Slam-Dunking Skullman® Apparel Brand, Icon of Pop Culture, Appears for Year End 2024 In Center of the World Times Square

Legendary Skullman® Apparel 2024-2025 Winter Season Collection appears in Times Square - 32 Year Longevity for the Pop Culture Iconic Brand & Symbol of Freedom

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, December 31, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Icon of pop culture Slam-Dunking Skullman^® apparel brand appears for Year End 2024 in the "center of the world" in Times Square, New York City. Skullman.com announces the latest continuation of the Brand with Officially Licensed Skullman Brand Year End 2024 Editions released for winter 2024-2025 season. The Iconic Apparel is a solid brand with an amazing over 30 year longevity. Still a most sought after brand by collectors after three decades of marketing and sales. A big part of the brand’s three decade plus popularity and longevity is it's collectibility aspect. Demand and popularity increases today. People want to own part of the story and own a piece of history and a symbol of freedom.” — Mike Thompson - Slammin Sports. Vintage editions of the T-shirts sell for hundreds of dollars online on sites like Ebay and Etsy. The brand's 30 Year milestone was celebrated in 2022.

About the Property: The brand is an independent, bona fide, licensed property created by the designer Greg Speirs and is not part of any other entity. The brand stands alone as a separate independent property owned by the designer. All licensing rights originate from and belong to the Licensor and the creator, Greg Speirs. The brand has been marketed and sold consistently for over 30 years through Skullman.com.

International Exposure:
The Lithuanian Olympic Men’s Basketball Team showed up on the Olympic medal platform, wearing the way-out Skullman^® tie-dyed basketball uniforms after clinching the bronze medal in the men's basketball competition at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games. They wowed the world, and it turned out to be something that was never before seen in the world of Olympic sports uniforms fashion.

“It’s really difficult to understand the magnitude and the significance and the impact and the power of what went down with those shirts.” said NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton. - Gannett News

“With those t-shirts, we were like the new kids on the block,” explained Rimas Kurtinaitis, a starting wing for the team who is now head coach of Lithuania’s BC Wolves.

The story began when Lithuania, one of the Baltic States' former Soviet Satellite countries, during the time of the Reagan administration, broke from the Soviet Union and gained it's newly found independence and freedom. Former Soviet player and then NBA star Sarunas Marciulionis, who was discovered by a coach at the Golden State Warriors, started rallying for donations and support for the new but financially strapped 1992 Lithuanian Olympic Men's Basketball team, with hopes of competing for the first time as a free nation apart from the Soviet Union in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Marciulionis received various monetary donations, including one from the Grateful Dead musical group. According to news reports, among the various donations the team received the Grateful Dead came into the story with a separate $5,000. donation of their own to Marciulionis, which was the part they played in this story.

The Origin of the Brand:
New York Licensor and apparel brand designer Greg Speirs also heard about the team's plight and came into this story by independently creating the Skullman^® Lithuania Tie Dye^® brand basketball t-shirts just so the team could have something fun to wear during the practice time before the actual Olympic competitions. Wearing the "Skullman Tie Dyes" energized and inspired the team. The reaction from the international Olympics audience was overwhelming. The players wore the shirts wherever they went after that. The public wanted to know where they could buy one. “The story became a major news event impacting popular culture, taking its place in Olympics history, had a major influence on the future of sports fashion and changed it forever. The Tie Dyed Slammin^® Skullman^® became a legendary household icon.” said Mike Thompson of Slammin Sports^® Listen to the podcast that uncovered the complete, true facts about the t-shirts: https://wondery.com/shows/sports-explains-the-world/episode/13843-the-skullman-cometh/

Watch the YouTube Documentary: https://youtu.be/MsbJg8iJNYE?feature=shared

The legendary apparel was highlighted in the 2012 sports and political documentary film "The Other Dream Team", Directed and produced by Marius Markevicius and Jon Weinbach, whwich celebrates Greg Speirs' iconic tie-dyed uniforms worn by the Lithuanian Basketball Team, now an historic piece of Summer Olympics' basketball history.

See IMDB bio: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3998173/

Listen to "The Other Dream Team" interview:
http://www.gregspeirs.com/greg-speirs-audio-interview-by-the-other-dream-team-documentary-film/

Read the news doc. facts.:
https://www.amworldgroup.com/blog/lithuanian-slam-dunking-skeleton-back-for-the-other-dream-team-documentary

Where the uniforms came from:
"The Skullman^® Lithuania tie dye^® basketball shirts are actually separate, independent, bona fide, licensed apparel line brought into this story, created and solely owned by the designer. It was never created as an actual team jersey by the creator, nor was it ever part of the Grateful Dead. It is a bona fide independent, licensed brand owned exclusively by the designer. All licensing rights for the property and brand always originated exclusively from the designer right from the beginning in 1992.” said Mike Thompson of Slammin' Sports. "The designer played a much more significant role in the story of the Lithuanian Olympic Basketball Team than was first reported in 1992, including with respect to the funding of the Lithuanian team. But the true facts about the accurate source of the famous jerseys and the major sponsorship have finally been brought to light." added Mike.

About Greg Speirs:
He is the former art director who created the rock n’ roll music magazine “Grooves” back in the 1970’s, designed the legendary "Monaco Monk" icicle sleds for Prince Albert of Monaco and his Olympic Monaco Bobsled Team used in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics & 1995 World Cup and collaborated in the 1970's with famed Woodstock Music Festival founder and record producer Artie Kornfeld, in particular with RCA Records. Awards: Named to Society Of Illustrator's top 500 Illustrators in America Annuals 1975 and 1976. Named to Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World.

"When the Olympics ended and demand for the shirts continued, Greg saw it as a great opportunity to help the team and chose to donate all of what would have been his profits to continue to fund the team. He licensed to the team use of his property (the shirts) to sell t-shirts for a limited time to raise money to sponsor the team and for Marciulionis' additional charities. That's why Greg is called the major sponsor of the 1992 Men's Lithuanian Olympic Basketball Team after the Olympics. He donated 100% of his profits to sponsor the team, which was the original $450,000 in the first wave of charity donated to the team (reported by Forbes Magazine) which continued sponsoring the team after the Olympics with more continuing profits going to Marciulionis and his charities which may have skyrocketed to millions according to news reports. All of the rest of Greg's profits were given to Lithuanian player Sarunas Marciulionis and the "Sarunas Lithuanian Children’s Fund" to help sick children in need, which was set up and controlled by the former Lithuania team player and NBA star who received 100% of all remaining funds with a portion used to fund Marciulionis' basketball school in Lithuania according to news reports." recalled Mike. "Any donation of funds given from the sale of a shirt ultimately came from the artist. The documented fact is that after the Olympics ended, as Licensor, it was his money that became the biggest donation to the team, to Marciulionis, to his charity and to build Sarunas' basketball school in Lithuania, because those funds came from the sales of his shirts. Only Greg had the right to release profits to charity or to anyone. 100% of his licensing profits were released to fund the team, Marciulionis and his charities." added Mike.

“The 1992 Lithuanian Basketball Team represents what happens in freedom…people excel. The Lithuanian Slam-Dunking Skullman^® represents rising from nothing. Like a Phoenix from the ashes to slam-dunking a flaming basketball. It's not a dead skeleton, but the Skullman is alive and represents rebirth and a new life. When you are free you have the opportunity to succeed as an individual while still being part of a team. It was not only a victory in Olympic sports, but it was as if it were an overall triumph over communism itself. It's about freedom and free enterprise." recalled Speirs.

The artist's uniforms were listed as one of the Ten Olympics Games' most memorable team uniforms in modern history in The National News' "Lifestyle/Luxury" article, by Sarah Maisey July 26, 2024.

The uniforms were “enshrined” in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. on Dec.7th 1993, below a giant 12ft. x 8ft. 3-D incarnation of the legendary Slam Dunking Skeleton. Marciulionis' jersey was also added to the collection by the Basketball Hall of Fame's curator Mike Brooslin at the time.

See link: http://www.lithuaniatshirt.com/basketball%20hall%20of%20fame.htm

Vintage editions of the shirts sell for hundreds of dollars online at sites like EBay. The Original 1992 Skullman Lithuania Tie Dye^® T-Shirts and the 2024 Edition Tees, Hats, Caps, Hoodies and more are available on the www.Skullman.com website. Some of the 2024 Collector's Editions even have Special Commemorative Patches and Embroideries.

Official Licensor of the Original Lithuania Tie Dye^® Brand Apparel & Merchandise. 1992 © Copyright & Trademark^® property of Greg Speirs. Lithuania Tie Dye^® & the Lithuanian Slam Dunking Skeleton^® and all related trademarks, indicia and symbols are Official Trademark Brands and Licenses of Greg Speirs. Official Licensor/ Exclusive Source. All licensing rights originate from their owner Greg Speirs. Copyright 1992. All rights reserved.

Mike Thompson
Slammin' Sports
licensing@skullman.com
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Officially Licensed 2024 Edition Original Lithuanian Slam Dunking Skullman® T-Shirts with a touch of tie dye in production for the 2024- 2025 Winter Season.