CHESTER, Pa. — A day after the Philadelphia Union notched a rough 3-3 draw with the Montreal Impact last month, several Philly players still made sure to visit a pop-up shop in the Northern Liberties section of the city.
They were there to support Warren Creavalle, who was showcasing merchandise for his brand, CREAVALLE, in his first pop-up shop event in Philadelphia. For the Union players, it was important to be there for their teammate. For Creavalle, it was important to promote a brand that he created three years ago as both an outlet from soccer and a salute to the game he loves.
“All of us grew up around the game,” said Creavalle, who runs the brand, which specializes in clothing and photography, with his cousin Stephen Creavalle and friends Cameron Wilder and Ashtone Morgan, the latter a Toronto FC defender. “A lot of our references for things are extended from growing up playing this game. It’s always what we think about. At this point, that’s just how our brains operate. We operate in a team sense. That’s what our brand stands for — it’s the home team. That comes very deeply from playing this game.”
The biggest example of Creavalle’s soccer roots can be found in a satin jacket that is currently the brand’s top seller. What looks like waves on the back are actually the three main rivers of Guyana, the country of his father’s birth and whose national team for whom he suited up a couple of times since last year.
“We’re kids of immigrants,” Creavalle said. “That was a nod to that and paying our respect to those that paved the way for us. It’s a big part of who we are. The opportunities we have now because of them are endless.”
Creavalle has held other pop-up events in Atlanta, where he grew up, and Toronto, where he played before being traded to Philly in 2015. And he admits it can be hard finding the time to design products, take photos, and create “a platform for any creative outlet or any creative medium we want to work on at the time” in between games and practices.
But he plans to keep working hard to promote the brand and possibly set up more pop-up shops around Philly in the coming months. And down the road, whenever his professional soccer career may end, Creavalle said he’d certainly be open to making it more of a full-time job as long as he and his partners stay true to their vision.
“Yeah our day job is soccer players,” he said. “But we have other things going on in life and different interests. It’s cool when you get to see that. A lot of people may not know what other people are into. It’s good to get a peek into that.
“It’s just a passion project,” he added. “When you have the time, you get things down. It’s also a release from soccer as well. We just want to grow the brand and take it wherever we want to go.”
