19nine is a basketball apparel and lifestyle brand with deep roots in Evansville, Indiana, best known for recreating classic college basketball uniforms and producing retro-inspired shorts, shirts, jerseys, hats and other apparel based on memorable teams and eras in basketball history.

Founded in 2012, 19nine grew from a small T-shirt operation started by four friends into a nationally recognized basketball brand with licensing agreements covering dozens of major college programs.

The company’s Evansville connection runs particularly deep. Two of its founders, Josh Barnett and Kevin Spahn, grew up in Evansville and graduated from local high schools. Barnett attended Reitz High School, while Spahn graduated from Mater Dei High School.

Over time, 19nine became especially known among serious college basketball fans for something that major apparel companies often overlooked: nostalgia.

Rather than concentrating only on current teams and current uniforms, 19nine looked backward.

The company recreated the shorts and styles associated with specific teams, tournament runs and eras — the uniforms basketball fans remembered from childhood, March Madness and the glory days of college basketball.

That niche eventually took an Evansville-connected company into the larger world of basketball fashion and culture.

How 19nine Began

The origins of 19nine were far less glamorous than the company’s later national licensing deals.

The company began around 2012 with four friends.

According to co-founder Josh Barnett, the group initially began making shirts connected to a charity event honoring a friend who had died from melanoma. People liked the shirts and began asking how they could get them.

That reaction helped plant the seed for a business.

Barnett and the other founders were also frustrated by the college apparel available to them as fans.

Two of the founders had attended Indiana University, while the other two had attended Michigan State University. When they returned to their college campuses, they struggled to find apparel they actually wanted to wear.

Instead of accepting what was available, they began making their own.

The earliest version of 19nine was essentially a T-shirt company.

There wasn’t a huge corporate headquarters, national distribution network or collection of major NCAA licenses.

In fact, Barnett has recalled that the company initially didn’t even have a website.

One of its earliest product launches consisted of only a couple dozen shirts promoted through Facebook.

It was a remarkably small beginning for a company that would eventually produce officially licensed apparel for some of the most recognizable college basketball programs in America.

What Does “19nine” Mean?

The company’s unusual name is itself a piece of basketball history.

19nine refers to 19 feet, 9 inches.

That was the distance of the traditional men’s college basketball three-point line for many years.

The NCAA adopted the three-point shot for men’s basketball nationally for the 1986–87 season, with the arc positioned 19 feet, 9 inches from the basket.

For a company built around basketball nostalgia, the name was perfect.

It wasn’t simply a random number.

It represented an era.

The old 19-foot-9 three-point line was part of the college basketball world in which many of the teams celebrated by 19nine originally played.

The name also reflected the founders’ love of shooting three-pointers and Indiana’s larger obsession with basketball.

Evansville Roots

Although 19nine’s early operations were associated with Indianapolis, Evansville became an important part of the company’s identity.

Co-founder Josh Barnett is an Evansville native and Reitz High School graduate who later attended Indiana University.

He also spent years working in education.

Barnett taught in Indianapolis before returning to Evansville and teaching at Washington Middle School. For years, he worked on 19nine while also maintaining a career in education.

Eventually, the apparel company grew large enough to become his full-time career.

Barnett left teaching in 2020 to concentrate on 19nine.

The company’s headquarters subsequently became associated with Evansville, Indiana, giving the city an unusual connection to a brand selling basketball apparel to fans across the country.

From T-Shirts to Basketball Shorts

The decision that transformed 19nine was moving beyond T-shirts.

Around four years into the business, the company began focusing heavily on retro college basketball shorts.

That changed everything.

Instead of simply producing another line of college T-shirts, 19nine began recreating something basketball fans had strong emotional connections to:

the uniforms they remembered.

College basketball uniforms are closely connected to specific moments.

A certain pair of shorts can immediately remind a fan of a championship game.

A color combination can recall a famous NCAA Tournament upset.

A particular pattern might evoke a legendary player, coach or Final Four run.

19nine realized those memories had value.

The company eventually shifted its identity toward becoming a brand devoted specifically to college basketball history and culture.

The First Four Schools

Breaking into officially licensed collegiate apparel wasn’t easy.

Universities closely control their names, logos, colors and trademarks, and a small company cannot simply begin reproducing famous uniforms without permission.

19nine had to obtain licenses.

When the company began producing its retro shorts, four schools were among the first to approve the concept:

Indiana University

Purdue University

Butler University

and, appropriately,

the University of Evansville.

That meant Evansville wasn’t merely the hometown connection to the company.

The Purple Aces were part of the early development of the product that would help define the 19nine brand.

The 1988–89 Evansville Purple Aces Shorts

One of 19nine’s early retro-short releases recreated the uniforms of the 1988–89 University of Evansville men’s basketball team.

That particular team holds an important place in UE basketball history.

The Purple Aces won 25 games and reached the NCAA Tournament.

There, Evansville defeated Oregon State 94–90, earning the program’s first NCAA Division I Tournament victory.

The game ended dramatically when Reed Crafton hit a long shot late in the contest, producing one of the most memorable moments in Purple Aces basketball history.

Decades later, 19nine recreated the shorts worn by that team.

For Evansville basketball fans who remembered the 1988–89 season, the product was more than another piece of UE merchandise.

It was wearable nostalgia.

The Evansville Triplets Connection

19nine’s interest in Evansville sports history wasn’t limited to the Purple Aces.

By 2015, the company was also selling a retro Evansville Triplets shirt.

The Triplets had been Evansville’s Triple-A professional baseball team from 1970 through 1984 and played their home games at Bosse Field.

For local sports fans, a Triplets shirt represented an increasingly distant piece of Evansville history.

The team had disappeared decades earlier.

19nine brought the name back onto apparel.

That product fit perfectly with the larger philosophy behind the company: finding sports identities, teams and moments that still meant something to fans even after the original era had ended.

Basketball as Storytelling

As 19nine evolved, the company’s philosophy became increasingly centered around storytelling.

The idea wasn’t simply to ask:

What will sell?

Instead, the company searched basketball history for teams and moments that fans remembered.

That opened an enormous universe of possibilities.

There were national champions.

There were Cinderella teams.

There were legendary Final Four runs.

There were great teams that never won championships.

There were uniforms associated with famous players.

There were designs that had disappeared decades earlier but remained instantly recognizable to fans who had watched those teams.

That storytelling approach allowed 19nine to distinguish itself from larger sports apparel companies.

The company wasn’t merely selling the logo of a university.

It was often selling a specific memory from that university’s basketball history.

Recreating Basketball History

Reproducing an old basketball uniform is more complicated than simply finding a photograph.

Colors change.

Logos change.

Uniform materials change.

Old photographs can distort colors.

Original artwork may no longer exist in usable digital form.

Details that appear insignificant to a casual observer can matter enormously to the fan who watched the original team.

19nine built its reputation by concentrating on those details.

The company recreated famous uniform designs while producing them in modern materials and cuts that could actually be comfortably worn decades later.

The result was something between sports memorabilia and modern streetwear.

A customer could own shorts inspired by a favorite team from the 1980s or 1990s without wearing an actual decades-old game uniform.

Growing Beyond Indiana

Indiana basketball provided natural territory for 19nine.

The state has one of America’s strongest basketball traditions, and the company’s early licenses included Indiana, Purdue, Butler and Evansville.

But 19nine’s ambitions expanded well beyond Indiana.

The company began acquiring licenses from programs across the country.

Its catalog eventually included schools associated with some of the most recognizable teams and moments in college basketball history.

By the time of the company’s 2024 acquisition, 19nine reportedly held licenses with more than 80 colleges and universities.

That was an extraordinary evolution from a company whose earliest shirts were sold through Facebook before it even had a proper website.

Kentucky’s Denim Shorts

One example of 19nine’s attention to basketball nostalgia involved the University of Kentucky’s famous 1995–96 championship era.

The 1995–96 Wildcats, nicknamed “The Untouchables,” became one of the most celebrated college basketball teams of the 1990s.

Their uniforms were memorable for another reason:

denim.

Kentucky incorporated a denim-style look into its basketball shorts, creating one of the strangest and most recognizable uniform designs in college basketball history.

19nine eventually acquired Kentucky licensing rights and recreated the unusual look.

The shorts demonstrated exactly what made the company’s niche work.

A traditional apparel company might see an outdated uniform.

19nine saw a story basketball fans still remembered.

College Basketball Culture

As 19nine grew, it increasingly positioned itself as more than an apparel manufacturer.

The brand became involved in the larger culture surrounding college basketball.

That included articles, storytelling and podcasting centered around historic teams, players and seasons.

The company’s 19Nine Podcast, later associated with the Iconic Seasons concept, featured discussions about basketball history and interviews connected to memorable teams and players.

This complemented the company’s merchandise.

A pair of shorts could lead someone into the story of a team.

The story of the team could make someone want the shorts.

The apparel and the history reinforced one another.

19nine and Fulton Park

One of the most visible examples of 19nine giving back to Evansville came through a project involving Fulton Park.

In 2023, plans were announced for 19nine and Project Backboard to work with the Evansville Parks Department on transforming the basketball court at Fulton Park.

The project called for resurfacing and renovating the court while turning the playing surface itself into a large-scale piece of public artwork.

Additional improvements included new basketball goals and plans involving bleachers, lighting and fencing.

The idea fit naturally with the company’s identity.

19nine had built a business around basketball culture.

Now it was helping bring that culture back into a public basketball space in Evansville.

The company also discussed creating merchandise connected to the project, with proceeds helping support the transformation and potentially future projects.

Giving Back to Evansville Schools

19nine’s Evansville involvement also extended into local schools.

In 2023, the company made its first Local Pioneers award, a $10,000 donation to Lincoln School.

Barnett and 19nine also donated apparel to Hangers, a clothing resource serving students within the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation.

Barnett later said one of those donations consisted of more than $50,000 worth of collegiate hoodies and T-shirts, allowing local students to receive high-quality college apparel.

The connection was particularly meaningful because Barnett himself had previously taught within EVSC.

From Teacher to Entrepreneur

Josh Barnett’s path through 19nine is one of the more unusual entrepreneurial stories connected to Evansville.

He didn’t begin as a fashion executive.

He was a teacher.

For years, the company existed alongside his career in education.

The business grew slowly.

Licenses had to be secured.

Products had to be developed.

The company had to find an audience.

Eventually, 19nine reached the point where Barnett could leave education and pursue the company full time.

What began as a side project among friends had become a legitimate national basketball apparel business.

SLAM and 19nine

The next major chapter came through SLAM, the influential basketball magazine and media brand.

SLAM has been part of basketball culture since the 1990s, combining professional basketball, sneakers, hip-hop, fashion and street culture in a way few traditional sports publications did.

That made 19nine and SLAM natural partners.

Both brands viewed basketball as more than a game.

Basketball was also fashion.

History.

Music.

Art.

Identity.

Culture.

The relationship between the companies developed over time.

An investment connected to SLAM’s ownership helped expand 19nine’s business operations beginning around 2020.

Then came the major move.

SLAM Acquires 19nine

In March 2024, SLAM acquired 19nine.

At the time, 19nine had grown into a significant player in licensed college basketball apparel, with licenses covering more than 80 colleges and universities.

The acquisition combined SLAM’s merchandise operation with 19nine’s expertise in collegiate basketball apparel.

For 19nine, it represented the culmination of more than a decade of growth.

A company started by four friends making T-shirts had become valuable enough to be acquired by one of the most recognizable basketball media brands in the country.

The deal also maintained an Indiana connection, with plans connected to expanded facilities in the state.

Barnett subsequently became a vice president with SLAM Media while continuing to work from Evansville.

Why 19nine Matters to Evansville

19nine occupies an unusual place in Evansville business history.

It isn’t a century-old manufacturer.

It isn’t a regional restaurant chain.

It isn’t a large industrial employer.

It is a company built around culture.

More specifically, it was built around an idea:

Old basketball stories still matter.

Fans don’t stop caring about a team because 20 or 30 years have passed.

They remember what the uniforms looked like.

They remember where they were when the shot went in.

They remember the player they pretended to be while shooting baskets in the driveway.

They remember March.

19nine found a way to turn those memories into products.

And Evansville became part of that story.

The company’s local connections run from Reitz and Mater Dei to Washington Middle School, the University of Evansville, Lincoln School and Fulton Park.

Even the Evansville Triplets found their way into the company’s retro catalog.

Legacy

19nine began with a handful of shirts and four friends.

There was no massive apparel company behind it.

There wasn’t even a website during the earliest launch.

What the founders did have was an understanding of something particularly powerful in sports:

nostalgia.

They understood that fans weren’t always looking for the newest thing.

Sometimes they wanted the thing they remembered.

The 1987 Indiana Hoosiers.

The 1988–89 Evansville Purple Aces.

A forgotten tournament run.

An old logo.

A bizarre pair of basketball shorts.

A team that hadn’t taken the floor in decades.

19nine turned those memories into a business.

By the time SLAM acquired the company in 2024, the brand had licensing relationships with more than 80 colleges and universities and had established itself within the niche world of retro basketball apparel.

For Evansville, 19nine represents another kind of hometown success story.

A basketball-obsessed idea developed by friends with strong Evansville roots grew beyond Indiana and became part of the national basketball apparel market.

And appropriately for a company born from basketball nostalgia, its name preserves a piece of the game’s own past:

19 feet, 9 inches.

The old college three-point line.

19nine.