Crispa returns

THE legendary Crispa Redmanizers, who lorded it over Philippine basketball’s landscape in the 50s up to the 80s, are back.

Allessandro Lorenzo “Enzo” Floro Herbosa, third of four sons of Dra. Valerie Floro Herbosa, youngest daughter of the late Redmanizers owner Danny Floro, has announced that the family is reviving Crispa’s main product t-shirt in the market.

Enzo added that if plans do not miscarry, the company’s basketball team, which dominated the country’s cage scenes in both amateur and pro for three decades, will, likewise, be reintroduced to preserve the legacy left by his grandfather in sports.

“Yeah, why not?” the young Herbosa said in a separate phone interview. “We realize naman that the Crispa t-shirt became famous because of our basketball team.”

“For a start, though, let us – my brothers Angelo, Valerio and Regino, our cousins and friends — first re-introduce the CRISPA brand in the market, as a quality t-shirt brand proudly made in the Philippines,” said Enzo, whose father Benjamin is also a physician. “Yung basketball team, susunod na.”

The formal launch of Crispa t-shirt’s revival was made last Tuesday via social media, Dra. Valerie, said.

Enzo, only 23 and a lawyer by profession, whose birthday, May 16, coincides with Danny’s said he’s just starting his career in marketing career, adding, he and his group want to present Crispa again in the market “as a shirt that’s quality made and proudly made by Filipino for Filipinos.”

“Behind the two-time PBA Grand Slam winning team, the CRISPA Redmanizers, was the CRISPA t-shirt. Actually, a fun fact is that the team got its name from the “Redmanized” process, which made the shirts resilient to shrinking,” he said by way of explaining the quality of the product.

“In short, the shirts were “shrunk-to-fit”, as label tags on the shirt would suggest. To this day, we still use our CRISPA shirts, some of which are decades old. This is a true testament to the quality of material put into a CRISPA t-shirt” he attested.

“The brand still remains popular in the older generation. However, the challenge is the awareness of the CRISPA brand in my generation. The t-shirt still stays true to 100% pure cotton, just like the CRISPA 400 shirts of the past,” he assured.

“As of now, we would like to test the waters, as they say, to see if CRISPA can still make its mark in the 2020s. I am praying that this launch will be a success for our grandfather’s legacy. Always and forever, go CRISPA!” Enzo exclaimed.