How Super Bowl Champ Carl Banks Is Inspiring Young Entrepreneurs

Former New York Giants linebacker Carl Banks may be best known for his two Super Bowl titles, but his influence extends far beyond the football field.

As the president of G-III Sports, a leading licensing firm responsible for apparel across the NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB, Banks has spent decades at the crossroads of sports, fashion, and business, shaping trends and consumer demand. Starter, which first rose to prominence in the 1980s and 90s with its signature satin jackets, became a cultural phenomenon worn by athletes and entertainers alike.

After experiencing financial setbacks in 1999, the brand has since regained momentum under the Iconix Brand Group and is licensed to G-III Apparel Group, where Carl Banks leads G-III Sports.

Former NFL star and sports apparel executive Carl Banks is offering aspiring entrepreneurs a valuable piece of advice: embrace failure and keep refining your vision until you succeed.

"Whether it's getting into sports apparel or whatever they're calling is, don't be afraid to fail," Banks told The Blast exclusively. "That's number one."

Banks also advised entrepreneurs to build a plan, "no matter how small that plan is."

"If you have a vision of what you want to do, put a plan around it," he said. "That plan will grow the more you're educated about the things that you want to accomplish."

"Grow your plan because you're gonna be exposed to people, and you have to ask questions. As you get the answers to your questions, you expand your plan. And when you feel comfortable that you have something that you wanna present to the world, you go for it."

But the thing everyone has to keep in mind is "you have a point of view."

"If you have a vision for what you want and how you want, in this case, how you want your apparel to be a point of differentiation in sport, then you have to articulate that through design and through a plan," he told The Blast. "It's a market that has a lot of opportunity, but you're not gonna make it if it's some of the same product that's already in the market."

"If you have a vision, sharpen it, present it, don't be afraid to fail, but keep presenting it until you get it right," he added.

Banks recalls recognizing an opportunity in the sports apparel market early in their football career, inspired by Starter's approach to fandom and sports fashion.

"I was one of the first athletes to represent Starter," the former NFL player told The Blast. "And I just kind of fell in love with what Starter was doing just in terms of fandom and creating a new vision for how sports was consumed."

His entry point came when they noticed a gap in the market for leather sports jackets, leading him to create a line of leather jackets and pitch it to the NFL.

Initially, the NFL rejected the idea due to the lack of a structured plan, but after returning with a clear strategy, they were granted a trial opportunity to produce Big and Tall suede-only jackets. Excelling in that niche, he eventually expanded into Big and Tall suede and leather jackets, laying the foundation for a broader apparel business.

"At the time, I was killing it, and stores were like, 'Can you get these in regular sizes?'" he added.

The line of leather jackets eventually expanded to the NBA, MLB, and NHL, but Banks acknowledged that the "NFL was the catalyst for it."

So when Banks reminds those looking to dip their toes in the business world, remember that in order to "grow your plan," you need to "have a vision, build it, get more information, perfect the areas that you can, and then look to expand your base of resources."

"And I was open to that," he told The Blast on why he was able to become successful in the industry. "I went to a company that was number one in outerwear in the world, but they had no interest in sports, right? So I had to convince them that, you know, this is a partnership that they should participate in, and we shook hands on it 35 years ago, almost 40 years ago, and we're still rocking."

At the end of the day, Banks wants entrepreneurs to remember to "stay fearless."