Silver Star Debuts Anderson Silva's Signature UFC 97 Walkout Shirt

Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Luke Burrett, Owner, President and CEO of Silver Star Casting Company. At that time, Silver Star had started to make waves in the sponsorship world by sponsoring Rashad Evans and creating a signature series walkout shirt for him. When I asked Burrett how long he thought it would take for Silver Star to emerge as a pre-eminent brand in MMA, he stated,

"One year. We’ll be the biggest brand in MMA in one year. It’s a bold statement and it’s going to be tough, but that’s my plan."

Check after the jump for info on Silver Star and some of its products.

Since then, Burrett has continued to make news by signing other fighters to do signature series shirts such as GSP, Clay Guida, Jon Jones, Rob Emerson, Karo Parisyan, Sean Sherk and Jeremy Horn. The signing of Anderson Silva marks the third UFC champion to sign a deal for a signature series shirt.

Burrett also generously sponsored two of the prediction grand prix contests here on FightTicker.com.

Silva's shirt, pictured above, is the first in a signature series to offer "red" as a color option, and features gold foil in the design, similar to Rashad and GSP's shirts (which have silver foil accents).

Silver Star features a wide range of products from shirts, jeans, hat and various accessories including a large jewelry line (Silver Star started as a jewelry company).

Burrett sent me a few Silver Star shirts, including one of Rashad's signature shirts, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. Rashad's shirt does bear resemblance to a prior Silver Star design, but it is definitely a unique one in the MMA world. All the shirts are 100% cotton and the fighters' signature series shirts are more "slim-fit" or "premium-cut" type shirts as opposed to your typical t-shirt - so if you're not going for that tight t-shirt look, you might want to order up a size from what you normally do.

Burrett was a cool guy to talk to, and it wasn't hard to realize early on that he is a true MMA fan who is concerned with taking care of the fighters as much as he can. Signing guys like Jon Jones and Clay Guida also shows that Burrett isn't just out for the exposure through big name champions like Silva, but he's keeping an eye on the fighters who are exciting and entertaining.

I've often heard people complain they don't have a way to buy their favorite fighter's walkout shirt. Burrett is doing what he can to silence those complaints and put his stamp on the world of MMA clothing.

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