Big Ben shoes big time with a small price tag

Wearing his own clothing line -- a Big Ben T-shirt and matching headband with a "BB" logo -- Chicago Bull Ben Wallace sat at a table while thousands of fans waited patiently for their basketball superstar.

A line of people stretched from the front of the Steve & Barry's store at Randhurst Shopping Center to the back before turning right to another far wall on the other side of the sports store.

Most people held pieces of the Big Ben Wallace Collection, including T-shirts, shoes, wristbands and hoodies, retailing no more than $14.98 each.

The soft-spoken Bulls player was in Mount Prospect to debut his new shoes, called the Big Ben, along with his apparel line.

Wallace finally grabbed a black marker and hunkered down at the table with his two young children beside him, both drawing on a piece of paper.

Dennis Henderson, who had waited for more than four hours with his wife, Wendy, and two children, Stephen, 6, and Dominick, 9, finally approached as the first in line.

"We had to be first," said Henderson, who's from Chicago. "He's the best guy on the team."

The Big Ben high tops with the customized BB logo retails at $14.98 with four color schemes -- black, red and black, black and white and white and red.

Wallace helped design the shoe as he's going to be performing in them on the court starting Wednesday, said Howard Schacter, who manages the Big Ben line for Steve & Barry's.

The shoes don't cost as much as other basketball shoes by high profile players, but the quality is the same as others that retail hundreds of dollars more, Schacter said. The reason for this is that the brand isn't spending money on major expenses like advertising, he said. The shoe is only sold at Steve & Barry's.

Wallace's hooded sweatshirts cost the same as his shoes, while shorts and jerseys are both $12.98.

"We save millions on PR and pass the savings onto consumers," Schacter said.