Here’s why our Suns in 4 shirt is causing FOMO statewide.
Human history is full of unforgettable, three-word pronouncements that deserve to be immortalized:
- “Veni, Vedi, Vici.”
- “I have returned.”
- “That’s no moon.”
Now add to those: “Suns in 4.”
Ladies and gentlemen, introducing — for a limited time — the State Forty Eight Suns in 4 shirt.
The story behind “Suns in 4”
We don’t bring out a new shirt just because something is trending. Honestly, when your product line is all about Arizona, your business doesn’t follow trends unless they have something to do with … Arizona.
But this trend does. And wow, is it trending. It blew up overnight. You may have been following the reverberations, so forgive us if we give a little history that tells you stuff you already know.
It started with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and their Cinderella season. And it found a voice, and a face, in Suns superfan Nick McKellar. Nick may not have been the first to say “Suns in 4,” but he is certainly the best-known, thanks to a video that went viral after the June 11 game between the Suns and Denver Nuggets.
Nick was at game 3 of the NBA second round playoff series. The Suns were leading. The video, shot from a cell phone, shows Nick in the stands. Nick is a Phoenix native who now lives in Colorado, which explains why he went to the Pepsi Center wearing a Suns jersey, and why he appears in the video chanting “Suns in four!”
A Denver fan apparently didn’t agree with that prediction, tugged on Nick’s jersey, then poured a beer on his head. Physicality ensued. And was caught on video.
At the end of the video, the unbowed Nick looks directly into the camera, holds up all the fingers of his right hand, and repeats, for anyone who wasn’t paying pre-fight attention, “Suns in four!”
As it turns out, Nick was right. (No charges were pressed against Nick, BTW.) And now he’s enjoying his well-earned — and fought-for — moment of fame. There’s even a Nick McKellar “Suns in 4” action figure.
So why make a Suns in 4 shirt?
Really, how could we not? Nick’s unwavering support of his home state, even on foreign soil, is just the kind of desert-tough Arizona spirit that inspired us to create State Forty Eight to begin with. So we decided to help Nick’s four-fingered prophecy achieve immortality.
As one of our co-founders, Mike, told a local news station, “We created our own ‘Suns in 4’ design to add our own mix to it. We posted it right after the Suns won that game and said, ‘Hey, who wants it on a T-shirt?’”
He got his answer: “It went bananas!” Pre-orders went sky-high. You might even say “a mile high,” if you wanted to rub Denver’s nose in it. And as Mike observed, “It’s obviously a legendary postseason. It’s something to remember.” So now, the State Forty Eight Suns in 4 shirt is ready for your order.
What to expect
You can wear “Suns in 4” in two styles. In men’s sizes, it comes as one of our standard, high-quality crewnecks. In women’s sizes it comes as a flowy muscle tank. Men’s or women’s, it comes only in white. That’s because, as you can see, the design wouldn’t work on a black background.
And a striking design it is! Here are a few of the comments we’ve received:
- I love this design thank you! — Hector
- Can I get it ASAP?? — Jose
- Awesome. — Peggy
Michael also thinks it’s awesome, and added, “Thank you guys who beat the sh*t out of that nuggets fan.” We don’t want our latest shirt to incite any additional violence, but we appreciate Michael’s enthusiasm. (Also, Nick didn’t start it.)
So we join Michael and Hector and Jose and Peggy (and their new shirts), and many, many others in loudly declaring — raise four fingers and shout it with us — SUNS IN 4!