What's up? It's Way Up with Angela Yee. And this is an honor for me today to be sitting with two legends.
Okay. We got Carl Banks here with us. What's up, Carl?
What's up, Angela? It's so good to see you. It's been a minute.
It's good to see you. You got your merch on, too.
Yeah. Yeah. You know, the Big East tournament is right around the corner. It's this week. So, you know, I got to rep St. John's cuz ever since I've been here in New York, which has been a long time, I've been a St. John's fan. You know, I graduated from Michigan State, so I always hold them down. But here in New York, you got to be everything. Yeah.
Well, Tony Shellman, another legend who I've known from back in the day. He started some of those iconic brands like Enyce, Mecca, Parish.
Oh, no. Yes. Yes. No. No. Thank you, Angela. It's so good to see you again. And you know, we have friends and friends and friends that we have, you know, but yeah, I'm here with my guy Carl Banks. You know, it's all about Starter, the Starter, man. The Beast of the Big East. I'm working with Banks now. I get to ride with Banks now.
So, can I tell you a story about that? This guy, he was like semi-retired. I would see him, we'd go golfing and he would always be like, 'You don't golf enough.' I'm like, 'I'm still working.' And I'm like, I got some work to do. And we're on the golf course. And I was like, I need to meet you after golf. I'm like, I need you to come work for me. Like, no. I didn't say work for me. I said, come work with me.
Yeah. I need you to consult.
No, no, no. He ain't consulting. He fulltime. So, he gave up golf.
So, like when I took over the Starter business, you know, it's a heritage brand. It's a brand that resonates with, you know, culture and sport and that whole intersection and entertainment. But I was like, I really need that next level. I need cuz we know Tony for a long time, right? And he's always, and I say this lovingly, but he's always been the Pied Piper, the rainmaker, right? Yeah. Like if he has an idea, it's going to be next level stuff, right? So, I'm like, 'Look, I got all these concepts, all these ideas. And I got all of this Starter stuff in the vault. I need somebody that can help me bring this to life.' Right.
So, he's like, 'Okay, let me talk about it with my wife.'
Exactly. I was like, 'Let me ask the real boss. Let me ask my president to the real president.'
Then he said, 'Well, you know, I got kids at home.'
I was like, 'This is a perfect opportunity for me to get out the house.' Yeah. And kids love their Starter clothes, too. It is. So, we are going on what, like five years together now.
And we haven't looked back, but we're doing some really, really epic things. This year to kick off this year was probably as epic as it can get. We had, you know, we did the Bad Bunny jacket for the Super Bowl.
Yes. That was amazing. It's crazy. How did that happen?
Wow. So he hit you up like that's so dope.
But yeah, and there was so much controversy around that halftime and it was so amazing. Yeah. And all it did was make us lock in even more. Like that's all it did for me.
And then we saw Coco Jones wearing Carl Cani.
Yes. Yeah. It was awesome representing the culture, man. But it's been great.
But why you on that Bad Bunny thing?
The rare Super Tazone. Super Tazone. Bad Bunny.
I love it. Super Tazone. That's me. Babon, is that for me? I love it.
That's Mr. Banks. That's from Mr. Banks.
Uh thank you. I remember when you relaunched Starter. I love this. This is amazing. I feel good about this. And so it's like a piece of history for me.
So on the projects, I'll just jump in real quick. So yeah, I came to work for Banks and the whole thing about like, and I say like that on purpose because you know Banks is a legend in his own right outside of this apparel thing. Two time Super Bowl champion. Come on. You know he's not messing around. But I was friends with Carl in the very beginning of his apparel career. And so we used to always come to the magic show as you know. And we would come and give Banks a hard time because we'd all be at the show. But Banks would be working like seriously working. Of course. Not like us.
We come to his and his booth was actually in a section, a nicer section where they had really nice booths, two floors and stuff like that. And we'd be standing out there like his riff raff friends. Hey yo, Banks coming out. Might as well drink. Come on out. Come grab some drinks. So we used to have so much fun with him. And so like I've been watching his career and working with him for years and we've been friends. Go have drinks. But like again, five years ago, he's like, 'Come on, Shaman. Come rock with me.' I was like, 'Yo, you gotta let me rock.' He's like, 'You got complete autonomy, Shaman. Let's go.' So with that, it's just but the whole thing about like it's your man's with the stuff with the ideas. So I just get to sit back like the crazy producer and producing these ideas and getting Bad Bunny this that and it's all him. Like Beast of the Big East is him. I don't even think that term really exists. The man hit me up a year or so ago like, 'Show, we're gonna do something with the Big East.' I'm like, 'The Big East?' Yeah, Beast of the Big East. I'm like, 'What's that?' Like the Big East tournament? Like yes, we're about to rock. So all of this Starter stuff and the research of Starter and everything that's your mans and them Banks. Carl Banks is killing it. So that's why you're like I have to be here.
Yeah. Cuz I want to be involved with the thing is like the Big East had some of the illest basketball players and coaches to ever come through the NCAA. But they also had the most coveted Starter apparel like the Georgetown jacket has still been number one on everybody's list. And then my man, I'm pretty sure you know Bar Brown.
So Bar hits me up. He's like, 'I need the original Starter Georgetown hat.' Wow. Retro. I was like, 'I got one personally.' There we go. I told Bar I was like, 'I got one in my archive so I can make sure that anything we do matches it exactly.' He's like, 'I need to get that.' I was like, 'Bar, it's yours.' I gave it. No, I gave him my original. I made sure. Yes. And I was able to find another one online for like $500, but I had to get it because I needed the original. But Bar goes hard like for Georgetown Starter and he just gave me like a lot of different ideas and he put battery in my back when he was talking when I told him I'm doing this Beast of the Big East. He's like, 'You know you got to make sure that you hit X, Y, and Z.' And I was like, 'Okay.' Yeah, but like the St. John's jacket was hot to death and still hard to get.
Will people be able to get this at this Macy's Herald Square experience?
Ah we're getting to that. Yes. [laughter] That's what I want to know. I wanted to make the hard to get easier to get.
Your debacle last year. Crazy man.
Yeah. So, this launched last year, right? Beast of the Big East. Okay. Yeah. And we had Macy's and Lids on 42nd Street and Lids on 42nd Street had a line out the door and people didn't realize that I mean the Lids people didn't realize it was going to be as big as it was because of the affinity for the Big East and they didn't have product on the floor. So my social media almost burnt down because people are like, 'You told me to come here at this time and the product's not even on the floor.'
Dragging your man. They was dragging your man.
But it was all right. It ended well all over social. It ended well. It ended well. Everybody got their product. So this year we're doing it. We're running it back. Macy's. We have our Starter shop there, but we also have like this really cool podcast called Big East Rewind. So, it's two Big East legends that are hosting their podcast live from our spot and they're bringing all these legends from the Big East.
Are we going to get any because what I saw was some surprise guests. So, are we going to know any of them?
Yeah, I think we're announcing the lineup. If you follow Big East basketball or ever been a fan, especially St. John's, you can expect some really special guests to show up for that podcast.
No, that's going to be really exciting for everybody involved and to get some of this merch. And I want to flash back to even your involvement with Starter because actually you were an ambassador for Starter before taking over the brand which people need to understand that full circle very authentic organic collaboration. So, come on. Come on.
Before Nike was signing athletes, Starter was the first brand to do it. And I was one of their first five athletes to wear the brand and to rep it. And that's when I really fell in love with sports apparel because the founder of Starter, David Becker, was so open about how he wanted to change the face of how people fanned. Like he wanted to make fandom fashionable, but he also wanted to make it super cool. And so, you started to see the product on TV, you started to see the product on entertainers and my moment when I thought I like ding with the heaven is, and you're too young, but when the Red Parrot was really jumping, you said the Red Parrot, and DJ Red Alert was there. I think it was on Thursday nights.
We was little. We was little. Yeah. My guy cool DJ Red Alert, right?
So, but Red Alert was DJing at the Red Parrot and it was like the spot to go like it was you guys' tunnel.
But so me and one of my teammates pull up and who was that? Brother Peppa. Peppa Johnson. And behind us is this other limo and these dudes get out screaming, 'Yo, Carl. Yo Pep. Yo, Carl.' And I look back, it's DMC and he's wearing a Giant Starter jacket. And DMC's like, 'Giants, baby, Giants, baby.' I was like, 'Oh, we made it, bro.' Cuz like DMC, right? DMC knows us. But it was like that's how the brand kind of just crossed all lines. It intersected with everything. And then there's like just pictures of just a who's who of people from mob bosses like John Gotti wearing a Raiders jacket to Tom Hanks wearing it on TV. But it's right now where I'm at with the brand is I'm trying to make sure I am a really good caretaker of it. Because there's a growing culture of kids that are thrifting Starter jackets because it's so cool. But here's the other thing too and you could tell me this Angela. I was talking to this kid. He's a school teacher. He's in Austin, Texas. He called me. He was a big Starter fan and he's I guess still in his 20s. He said, 'You know why Starter is so important right now?' He says because there's a whole group of kids that never went outside during the pandemic.
And he said that they don't, he says think of every other, he didn't say generation, but he's like every 10 years or so kids resonated with a brand. And he said the kids that were locked inside were the yins because all they wore is, no, no. He said because all they wore is Nike tech fleece.
Right. That they had a moment with those Nike tech because they started that's all they wore. Right.
You guys got some nice Starter quarter zips right now.
Right. We got Starter quarter zip. We got Starter quarter zips. This was an education to me because I was like, okay, I didn't realize that until I realized I'm like, yeah, everybody was ordering off Amazon and you know, a lot of brands were born on the internet. He's like, 'But they never really had that moment, right?' And like they would order their Nikes, but they never wore them anywhere. So, they just didn't have a brand. So, it's like these are the kids that are really gravitating towards Starter. And so for me, I'm making sure that the brand is everything that it's always meant to everybody from my generation forward. And just, you know, being able to take the brand over after wearing it after all these years was, you know, it was a nice opportunity for me, but it was a real business move, right? Because I saw it and it was in Walmart at the time, but I knew the brand equity that it had culturally and in sport and it was clean. You know, some brands leave the scene raggedy and then they show up in Walmart, right?
Starter just exited and then it just showed up in Walmart, but it wasn't in sport again. And I was like, I want to bring it back.
I like that you did that cuz sometimes people feel like once you get into Walmart, it's a wrap. It's a wrap. Like once you're in some of these discount stores, but this is definitely an amazing revival story of how you were able to make this an, you know, more premium, right, available for people. And that's what he did. But that's what you did.
So, and like on that, you know, it's like when I came involved, like it's like, 'Okay, Shellman, go do your thing.' Right? And so, we were sitting there, he's having a cigar. I'm sitting there with my favorite cocktail, some nice bourbon. And your man's like, 'We need to do Starter stories.' I'm like, 'Who? Starter stories.' I'm like, 'What's a Starter story? Tell me about your first Starter jacket.' And of course, I went on. I had my Hoya jacket, my Georgetown jacket, but then my man wanted to borrow it, but then somebody beat him up and took it and then I had to go back and have my 12 stories like that. So many stories like that. So everywhere we go, somebody sees they know we're coming to visit. Yo, you know, I had that, but it got stolen. Or I'm like, I had a school teacher tell me and she's a school teacher in Atlanta. She's like, I had kids that would come to my class and wouldn't take their, it's 100 degrees.
You're like, nope, nobody's taking my jacket. Right. I mean, I remember Loud Records did the marketing for Starter for a period of time and that's when I had my Starter jacket on.
Right. Right. Right. And those guys. So on that note, so that's why so when we did it with NFL, we started with the NFL with Tyler. Tyler was bringing back the festival. So that was like what a couple years ago he's bringing back. He's like, 'Yeah, he's bringing back.' Okay, great. And so Zy Simera from the NFL was like, 'You guys should jump in with us.' I was like, 'All right, no doubt that's coming back. Oh, let's go.' So Tyler himself was like, 'Starter NFL. Let's go.' And then, you know, obviously we made a jacket for him and he was like, 'I love this jacket.' And so just being a part of that youth culture and everything that he creates and being a part of that whole, you know, doing his Tyler the Creator jacket sells out in less than two minutes. I bet like it's crazy. I feel so bad cuz he's so, one thing I give Tyler the Creator credit for. He is about his fans and making sure he is a good steward to his fans. So it's not like the jacket sells in the stadium for like three and change, almost $400. He was selling that jacket for the price that they could all afford. And I was like, he asked us, 'Are you guys cool with that?' I'm like, 'Bro, these are your fans and these are your jackets. So, you do whatever you want.' So, he made it possible. But like when I say it hurts your heart when you see the merch board go up and when it's all said and done, like in less than five minutes, there's a big X over your jacket cuz it's sold out and you just see kids like still waiting. I'm like, it's sold out. But,
But you know, the demand is there for you honestly. And I understand that it hurts your heart, but it also I mean it speaks to but that's what he's tasked me to do over here at Starter, which is get out there. I mean I So myself, Tex Watts, Pat and Tana's been with you for the day.
Tana, come on. Tana, Texan's there before me. Way before me.
Come on. That's And she, you know, so we always tease. I'm like, 'Tex, I'm just visiting.' She goes, 'You could be here, but you know, just know that you're visiting, Shaman.' You know, that's my girl. Like I'm just a visitor. But yeah, between Carl and Tex and the team, man, Pat, Marcy, the whole crew, you know, we call Mike Sherman White Mike, you know, we're so blessed, but Mike, we Carl just curates this brand so methodically and he curates Starter like to the point where we sit here, Starter Stories has its own package. Starter Live has its own package. What teams we go after, what leagues, what different things we go after. Your man calls me at 11 o'clock at night. I'm like, 'Bro, stop calling me.'
But you know what I think is so important is that and if I can make like a music analogy, when you look at some of the brands, music groups and individuals that were really really good that just kind of said, 'Okay, maybe the game passed me by.' No, I don't think so. Like De La came out. Yes. Killing it. Yeah. Their new album was amazing. I loved it. Come on, man. It sounds so good. And then Nas never stopped, right? But then he said, 'You know what? Let me get boom bap with Premiere, right?' And it's hitting and it's like I love that and people love that, right? And I'm just like and then I just heard and I'm not an old head in terms of that's the only music I listen to. When I hear Eric Sermon stuff, right? Or Meth Never Quit, right? And he's still his flow is still deadly as ever. And I like new music as well, but there's a reminder, right?
Yeah. But that good quality, the architecture of what makes you great. If you subscribe to that, you're going to still be great. Cuz there are a lot of people who strive to be what you were and there's a lot of gimmicks to it and it doesn't necessarily last. But the guy who has the sound fundamentals, I mean, that's why De La can come out and do what they did. Right. That's why Nas hits like he hits. And like I said, I like a lot of these kids. But
They can all have Starter jackets.
Yeah. Can all the new music call. You got it. If you're a new artist, if you're a new artist, Carl Banks is giving out Starter. I got NBA YoungBoy. Yo Gotti, 21 Savage, Tyler. Who else I got in rotation. Both of them babies were good. Now they're just kind of out there. Little Baby and DaBaby.
They both still both dope.
They dope, but it's like they
DaBaby just put out a great new album, too.
