Hoop Dream Studios: Jarrett Ellis
Jarrett Ellis, 25, was born and raised in Riverside, CA, and uses every opportunity as a way to give back to his community. From a young age, Ellis quickly learned how to make a profit. This entrepreneurial spirit was credited to his mother, who also owned her own custom basket shop. His mother taught him about eBay, where he realized there was money in this world to be made. During high school, the young entrepreneur was selling a t-shirt from his own clothing line, Xtra Kredit. From there, Ellis started to give back to his community in many ways.
Purple Rain Basketball Hoop by The Hoop Dream Studios
During Christmas, he’s giving away presents dressed as Santa. On Thanksgiving, you can find him handing out meals while wearing his XK clothes. When he’s not giving back, he is pursuing an acting career. Most recently, he played Snoop Dogg in the Tupac Biopic All Eyez on Me. All of this is impressive, yet still isn’t the reason why we’re talking about him. Ellis has been creating custom, one-of-a-kind basketball hoops that have caught the attention of many celebrities. These fancy basketball hoops look like they were made for millionaires.
These basketball hoops started at Loyola Marymount University when he took a design class called “Concepts of Form.” One of the assignments during that semester was named “A Found Object,” where the artist needed to create an art piece from an everyday object. Ellis, a devout basketball fan, knew he wanted to create something into a basketball hoop.
It takes about two to three weeks to create one, and his inspirations come from many places. It’s a combination of different areas of culture, starting with his fascination with the rococo era and all of its embellishments and extravagance. This admiration came from his time studying general history class while at LMU. There’s also his passion for basketball, which he has played and been a fan of for most of his life. Finally, Jarrett Ellis just likes to use his own style in whatever project he is working on. Ellis created the basketball hoop for the project and hung it on his dorm room wall.
People from LMU quickly noticed the hoop on his dorm room wall and asked how much. The problem was that Ellis didn’t intend to sell it until one student offered him $300. Ellis realized he could monetize this, and it has taken off ever since.
Ellis has spent much of his time and money giving back to the community, especially during the holiday season. “Feed the IE” collects as much food as it can and brings it to those less fortunate in the Inland Empire. Last year, they gave away around 40 meals while they were wearing their XK clothes. During Christmas, he and his clothing line set up a toy drive called “XK Luh da Kids.” Someone in his group will dress as Santa and pass out wrapped gifts to kids in San Bernardino. No matter what time it is, Ellis is always trying to find ways to give back to his community.
“That’s something I want to make sure stays involved with any brand that I do: that service aspect and giving back,” said Ellis. “It’s kind of selfish to say, but it feels so rewarding.”
These basketball hoops have caught the eyes of many celebrities, starting with artist Sean Wotherspoon, who bought two. Then after that rapper Rich the Kid hit him up and from there it really blew up. Some of his other buyers include NFL players Mohamed Sanu and Travis Kelce, NBA players D’Angelo Russell and Baron Davis, rappers Meek Mill and Young Thug. Currently, he is creating one for Snoop Dogg, who he still talks to even after the release of All Eyez on Me.
“Once he [Wotherspoon] purchased them, that’s when I kind of knew I had something, just because he’s so great with his design and everything he’s doing,” Ellis said. “That kind of validated it for me.”
The future looks very bright for Jarrett Ellis. As always, he hopes to give back to his community in one way or another. On top of that, he has a few more acting roles coming up that he’s excited for. Of course, he is going to continue to create a lot more of these custom basketball hoops with some new ideas for the future. One idea Ellis has been thinking about is poolside custom basketball hoops that are just as fancy as the indoor ones. You can find some of his one-of-a-kind basketball hoops right here on Fancy.com.