How a Super Bowl champion is re-igniting the iconic brand Starter

Carl Banks, president of G-III Sports, enters the BBC's Executive Lounge to talk about tapping into nostalgia and leading with conviction to enter a new era of business.

The first association people have with Carl Banks likely isn't entrepreneurship – it's his two Super Bowl titles (at least for American football fans). Yet the former New York Giants line-backer is as firmly rooted in the world of business as he is sports.

As the president of G-III Sports – a US licencing firm that creates apparel for the National Football League, National Hockey League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball – Banks focuses on the intersection of fashion and fandom. He's spent three decades taking the pulse of consumer desire and cultural trends, creating products to match. On the heels of Super Bowl LVII in Las Vegas, Banks has partnered with Starter, one of the most storied brands in sports apparel, to release a new limited Super Bowl Collection.

Founded in 1971, Starter found its influence at fever pitch in the 1980s and 90s when its signature satin jackets became a status symbol across both sports and entertainment, from the side-lines to music videos. The brand hit a rocky point in 1999, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but has since found firm footing and new swagger under the New York-based brand-management firm Iconix Brand Group Inc, and is licensed to G-III Apparel Group Ltd, where Banks runs G-III Sports.

Banks sees an opening to grow Starter – both in revenue and cultural cachet. Under his leadership, Starter has already increased revenue 20% between 2022 and 2023. Now, through key partnerships, he's set on going even further, giving the brand a fresh face and more relevance than ever in a consumer landscape where nostalgia rules. From his office in New York City, Banks talked with the BBC about how storytelling creates opportunity, and how success is a moving target.

Nostalgia is a huge consumer force. How does a shopper's connection to the past drive what brands can accomplish?

I think the draw to legacy brands is the storytelling and the great moments around them. Because of their legacy, people have so, so many great stories about where and when they wore it. For us, it's the phrase I coined: the "Starter story". People have memories – great memories, iconic moments. [For Starter], it's around the beautiful parts of sport and fashion.

Then, as brands constantly refresh their stories, people will be full of curiosity around those brands. People are going to want to wear them, they're going to want to bring some of those brands back into their lives. They want to connect with something iconic.

Now that social media and commerce are inextricable, how have you had to evolve your approach to the market?

When we look at retail dynamics right now, people are looking for seasonal drops. Say you want to drive a purchase every five weeks. You can [tap into what they want] by creating your own cadence with your social media presence and e-commerce.

Buyers might buy five or six times a year, and they want your product when it's in season. When it's football season, they want to buy my football product. So, I create those [relevant] stories on social media. I can create a moment that somebody wants to relate to at that point in time. But it's nothing really new under the Sun, other than the fact that it's on social media now.

With the merger of e-commerce and social media, we are really bullish on the commerce part of TikTok, because it's [built in]. It gives us the ability to start storytelling right there.

Careful collaboration is a huge part of what's made Starter successful. How should business leaders be thinking about getting the most out of partnerships?

My approach has always been, if it's going to be a partnership, make it a partnership. Let's look at it before we before we decide. Let's project how it feels to the consumer. What would be the consumer's feeling for this? What is our message? What is our story to the consumer?

We can do something cool, and it'll just sit there because it didn't connect. So, let's find our emotional connection with the consumer, and then we factor that into our partnership.

How do you mark success in your industry and your professional career?

I don't know if I measure success the same as the majority of people in this industry, because I'm always striving to be better. I don't think I've had my ultimate success. I won two Super Bowls. And after the first Super Bowl, I didn't think I could have that feeling again. I was able to do it again. And I'm chasing that moment in business. No matter how big the deal is, I'm going for the next one. 

I haven't had my Super Bowl in business. I've accomplished a lot, right? I've survived a lot. But anyone who's played in sport at a high level understands what that achievement is. I've had to great pleasure of sitting down with the great [ice hockey player] Mark Messier. And he felt the same way winning a Stanley Cup. If you chase that you chase that in everything you do, it sets the bar so high.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity