Starter, the U.S. apparel manufacturer whose satin jacket was once a fixture in the 1990s on pro team sidelines and music videos, is readying a large-scale comeback with the help of nostalgia, on-trend product and expanded rights with major league teams.
“There are a few things about Starter that seem to be timeless,” Carl Banks, president of G-III Sports and former two-time Super Bowl champion, told SGB Executive. “It’s some of the silhouettes, some of the fabrications and some of the Starter stories. Wherever you go, there’s a Starter story.”
For example, Banks noted that this past fall, Yankee star outfielder Aaron Judge shared a photo of him and his future wife, Samantha, in Yankee Starter jackets worn in high school in California. Banks added, “The brand is resonating generationally. The quality of the product is great, but I think the influence of the Starter brand is pretty evident.”
With licensing deals with all major American sports leagues in its heyday back in the 90s, Starter products have been worn by more teams in professional sports than any other brand.
Starter’s uptick in recent years has been helped by fascination around 90s nostalgia and the trend in puffer jackets, spurred by The North Face’s collaboration with high fashion house Gucci in 2020. However, Banks said Starter has benefited from broader licensing rights under deals with prof sports leagues.
“The brand has been thriving for the last two years,” said Banks. “What you’re seeing is our ability to embrace some of the iconic moments around sports and culture that, before some contractual things, we couldn’t do. We may have been limited to one category. Now, some of our licensing agreements allow us to offer a more robust offering.”
Starter’s sales are up 18 percent year-to-date, Banks said, who has guided the company’s return to prominence in sports licensing since G-III Apparel, the parent company, secured the Starter license in 2013 with a plan to resurrect the iconic satin jacket.
Banks started working with Starter as a brand ambassador in 1985 when he was a linebacker for the New York Giants. Starter, founded in 1971, had just won the contract to create the satin parkas worn by coaches on NFL sidelines. Starter’s founder and CEO, David Beckerman, took Banks under his wing and started his career in the fashion industry.
By the 1990s, Starter’s business was booming, with more than $400 million in annual revenue as the brand’s sideline-ready satin bomber jackets, pullover jackets and tearaway track pants epitomized the convergence of hip-hop and sports.
Backed by an aggressive marketing strategy, the Starter brand, marked by the embroidered “S and Star” logo on jacket sleeves and the back of baseball caps, earned credit for turning sports fandom into a merchandising opportunity.
The Bronx Bubble jacket became a hip-hop style staple and fashion statement. Through the ’90s and early 2000s, hip-hop artists and influential trendsetters, including Justin Bieber, LL Cool J, Missy Elliot, Jay-Z, Will Smith, Snoop Dogg, Brooke Shields, and Run DMC wore the jacket. The brand was also featured in cult-classic movies, like Eddie Murphy’s “Coming to America,” and appeared in music videos and on album covers.
By 1999, Starter landed in bankruptcy court, hurt by the 1994 MLB strike and subsequent NBA lockout but more so by heightened competition from Pro Player, Logo 7, Nutmeg Industries, Sports Specialties, Majestic Athletic, and sneaker giants, including escalating licensing rates by the leagues, and Starter lost its exclusivity as outerwear licensee. Trends had also shifted towards skate looks.
In 2000, Starter began selling sneakers, underwear, and other basics through Walmart. (Walmart no longer carries Starter sneakers.) In 2004, Nike acquired Starter for $43 million and sold it to Iconix Brand Group in 2007 for $60 million. In 2009, Iconix signed Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo as an ambassador in its first NFL alliance following the brand’s bankruptcy to recapture the glory days and improve its position in premium channels.
Recently, Starter gained attention through limited-edition collaborations that were not as accessible in its heyday.
Some caught media buzz, including a holiday collab in 2018 with streetwear designer Daniel Patrick, a football-focused and collegiate-inspired capsule with Coca-Cola in 2019, a 2020 collaboration with Rhuigi Villaseñor, founder of the LA streetwear brand Rhude, through Foot Locker’s Greenhouse incubator program, and a collaboration in 2022 with the London-based skateboard label Palace supporting Starter’s 50th anniversary.
“Collaborations are great,” said Banks. “It speaks to the popularity of the brand and the people who want to work with the brand. I remember meeting Rhude’s designer in my showroom. He was just talking about his love for Starter and how he had always wanted to do something with the brand. So, collaborations are always good because they speak to the DNA of Starter and how the brand resonates off the field as well as on the field. You can look at any era of sitcoms, movies, music videos, etc.—the brand has always been there.”
Recently, Starter collaborated on a jacket with Cookies, the Cannabis brand founded by rapper Berner, and one with Jimmy John’s to celebrate National Sandwich Day. Other collaborations are reportedly in the works.
“We embrace collaborations if they make sense, but it has to make sense for both brands,” said Banks. “It depends on who the collaborator is, what their interest is and what our interest is. But we have so much on our plate as a mono-brand that we’re growing without the collaborations. The collaborations and just validation of cultural relevance.”
In 2023, launches tied to expanded league rights created the most noise for the brand. In July, Starter relaunched the Bronx Bubble Jacket, introduced in 1971, in a one-week collaboration with Major League Baseball that included limited-edition re-releases of Yankees, Mets and Dodgers jackets and celebrated at the MLB store in New York City to coincide with hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. Rappers Jadakiss and FlexLive performed live. Starter rolled at the jacket in November on Starter.com, at the MLB’s flagship store and specialty stores in the U.S.
“The Yankees made that jacket super popular, and it took off everywhere around the country,” said Banks. “It also happens to be on-trend because down-bubble jackets are trending in fashion as well.”
In late November 2023, Starter partnered the National Hockey League on a limited-edition release of The Black Ice Collection, likewise heralded by an event at the NHL flagship in New York City. The collection features outerwear, including the Bronx Bubble Jacket, Breakaway silhouettes, fleece pieces, tees and headwear. Said Banks, “That partnership has allowed us to create a robust offering of Starter like it was once presented in the NHL. The only difference is that we’re not on ice.”
Around the NHL, Starter will roll out a Frenemies & Family capsule collection featuring the Original Six hockey teams in the NHL (the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, and New York Rangers) before the NHL playoffs. Timed with the launch, Starter will partner with local boutiques in those cities, including Succezz in Chicago and Concepts in Boston. An NHL collaboration will also time with the Winter Classic Stadium Series outdoor games at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, in mid-February.
On December 6, 2023, Starter and the New York Giants announced a new multiyear partnership, including launching a limited edition NYC Lights collection (classic t-shirt, hoodie, and satin jacket). The collection coincides with the team’s two Legacy Games, where Giants’ players will wear the team’s blue uniforms from the ’80s and ’90s. To launch the collection, the Giants and Starter, in partnership with Cadillac, updated the iconic Badfellas poster from the early ’90s featuring the NFL legends Lawrence Taylor, Pepper Johnson and Banks, who each played for the Giants. Banks said, “That piece is a rare Starter jacket. We call it New York City Lights Bad Fellas because it’s a black jacket.”
Major vendors for Starter include Fanatics, Lids, and Foot Locker; department stores Nordstrom and Macy’s; fashion retailers Urban Outfitters; and urban boutiques. Dick’s Sporting Goods carries a range of Starter jackets and graphic tees under NFL teams. Said Banks, “I think our distribution is good.”
One task for Starter will be to encourage stores to carry a broader selection of apparel beyond jackets and hoodies and improve in-store selling. Toward that end, the brand is working on opening Starter in-store shops inside Lids’ locations. However, a primary focus on distribution is to improve the brand’s online experience at starter.com to support new launches.
“My biggest focus right now is to get our omnichannel going better,” said Banks. “It’s not even close to where it should be because it’s the new ‘shop-in-shop’ for brands. You can create drops. You can control cadence. And you can introduce product faster than you could if it were in store. But we get to do two things at once. We’re building that relationship with Lids in their physical brick-and-mortar, and we’re also building our web presence as well.”
Starter plans to invest in influencer marketing and further develop its offerings, including for women, with collaborations with the NBA and colleges; overseas growth will be a priority with potential partnerships with European soccer clubs. Starter is reportedly negotiating on-field licensing deals with the USFL and the Arena Football League to mark its return to the sidelines while also planning a return to player endorsements.
Banks said that while continued collaborations will rebuild buzz around the brand, younger generations have discovered Starter in their parents’ closets as they seek out vintage labels.
“I think we’re in a cycle from a fashion perspective where legacy brands have a strong presence in the marketplace,” said Banks. “When you look at our younger generation, they’re thrifting more than ever.”
“I have a son under 30, and all he wears are legacy brands,” added Banks. “He goes and scours for vintage brands, Starter being one of them. He was a teenager when he told me that Starter was a brand that I should look at, and here we are years later, the brand is resonating as strong as it’s ever been, and it’s picking up steam,” noted Banks.
Photos courtesy Starter, lead photo Carl Banks
