The legendary Crispa Redmanizers, who lorded it over Philippine basketball’s landscape in the 1950s up to the 80s, are coming back.
At least in the t-shirt market. For now.
Allessandro Lorenzo “Enzo” Floro Herbosa, third of four sons of Dra. Valerie Floro Herbosa, youngest daughter of the late Redmanizers’ owner Danny Floro, announced that the family is reviving Crispa’s main product in the market.
Herbosa added that if plans do not miscarry, the company’s basketball team, which dominated the country’s cage scene in both the amateur and pros for three decades, will likewise, be reintroduced to preserve the legacy left by his grandfather in sports.
“Yes, why not?” the young Herbosa said in a separate phone interview. “We realize naman that the Crispa t-shirt became famous because of our basketball team.”
“For a start, though, let us—my brothers Angelo, Valerio and Regino, our cousins and friends—first reintroduce the Crispa brand in the market, as a quality t-shirt brand proudly made in the Philippines,” said Herbosa. “‘Yung basketball team, susunod na.”
The formal launch of Crispa t-shirt’s revival is scheduled today via social media, Herbosa’s mother Dra. Valerie, said.
Herbosa, only 23 and a lawyer, whose birthday, May 16, coincides with Danny’s, said he’s just starting his career in marketing. He and his group want to present Crispa again in the market “as a shirt that’s quality made and proudly made by Filipinos for Filipinos.”
“Behind the two-time PBA Grand Slam winning team, the Crispa Redmanizers was the Crispa t-shirt. A fun fact is that the team got its name from the “Redmanized” process, which made the shirts resilient to shrinking,“ he said by way of explaining the quality of the product.
“In short, the shirts were shrunk-to-fit, as label tags on the shirt would suggest. To this day, we still use our Crispa shirts, some of which are decades old. This is a true testament to the quality of material put into a Crispa t-shirt” he attested.
“The brand still remains popular in the older generation. However, the challenge is the awareness of the Crispa brand in my generation. The t-shirt still stays true to 100% pure cotton, just like the Crispa 400 shirts of the past,” he assured.
