Posted by Actively Black
on September 25, 2026
Chron reported on Actively Black, the Black-owned athleisure brand founded by Missouri City native and former University of Houston guard Lanny Smith, in a November 2025 feature on the brand’s new app, its Houston warehouse and the jobs it is creating at home. Writer Maurice Bobb, himself a Houston native and UH alum, retraced Lanny’s journey from Hightower High School star to founder. It is a hometown story, and the Tribe helped write it.
Key takeaways
- Chron reported that Lanny announced the Actively Black e-commerce app at AfroTech, with downloads expected in November 2025.
- According to Chron, Actively Black has generated over $30 million in sales in under five years and processes more than ten thousand orders a month from its new Houston warehouse.
- Chron reported that Lanny’s next chapter focuses on creating jobs at the expanding Houston warehouse and leading the build-out of a Black-owned supply chain.
- Chron noted that the brand’s 100-percent cotton Harvest collection is sourced from the Bridgeforth family, fifth-generation Black farmers, and that Actively Black pays above market prices for their cotton.
- Chron recounted that Lanny won the Houston Chronicle’s 2003 All-Greater Houston Boys Basketball Player of the Year award, earned All-Conference USA honors in 2005-06, and saw his NBA run with the Sacramento Kings end after 33 days because of a knee injury.
- Chron listed collaborations with Allen Iverson, Marvel for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Star Wars, the Houston Rockets and the estates of Bob Marley and Muhammad Ali.
In Lanny's words
“That’s why we created our own app.”
— Lanny Smith, to Chron
“We’re able to support these farmers because we pay above market prices for their cotton.”
— Lanny Smith, to Chron
“There’s a reclamation to that. It’s one of our most successful collections.”
— Lanny Smith, to Chron
Why it matters
Lanny told Chron the brand has grown a large audience on social platforms it does not own, and that some posts about Black history and Black historical figures were blocked or their ads banned. Owning the app means owning the relationship with the Tribe. It is the same principle that drives everything we do: we are not asking for a seat at the table, we are building our own table.
The Houston warehouse carries that principle into the local economy. Jobs in Lanny’s hometown, a Black-owned supply chain and fair prices for Black farmers turn purchases into reinvestment. As Chron put it, the brand is becoming a movement in Texas, and the clothes are the uniform for it.
Shop the story
Wear the cotton Chron wrote about in our Premium Cotton collection, and learn more about our Houston roots on our About Us page.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Actively Black?
Actively Black was founded in 2020 by Lanny Smith, a Missouri City, Texas native, Hightower High School standout and former University of Houston guard.
What did Chron say about Actively Black?
Chron reported in November 2025 that Actively Black has generated over $30 million in sales, processes more than ten thousand orders a month from its Houston warehouse and announced a new app at AfroTech.
Does Actively Black have a warehouse in Houston?
Yes. According to Chron, Actively Black ships orders from a new warehouse in Houston, and Lanny Smith is focused on creating jobs there as it expands.
Why did Actively Black build its own app?
Lanny Smith told Chron the brand does not own the social platforms where it built its audience and that some posts about Black history were blocked, which led it to create its own app.
Read the full feature: Actively Black announces new app, jobs, warehouse launch in Houston, Chron (November 2025)
