Everyone Wants Bowling to Grow. Nobody Wants to Fund It.
Landmark Lanes closed. For decades before that, it hosted PBA Tour stops, legends and champions walked those same floors and touched the same ball returns as everyone else, and turned out a generation of bowlers in Peoria. Then in September 2025, the building went dark, like a lot of centers have. The sport shrinks and suffers every time that happens.
Now it's reopening as Landmark Community Center, under new operators rebuilding it from the ground up. That's the part that got us involved. Bowling doesn't grow back on its own once the buildings disappear. Somebody has to put actual resources behind bringing them back, or the sport keeps shrinking one closed center at a time. SPARE/WARE is self-funded, bootstrapped, and tight on our own cash, so we couldn't invest directly. Or we would. So we did what we know we can do and do well. We designed one hell of a shirt, with meaning and intention behind every single element, from the color of the shirt itself to the details on the back. And before ever sitting down to design it, it had been decided that 100% of the proceeds go to the people doing that work. None of it comes back to us. Because that's what SPARE/WARE stands for: the sport, and the people in it pouring everything they have into growing it.
At a pop-up a couple months ago, an old-timer looked at that shirt, knew the center well, and asked the question nobody else would say out loud: "You really think this is going to do anything? Is this going to make a splash in the money they need to become operational?"
Fair question. Honest answer: "Realistically, it'll be just a drop in the bucket," I told him, then followed up with, "But at least I know I'm trying."
We've sold about 50 of these shirts. Fifty shirts isn't a renovation budget. It doesn't resurface lanes, replace a roof, or cover a week's worth of payroll in 2026.
What it does do is put the name back in front of people who'd otherwise never hear it. It told people that what was once the epicenter of bowling on television in the '80s and '90s had closed, and had been closed for a while, people who otherwise had zero idea. It's a stranger at a farmers market asking what the three legends hoisting trophies on the back of the shirt mean. It's a conversation the center wouldn’t have. That's not nothing. It's also not enough, and we're not going to pretend it is.
Here's the part we can't get past: we're the smallest brand in the sport, and we're the only ones putting actual money where our mouth is. We're not doing this as a marketing stunt or for publicity. We're not chasing fame off t-shirts and hoodies. We're doing this so the sport can do what everyone claims they want to do: grow it. When the sport grows, every brand, regardless of who they are or what they sell, grows with it. Everyone shares in that. It just so happens that not everyone is sharing in the effort.
It's worth asking this… Where are the ball manufacturers? Same question for the jersey brands, the bag companies, the accessory lines. Every one of them profits off bowling staying alive. These are companies running six-figure product lines that exist entirely because this sport exists, sponsorship budgets, R&D budgets, marketing budgets, and not one of them has shown up for a building that used to host their very thing that makes their business a reality, let alone profitable.
We're not saying this to start a fight or cause debate. We're saying it because somebody should be asking. So we are. A sport like bowling doesn't grow because a brand mentions it in a press release. It grows when someone puts money in when it's inconvenient, unprofitable, and slow. It grows when brands come together to invest in the very thing they exist to serve.
The shirt is still available. 100% of the proceeds still go to Landmark, same as they did for the first one sold. If this is a cause worth putting your money behind, it's there. If not, that's fine too. Our journey continues regardless and we can only hope others join us - Because Bowling Deserves Better.