As the starting point guard for Marist men’s basketball, Jadin Collins-Roberts is an engine on the court, leading the team in minutes, assists, and steals last season.
Off the court, he’s channeling that intensity into his other passion—fashion. With his own brand, “So Be It,” Collins-Roberts is proving that he’s just as comfortable designing clothing as he is running the offense, blending his love for basketball and style into a brand that reflects a motto he lives by.
“So Be It” is a phrase that is imperative to how Collins-Roberts conducts himself in everyday life, through good and bad, off the court and on the court.
“A turnover, a bad play in general—it is what it is,” said Collins-Roberts. “So be it. Next play. You get a good grade on something—all right, cool. So be it, you got the next grade to go.”
Collins-Roberts drew inspiration for his brand from his cousin, Martin Soaries. Soaries runs his own brand, Basketball Society, a blend of lifestyle, fashion, and podcasting boasting 60,000 followers on Instagram. “So Be It” started as a family motto between Soaries and Collins-Roberts—but Soaries saw a vision beyond and pitched turning it into a brand.
This occurred in Collins-Roberts’ freshman year of high school, but as he progressed through his high school career, it became exponentially more meaningful—flourishing into a lifestyle.
“I only took it seriously at the end of junior year, when I got it tattooed on me,” said Collins-Roberts. “Then it became a lifestyle. It actually became something I wanted to live by.”
However, wanting to make “So Be It” a brand, versus actually creating the brand, are two different tasks. As a Division I athlete, splitting time between his two passions proved difficult. Basketball started to consume more time in Collins-Roberts’ life, and his parents—who help Collins-Roberts with “So Be It”—naturally have their own lives as well.
“It’s kind of hectic. It was really just an idea for a while. It didn’t start really running until the end of senior year. It’s all fairly recent.” said Collins-Roberts.
Collins-Roberts credits his family—his cousin Soaries, his father, and his mother—as the main creative inspirations behind “So Be It” and as mentors along the brand’s development.
“My mom, she has one of the most creative minds I know of, and it’s not like she has her own brand,” said Collins-Roberts. “She’s been the main person with the logo designs, the font, ideas for new stuff.”
As it stands, “So Be It” has only a couple of pieces—shirts and bracelets with the motto plastered on them in a minimalist style—but Collins-Roberts has deeper plans for the next wave of pieces. The current shirts do not feature the brand’s logo, which has just been finished and will be ready for the next drop.
“I’m excited for you guys to see the new logo, I think it’s pretty unique. The original shirts are just black with white words, but going forward, I’m gonna have [the logo] on the sleeve, the bag,” said Collins-Roberts.
Collins-Roberts wants his brand to follow the rest of his basketball career and beyond, seeing no outcome in which “So Be It” is not a part of his life. He envisions a world in which “So Be It” can be more intertwined with the business of basketball—potentially connected to NCAA or NBA teams as an official sponsor.
You could have caught “So Be It” featured at the MPorium Fall Fest, noticed the bracelets on many students’ wrists, or even worn a shirt of your own over the past couple of weeks as Collins-Roberts’ brand continues to make waves in the Marist community.
Edited by Ben Leeds and Marley Pope
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore; Photos from Marist Athletics
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