PHILADELPHIA — At the start of an AAU or high school basketball season, Cire Worley would buy boys’ clothes.
There was plenty of general women’s athletic wear, but no aisle of basketball-specific clothing for her at the local Dick’s Sporting Goods. Each time she’d leave with boys’ clothing, a thought weighed on her: There should be apparel that resonates with girls’ basketball players.
Between school at Abington Senior High and an intense basketball schedule, there wasn’t much time to formulate a solution for that thought — until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Worley, a UMass Lowell signee, found herself sitting at home in Germantown with little to do. One day, she and her younger sister, Taylor Linton, now a rising eighth grader at Germantown Friends School, had an idea: “Let’s make a brand.”
Within that year, Bucket Get(Her) was born, and the sisters are the faces of the creation. Their parents, Eric Worley (a former Central High and West Chester University player who’s a member of the Golden Rams’ Hall of Fame) and Andrea Campbell, helped elevate the brand, and it has since grown beyond the Philadelphia area.
The brand is centered on girls’ empowerment and is committed to creating products and content for female athletes. Worley and Linton want other girls’ basketball players to know they have a space in this sport, and can represent that while wearing a fresh ‘fit, of course.
“A lot of boys’ clothes, like the Nike store, had something to do with boys’ basketball, as if only boys can play basketball,” Linton said. “There was one time when me and Cire were in the gym, we were actually wearing our stuff, and a little girl was also creating a bucket. Our brand, specifically for little girls, is to let them know that basketball is not only for boys; girls can play too.”
The first step in launching their brand was establishing a name and logo. The four sat around their wooden dinning room table, throwing out names of potential ideas.
“There’s a lot of arguing that goes on at this table,” Eric said, laughing, “because we don’t always agree.”
Calling their shot
During a brainstorming session at the table, Eric, the founder of the Philly Triple Threat AAU program, recalled an AAU practice where players on the boys’ team kept referring to themselves as the “bucket getter gang.” It wasn’t long until “Bucket Get(Her)” crystallized.
The first set of designs revolved around the name’s meaning. “She who hoops or gets multiple buckets. A name often given to a Ball(Her) who is unguardable” — the definition of the name’s meaning — was printed onto T-shirts and sweatshirts.
“We just wanted to define what it means to be above and beyond,” Campbell said. “But beyond just getting multiple buckets, what we want the world to know about our girls is that they’re leaders on the court and off the court. Being a good basketball player is more than being able to put the ball in the hoop.”
One of Eric’s friends, a freelance graphic designer, created the logo that’s featured on the gear and website. The four started designing apparel after the initial launch. They have since added T-shirts, sweatshirts, and shorts to their collection.
Part of the process of creating more designs, however, meant asking themselves about their target audience. Perhaps that would be a little girl playing at the rec center, or a single parent who drives an hour to get the daughter to practice, or the sibling who cheers from the sidelines. Why not all of the above?
“Our goal was to create things that could speak to the entire village,” Campbell said. “A win for me is when I walk in the gym and I see an entire family in the brand. I see the mom with a mom sweatshirt or I see a dad with a dad T-shirt and a player with a Bucket Get(Her) T-shirt — mission accomplished.”
Local vendors make the merchandise, which can be bought online or at the Spooky Nook Sports complex in Manheim, Lancaster County.
The sisters run an Instagram account that hit 2,000 followers in April. They use it to promote their brand, but during the basketball season, they also would hype local girls’ performances on the court.
It wasn’t until a tournament in Atlantic City, though, that the two realized that their brand reached beyond family, friends, and Greater Philadelphia. Worley and Campbell were eating lunch while they waited for Linton’s next game in the tournament.
They noticed the girls sitting behind them were wearing Bucket Get(Her) sweatshirts. Campbell told Worley to take a picture with them after they were done eating as a way of thanking them for the support. Shortly after, one of the mothers approached the table, asking if Worley could take a photo with the girls because they were too nervous to ask.
“They were so excited that [Worley] was in that space and that the brand was in their space,” Campbell said. “Even when we walked away, they were still like, ‘Oh my gosh that was so cool.’ Those kinds of things is when we’re really doing something right and we’re making a difference, an impact for the girls.”
What started as two sisters looking for something to do at home during the COVID-19 shutdown turned into much more. The brand grew from creating just girls’ clothing to co-hosting tournaments.
And while the vision has expanded, the message has stayed the same.
“We deserve to have our voices heard,” Worley said. “The more successful the brand is, the more we can give back, because that’s definitely a big part of this.”
What’s next
In the near future, the four are looking to release more products such as undergarments, including sports bras and compression leggings. As for growing the brand, Worley plans to rep her gear on UMass Lowell’s campus in the fall and hopes to partner with other female athletes playing in college or the WNBA.
“We want everyone to support it,” Campbell said. “Even in the NBA and WNBA level, you constantly hear people saying like NBA people need to support the WNBA to help push the narrative, so that’s kind of what we want the brand to be.”
Added Worley: “I would say it’s nowhere near where I think it can be. It’s in a good place, but I think we still have a lot of growing and a lot of people to touch.”
