Laker Star O’Neal Opens Apparel, Marketing Firm

Laker star center Shaquille O’Neal opened an apparel and marketing business in Compton on Thursday--complete with a basketball hoop in the back parking lot--in the hope of creating jobs and keeping kids out of trouble.

The apparel facility will be able to print 15,000 to 20,000 T-shirts a day for advertisers such as Pepsi, OP and Fila. It will also imprint sportswear with O’Neal’s TWISM (The World IS Mine) logo.

“Compton reminds me a lot of the city where I grew up,” said O’Neal, who grew up on U.S. Army bases in New Jersey, Georgia, San Antonio and West Germany. “We are coming to Compton to create jobs and keep kids out of trouble.”

TWISM is a partnership between O’Neal and Cyrk, a promotional products company.

The $3-million facility employees about 40 people.