Yahoo Finance New Orleans Saints Star Alvin Kamara on Tapping into His Personal Style — and a Missing Rooster
Rosie Marks Alvin Kamara for Noon Goons
Alvin Kamara has a burning question. The New Orleans Saints star desperately wants to know what happened to the rooster he used to see every morning at the high school where he's trained for the past six years.
"I was waiting to explain this somewhere," says Kamara, who has been confusing fans with recurring photos of roosters on social media. "Everybody's trying to figure out what the rooster was," he laughs.
The reason? Every morning, Kamara wakes up at 4:15 a.m. to work out, and "there's a rooster that used to be there, he'd always be up," the 27-year-old tells PEOPLE. "Every time I got done working out, when I'm about to get in my car, I'd hear the rooster."
But, Kamara says, he sadly hasn't seen or heard the bird this year. "I think he's relocated."
And now, as a replacement for seeing his rooster in person after his workouts, Kamara started posting photos of a rooster to his Instagram story every morning, as a sort of personal reminder to work hard every day.
"That's really what it was though... Just that for me, it just symbolized how consistent of a grind — because I've been talking about this, I've been working out at the same spot for the past six years, and I've been hearing that rooster on and off. Now, this year it's like the motherf---ker is gone. It's like I outlasted the rooster."
Rosie Marks Alvin Kamara for Noon Goons
Now, Kamara is his own rooster in a way, prioritizing accountability and routine as he enters the upcoming NFL season.
And as one of the most dominant running backs in the league, Kamara doesn't have a lot of time to waste on things he isn't passionate about. That's why the NFL star's relationship with clothing brand Noon Goons is unlike most partnerships between brands and athletes. "I think a lot of people get money and then they just buy everything they see everybody else wearing," Kamara says. "And that's not fashion. You know what I'm saying? That's clothes."
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Kamara continues, "People go in the Gucci store and buy the whole Gucci mannequin, put it on and go out and think it's fresh. It's like, that's not fresh, that's corny," Kamara says. "The guys that don't have a sense of style and they're looking at guys that got style, they feel like they have to, I guess, live up to the other person's style. It's like, man, what do you doing? You trying to chase somebody else's style."
Rosie Marks NFL star Alvin Kamara for Noon Goons
The NFL star began working with the Los Angeles based clothing brand, founded by Kurt Narmore, after a few pieces from the line caught his eye online. "I looked up [the] Noon Goons founder and then I see Kurt, because a lot of these brands they get kind of watered down, and you got to jump through a couple loops and then you find whoever the founder is, and then the founder usually don't even got nothing to do with the brand or something."
After learning that Narmore really was the creative vision behind the line, Kamara wanted to meet him. "He's touching the pieces, he's sourcing everything, working for real. That made me like it even more," says Kamara. "And then I tagged it, reached out, and he laced me with some pieces and stuff. And ever since then we've been pretty solid. This is how this s--t work now. You can go on Instagram and find anybody. So I hit Noon Goons, hit Kurt and then tagged it, and he hit me back."
Rosie Marks Alvin Kamara and Kurt Namore
The two have formed a close friendship over personal style and their similar creative visions, which both say are heavily influenced by their hometowns. For Narmore, it's the laid-back, cool and confident energy in Southern California. For Kamara, it's Atlanta's ever-changing rotation of trends like polo shirts, Sperrys, and Hollister, all of which the athlete experimented with as a teenager. "I had f---king 80 polo shirts," he admits with a laugh.
And when Narmore asked Kamara to pose for Narmore's line, the Pro Bowl athlete didn't think twice before saying yes. "The shots came out dope. The vision was cool. Everything was dope. Kurt knows what he wants," says Kamara, who says he respects Narmore's innovation.
Rosie Marks NFL star Alvin Kamara for Noon Goons
"You see a lot of people in all fields, not just fashion, but you see a lot of people with brands that they lose their creative touch and I think Kurt, he stays in tune with that touch. That's why I think Noon Goons is a brand that stays the home brand. Nothing gets clouded, or misconstrued, or it doesn't get watered down," says Kamara.
The athlete suggests anyone looking to hone their personal style should do so at their own pace. "I think people just got to take the time to find out what works for them. But s--t, some dudes, man, sweatpants and a graphic tee, and just some fresh sneakers; that works for them."
