $150 shoes," Marbury told ESPN.com. "I was one of those kids who wished to have shoes at that price, but my parents couldn't buy shoes at that price. Putting food on the table was more important than owning a pair of pricey shoes.

"Now that [I've] lived in China for so many years, I've learned that shoes that cost $150 don't cost that much to make, which drives me, even more, to continue building my brand globally for more people to have an opportunity to buy shoes at an affordable price. My brand is for the people who can't afford, and those in need."

Did that ever happen? Did Starbury's ever hit the market again in 2016? Those aren't rhetorical questions. I'm genuinely asking. Because all I can find are articles about Stephon Marbury bringing the shoe back in 2016, but nothing about any actual re-launch. So I'm assuming Stephon never quite got around to it. But according to him, the re-launch is still in the works. He plans to bless the streets with another round of affordable Starbury's in Summer 2026. 

Part of me thinks Starbury round 2 could be a hit. But I'm not sure his desired demographic is going to be who he thinks it will. I still don't think there's ever a world where a kid is going to want to play basketball in a pair of cheap shoes. Even kids growing up in poverty who play basketball. They may wear Starbury's for a time, but they won't want to be wearing them. Unless the shoes are crazy levels of functional and add a full inch to your vertical, the minute a kid saves up a little money, or has a chance to upgrade to a pair of Jordan's, they're going to do it. But a guy like me? A guy who doesn't play basketball but remembers the Steve & Barry's Era fondly. Who doesn't mind spending a negligible amount of money on a pair of shoes as kind of a joke. I'd buy a pair. They're a fun conversation starter. I can almost see them catching on in weird fashion circles. I could see a guy like Justin Beiber half-ironically rocking a pair of Starbury's along with a $2,000 pair of jeans. Or people like ESPN analyst who think wearing loud colorful basketball shoes with their suits is a normal look. I don't know if the Starbury will ever catch on as a practical on-the-court basketball shoe, but Starbury's have enough lore that they might do well with an older millennial crowd. 

Of course that's all contingent on Stephon Marbury ever actually getting around to launching them. If only he could bring Steve & Barry's back along with them. If Stephon could somehow revive Steve & Barry's along with his Starbury's, I promise I'd be his number #1 customer. I'd by 10 pairs of Starbury's on drop day if it meant I got a brand new Steve & Barry's in my town. I know nowadays you can get everything Steve & Barry's sold (and more) on the internet. But it's not the same. There was something magical about walking into a S&B's. I miss it dearly. 

Good luck with your shoe Stephon. Here's a highlight reel.