From 33 Days in the NBA to a $30 Million Movement: The Rise of Actively Black

Lanny Smith spent his whole life chasing the NBA. He got there, and then it was gone in about a month. A little over 33 days into his professional career, a knee injury during a Sacramento Kings practice destroyed the cartilage in his knee and ended the dream he had built his identity around. That ending, as it turned out, was the start of something far bigger.

A former University of Houston star who went undrafted, Smith found himself back home in Texas, broke, depressed, and wondering who he was without basketball. He learned the apparel business the hard way, launching a faith-based sports brand called Active Faith in 2010 that did 100,000 dollars in its first year. It was a start, but it was not yet the idea that would define him.

That idea arrived in 2020. As the country moved through the COVID-19 pandemic and a national racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd, Smith launched Actively Black, a Black-owned athleisure brand built on a simple, pointed question. He had spent his life wearing athletic brands that profited off Black culture, Black talent, and Black dollars without Black ownership, and he asked, why not build our own?

Actively Black did 2.1 million dollars in year one.

Five years later, the brand has generated more than 30 million dollars in revenue, and the resume reads like a highlight reel. Actively Black outfitted Nigeria's 2022 Winter Olympic team, landed a Disney and Marvel licensing deal for a Black Panther: Wakanda Forever collection, collaborated with Allen Iverson, appeared as selectable gear in NBA 2K, and was named to Fast Company's Brands That Matter list. But Smith is clear that the mission underneath it all is ownership, not just sales.

He has built the brand to keep Black dollars circulating in Black hands, what he calls dirt to shirt. Actively Black sources premium cotton from Black farmers, and in 2026 the brand began reshoring its manufacturing to the United States, debuting a Juneteenth collection made from certified Black-grown cotton and produced through a fully Black-owned supply chain. For Smith, every step of the process is a chance to sustain Black livelihoods, not just sell a hoodie.

Nowhere has that vision landed harder than the runway. At New York Fashion Week, Actively Black turned its show into what Smith insisted was not a fashion show but a living archive of Black history. Civil rights icon Ruby Bridges walked the runway alongside the daughters of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and photographer Cecil Williams, while Lauryn Hill, Dapper Dan, and Tyrese filled the room. It moved people to tears and became one of the most talked-about moments of the week, not for the clothes, but for the culture.

Smith's challenge to Black America is blunt. Black consumers spend an estimated 30 billion dollars a year on apparel, and he argues those dollars should circulate back into Black communities through brands that celebrate and sustain the culture rather than merely borrow from it. Luxury, he says, is not a label, it is the culture that drives global trends, and Black people have always been that engine. His brand's stance says it plainly: boldly Black, unapologetically Black, obviously Actively Black.

You can explore Actively Black and shop the brand at activelyblack.com.