Rooting for women in sports, business ventures, animated short films — Kobe Bryant was doing a lot. And he would’ve done a lot more had the unfortunate tragedy not deprived him of the time. Now, amid all the things that Black Mamba was involved in, not many would’ve thought of him to be someone who would be too interested in fashion. Not only was he particularly in love with jackets, he even thought of launching his own line.

The revelation came from Kobe Bryant’s former stylist, Paige Geran, in a recent Andscape article. “He (Kobe) even talked to me one time about doing a leather jacket line. It never happened, but that’s how much he loved the leather jackets I was making for him,” she stated.

Geran first met the 5x NBA champ at the opening of Phillipe Chow in Beverly Hills in 2009. It just so happened that Bryant was in need of a stylist at the time. And the interaction at the restaurant opening led to Geran working as the Lakers icon’s stylist from 2009 to 2011. Apart from this, having already worked with Bryant’s team in some instances also most likely factored in.

A year after her joining -2010, was when Black Mamba seemed invested in leather jackets, according to Geran. One of the best ones she remembers was a custom leather jacket she got built for the 5x NBA champ for his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The 18x All Star donned a black leather jacket on an All-Black outfit on the show. “I did tons of custom leather jackets, and I would have to do them on the fly. I design, create and pull from different things,” Geran revealed of the process that would inspire Kobe to hop on an unfulfilled jacket line venture.

Notably, launching his own line of leather jackets was not the only plan that didn’t pan out.

Kobe Bryant planned on something so big within 20 years that would’ve made fans forget his NBA legacy

The revelation came from Matt Barnes during his appearance on Uninterrupted Film Fest. The ex-NBA star recalled he was with Black Mamba in his office before his last interview. Therein, the 5x NBA champ would tell him that his business plans for the coming 20 years would take things to such heights that fans would forget what he did in the NBA.

“He was so intelligent and so adamant about being the greatest in the business space,” Barnes said. The 44-year-old further revealed that Bryant planned on implementing his NBA work ethic in his business life. This meant all his focus, discipline, and accountability that he once had in the game would have been directed towards his business moves. Notably, the 18x All Star had already made some impressive investments.

Some of these included Dell, Alibaba, Epic Games, and Body Armor- $6 million for the latter of the lot alone. And when Coca-cola bought Body Armor at $8 Billion valuation, his investment grew to the value of nearly $400 million.

Sure deprived of the excellence and excitement his jacket line could have been.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.