Dwayne Wade Signs Sean John Modeling Deal

Article written by: Rodrick Rainey
Posted on: May 9, 2005

Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade is hot. The Chicago native helped take the Heat to the NBA playoffs last year, and currently engaged in the NBA playoffs that will decide their 2005 season’s championship fate.

Off the court however, Wade’s been doing even better lately with business affiliatons. Sean Combs signed him for a fall ad campaign for three lines of high-end clothing: Sean John, Sean John Collection and Sean John Tailored.

The actual advertisement campaign itself is entitled the Sean John “Icon” campaign and Wade is the first pro-athletic’s icon to be signed and featured in the line’s coming promotional series. Shooting the photos for the Sean John ads will be photographer Jonathan Mannion. The photographs are to appear on billboards and in national magazines starting in September.

As if that weren’t enough, Wade also just wound up on the People magazine list of the 50 Most Beautiful People. An asthetics award not many NBA players can have the honor of adding to their resume, Wade’s obviously dominating the popular crowd.

Such good fortune doesn’t always happen without some guidance, of course. Wade’s off court success has come partially due to his representative Henry Thomas, executive vice president of basketball at CSMG International in Skokie. Thomas is reportedly responsible for helping negotiate deals that mutually benefit a company trying to associate itself with Wade’s image.

Apparel company Sean John on the other hand has just went through corporate office changes that rearranged the presidential positions of the company. Mr. Combs announced that Robert Wichser, whom Diddy had been reportedly courting for some time, is the new president of Sean John clothing on April 29th.

Wichser will report directly to Mr. Combs, handling all aspects of Sean John’s operation. Merchandising, sales, marketing, licensing, design, and manufacturing will all be handled by Wichser.

Who is Robert Wichser, is something a lot of Urban and Hip Hop fashion fanatics have been questioning. Wichser previously served as president and chief executive of Joseph Abboud – a classic men’s clothing line.