Cameron Bennerman was known for his high-flying dunks and athletics moves when he played basketball at N.C. State from 2002 to 2006. And while he’s split time between Italy and Spain, still showcasing his highlight reel dunks, Bennerman has shifted some of his attention to the fashion world.
In his back and forth trips from his hometown of Greensboro to Europe, Bennerman has spent plenty of time in cities like Milan, Italy, where the he has made connections and has been influenced by some of the fashion world’s giants.
Through his networking and his long-time passion for fashion and art, Bennerman started his own clothing line and fashion company: LiKuid’N’Ation.
Likuid’N’Ation is a company which features clothes solely designed by Bennerman, most of which center around a design he calls “Krazy” — an abstract clown drawing — along with a number of other illustrations by Bennerman.
“Some people call it the clown, some call it other names — that’s our main guy,” Bennerman said of Krazy. “We just released a couple more color schemes in that and we just recently put up sweatshirts.”
The catalog, along with a promo video of Bennerman, can be found at likuidnation.com, and his clothes are being sold in Raleigh at Buddha’s Belly on Hillsborough Street. Eventually, Bennerman, who is currently playing basketball in Burgos, Spain, plans to expand the catalog beyond T-shirts and sweatshirts and move into shoes and other apparel.
“I never really intended on starting this, it just kind of snowballed,” Bennerman said. “I started meeting people in the biz over here and here we are.”
Bennerman collaborated with a family friend in Greensboro, who makes the clothing there and distributes it. And while in Spain and Italy, Bennerman is trying to soak in as much fashion knowledge as he can — taking pictures and talking to experts — so he can eventually return to the states and work on his growing company.
“I got tired of going out and buying other people’s clothes,” Bennerman said. “If there’s anything that I want bad enough, I’ll get it made. That’s always been my attitude. Whether it’s cell phone accessories, jewelry, whatever it is, I try to get it made first.”
But while in Spain, basketball takes precedence. Bennerman recently signed with the team in Burgos and is hoping to keep playing and moving up through the basketball ranks for the next several years.
“The contracts are coming very slow because of the economic crisis,” Bennerman said. “I had a couple of colleagues of mine who are very good players and even their contracts were coming in slow. I’m always looking for bigger and better opportunities, so I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be here.”
The hardest part for Bennerman is getting used to the idea that numbers don’t matter as much in Europe.
“American players are all about results,” Bennerman said. “They want to look at a stat sheet and see that we’ve filled it up. But over here, they’re not concerned with many of those aspects that we’re taught to value in America. You kind of have to retrain your mind.”
With his new fashion line — and its potential for expansion — Bennerman is excited about life outside of basketball. Though he can’t devote the amount of time to his company that he would like, he knows that it will be there when basketball is over.
“Whether it’s basketball, fashion or anything, it takes a lot of time to achieve the success that we’re all looking for,” Bennerman said. “I understand that basketball will only last for so long, so I’m putting a good amount of my money from that into this clothing line. I’m not putting all my eggs into one basket and I want to have something after basketball that is already going.”
