ORLANDO, Fla. – Following an initial announcement earlier this year, Orlando Magic player Jonathan Isaac has officially launched his new UNITUS clothing brand.
The apparel company celebrated its launch on Saturday evening in Orlando, showcasing the new line of UNITUS-branded sports clothing.
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The event featured several conservative commentators, including figures like Brett Cooper and swimmer Riley Gaines, the latter of whom has been a vocal critic against allowing trans women into women’s sporting competitions.
What an incredible night for the #UNITUS launch event! True greatness is a movement and one that everyone gets to participate in to rep the values of Faith, Family, & Freedom.
— UNITUS (@weareunitus) July 30, 2023
Shop UNITUS: https://t.co/eHcYzvorvS pic.twitter.com/U4ndIvubZA
Isaac unveiled his plans for UNITUS in June, posting a clip from a short documentary titled “Unwoke Inc.” to his Twitter page.
The documentary by conservative group PragerU features several entrepreneurs — including Isaac — who have spoken out against “wokeism” and left-wing ideologies in academia, culture and business.
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“UNITUS is a sports and apparel company, and the basis of it for me is freedom,” Isaac says. “You have companies that are in that field who have made a conscious decision to either attack or undermine Christian values, conservative values and things like that.”
According to Isaac, he plans to use the company to uphold a culture of Christian-based values.
“The hope is to be able to sign athletes across all different sports and to create a real infrastructure for people who are in the sports world,” Isaac explains. “Moms and dads who want to buy their kids sneakers and clothes but want to give their money to a company that they know is going to work toward bolstering their values.”
UNITUS’ website describes the brand as an “alternative” to other name-brand sports apparel companies, championing “faith, family and freedom.”
“For too long, the sports and lifestyle apparel game has been dominated by companies with divisive agendas,” the website reads. “Greatness has been defined only by how you perform — apart from who you are and how you live. And cancel culture has the millions of people who hold traditional values wondering, ‘What if I’m the only one?’”
A former player at Florida State University, Isaac became the No. 6 overall pick for the Orlando Magic in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Isaac returned to the NBA after missing more than two years due to injuring his knee and tearing his ACL in 2020.
He came back strong at the beginning of 2023, helping the Magic achieve a 113-98 victory over the Boston Celtics. However, a torn adductor in March forced him out of the regular season yet again.
The Magic forward also made waves after being one of the few to stand for the national anthem while other players knelt — a decision that became controversial in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement following George Floyd’s death.
“Just because we are in the position of being an NBA player, it doesn’t give us automatically an understanding or insight to issues that happen around us,” Isaac told News 6 at the time. “But I think because we have the ear of so many, it’s important for us to be diligent, to be vocal but in a balanced way.”
In 2022, Isaac released a book titled, “Why I Stand,” an autobiographical account of Isaac’s life from childhood to NBA career while using his Christian beliefs as a framework.
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