Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: All right, let me throw out one metric. I guess
Speaker 2: I kind of got to do this. The global sportswear
Speaker 2: market size valued at nearly four hundred and thirteen billion
Speaker 2: dollars in twenty twenty two, estimated to reach nearly seven
Speaker 2: hundred forty nine billion by twenty thirty one. And listen,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of players in it and looking to
Speaker 2: take a share of it. Is a partnership. Our next
Speaker 2: two guests, both with brands that are very well known
Speaker 2: now with a combined brand known as Greatness Wins.
Speaker 3: So let's get to the interview with more joining us
Speaker 3: here in the studio. The founder of Vuntucket, who came
Speaker 3: up with the idea for his casual shirts while working
Speaker 3: at GE Healthcare. Chris Ricobono back with us, Also with
Speaker 3: US Hall of Fame shortstop and five time World Series
Speaker 3: champion with the New York Yankees. Also an e commerce
Speaker 3: investor to Derek Jeter, both here in the Bloomberg BusinessWeek studio. Okay, guys,
Speaker 3: first up, we want to know how you guys got together.
Speaker 3: How did this come together? Who called who? Who had
Speaker 3: the idea for who to get involved. How did it
Speaker 3: come out?
Speaker 1: That's a good question, and you start, we'll see what
Speaker 1: version comes out.
Speaker 4: I was going to say Derek reached out to me,
Speaker 4: but that's not how it worked. So I over the pandemic.
Speaker 4: I was looking to solve another problem in the fashion industry,
Speaker 4: and I thought about athletic apparel and it didn't exist
Speaker 4: for me. Something that had a great fit but also
Speaker 4: had performance first in mind. So I came up with
Speaker 4: this concept in this idea, but now I wanted a
Speaker 4: few athletes behind me. And at the time, I think
Speaker 4: Derek might have still had a contract with Nike or
Speaker 4: it was winding down, and I didn't think that I
Speaker 4: could get to him or that he'd be interested. But
Speaker 4: after a year of bothering him and his agents, he
Speaker 4: actually called me and said, Chris, I'm just not that
Speaker 4: interested and excited in this. But I said, he can't
Speaker 4: get off say he can't get off the phone, Derek,
Speaker 4: how can I get you excited? So we talked for
Speaker 4: a while after that, and we kind of came together
Speaker 4: with both of our visions. You know, I'm apparel guy.
Speaker 4: That's the way I think about it. Derek's was a
Speaker 4: successful entrepreneur but also very successful, as you know, a
Speaker 4: Nike guy, So I knew that he had a lot
Speaker 4: of insight that I didn't have, and he shared it
Speaker 4: with me, and we launched a brand about a year
Speaker 4: and a half ago and we're having great success.
Speaker 2: Okay, you weren't excited and then you became excited. How
Speaker 2: that happened? How did you make that turn?
Speaker 1: Well? I think you know, first and foremost getting to
Speaker 1: know Chris, we talked about the idea. I've had relationships
Speaker 1: with athletic brands throughout my career and great relationships and
Speaker 1: I still do today. And you know, when I was
Speaker 1: first speaking to Chris, I was like, well, first of all,
Speaker 1: you know, this is a crowded space. It's not as
Speaker 1: easy to attack this space, and it's going to take
Speaker 1: some time and it's going to take a lot of energy.
Speaker 1: And I wouldn't say I wasn't excited, but I when
Speaker 1: I do something, I'm all in and if I'm not
Speaker 1: all in, I'm just not going to do it. And
Speaker 1: at that point when we were having the discussion, I said,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think now is the time. And
Speaker 1: then we actually got together. We had a chance to
Speaker 1: look and feel and touch the product, and that started
Speaker 1: getting me very very excited about it. So I guess
Speaker 1: that's the best way to put it in our short
Speaker 1: period of time.
Speaker 3: You do, though, Derek, probably get a lot of investment pitches,
Speaker 3: not just in the apparel world, but yeah, no question,
Speaker 3: from lots of different entrepreneurs who want your involvement. What
Speaker 3: was it specifically about this one with Chris with Untucket
Speaker 3: that really caught your eye?
Speaker 1: I think it's you got to get to know the
Speaker 1: people any business that you're in, the same thing, when
Speaker 1: you're on a team on the field, you have to
Speaker 1: have the right people on the side. Yeah, exactly. I
Speaker 1: was going to say that, but you didn't give me
Speaker 1: enough time to say that. And you know, I just
Speaker 1: found Chris to be very very passionate about it. You
Speaker 1: can't fake passion. You either are you aren't. And you know,
Speaker 1: even when I told him that I wasn't interested, he
Speaker 1: kept calling and we kept having the conversation, and I
Speaker 1: knew when you're if you're going to be successful, you
Speaker 1: need those types of people on your side.
Speaker 2: I always think about that. I remember talking to a
Speaker 2: top m and a banker and he's like, the only
Speaker 2: way you get deals done. Is this CEOs have to
Speaker 2: like each other and that's how you get things come
Speaker 2: to the table. Would you say no to a great
Speaker 2: deal because you didn't like.
Speaker 1: Somebody, Oh, without a doubt.
Speaker 4: I mean you end up working a lot. It's funny
Speaker 4: when Derek said that he wanted to be more involved
Speaker 4: and he when he goes all in, I was thinking
Speaker 4: he was just doing that as an equity, play some
Speaker 4: more equity. Yeah, that you actually want it to be.
Speaker 4: And Derek's liked. I mean, he wants to talk about everything,
Speaker 4: every decision, and you want somebody who's I want something
Speaker 4: that guess because I don't know everything and I definitely
Speaker 4: don't know everything in the athletic apparel space. So it's
Speaker 4: been a.
Speaker 1: This is recorded, right, I'm gonna play We're gonna play
Speaker 1: that back.
Speaker 2: You can do that, you can love it, you can
Speaker 2: loop it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, Well the same thing for you.
Speaker 2: I mean, Derek, when you get involved in something, how
Speaker 2: you know? We asked about what made this interesting, but
Speaker 2: in general, how involved do you want to be? I
Speaker 2: mean how much do you have to love the brand
Speaker 2: that you hook up with?
Speaker 1: You have to be involved? I mean, otherwise you're just
Speaker 1: given your money and you're hoping someone else runs with
Speaker 1: it and makes you more. But when you're passionate about something,
Speaker 1: when you put in the time, you put in the effort.
Speaker 1: I think the best thing to say about us is
Speaker 1: we disagree probably more than we agree, and I think
Speaker 1: that's a good thing. I mean, you don't want people
Speaker 1: that always think the same as you, Otherwise you're never
Speaker 1: going to make improvements, You're never going to make progress.
Speaker 2: Is it hard to say no to?
Speaker 3: Derek?
Speaker 1: Though?
Speaker 2: We just talked with the leadership we are author of
Speaker 2: a leadership book, talked about CEOs who once they get
Speaker 2: to the top, they surround themselves with people who say
Speaker 2: who don't say no.
Speaker 4: Listen, I rolled the dice right from the beginning, and
Speaker 4: we went after each other a little bit, But like
Speaker 4: you said, it, uh, it's the best way to go
Speaker 4: about it. Like you want to leave at the end
Speaker 4: of the day and have people go against your views
Speaker 4: because if they're agreeing with you, you're not going to
Speaker 4: always do the right thing. So I thought that was
Speaker 4: a great I wondered if he was one to because sorry,
Speaker 4: if he was going to want to continue to relationship
Speaker 4: a few times, but it really came together and now
Speaker 4: now we're on the same page and things are going
Speaker 4: really well for us.
Speaker 2: Well, I do wonder when does it get a little tricky.
Speaker 2: Like any partnership, whether it's a marriage, whether it's working relationships,
Speaker 2: whether it's business relationships, there's always tough times. What are
Speaker 2: some of those looking at me?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was about to say, you guys, just keep going.
Speaker 1: You want to you answer that question?
Speaker 2: No, But I really do feel like a little bit
Speaker 2: of debate or a little bit of arguing, like gets
Speaker 2: you to a better place.
Speaker 1: I think it does. You have to have a difference
Speaker 1: of opinion, like.
Speaker 2: I said, I do like you Tim.
Speaker 1: Otherwise, like I said, you're not going to make any
Speaker 1: any progress moving forward. And we probably we disagree more
Speaker 1: than we agree, but we do it respectfully. And you know,
Speaker 1: there are some things that I know he's an expert.
Speaker 1: It's impossible to be an expert everything, right, You surrounds
Speaker 1: your people that are much more intelligent in different fields.
Speaker 1: And you know, Chris obviously has a lot of experience
Speaker 1: in the retail space, especially I have experience when it
Speaker 1: comes to athletic brands. So it's okay for us to disagree.
Speaker 3: So Chris let's go there, because this is a really
Speaker 3: crowded space. You mentioned Nike, but I mean if you
Speaker 3: think about upstarts like Viori Rhone, then there are the
Speaker 3: big players like Nike, Adidas and the like. How do
Speaker 3: you carve out a place for you specifically?
Speaker 4: So my it's funny, just like with on Tucket, I
Speaker 4: really needed this product. Then you might ask why. You
Speaker 4: know there's plenty of athletic brands and athlesier brands. For me,
Speaker 4: the athletic brands that existed, the quality wasn't there, the
Speaker 4: consistency of fit wasn't there. They were designed for performance,
Speaker 4: but they didn't have that modern fit. The athleisure brands
Speaker 4: have an incredible fit, very high quality fabrics, but not
Speaker 4: designed with performance first in mind. So I wanted a
Speaker 4: really high end athletic brand that had a great fit
Speaker 4: but also was meant to work out and would withstand
Speaker 4: being washed, not pilling. Something that all athletes, not just
Speaker 4: professional athletes, could use all the time, and it's not inexpensive,
Speaker 4: so you want it to last for a long time.
Speaker 4: And I think that that's where we are differentiate from
Speaker 4: these other brands. We're not athleisure, We're not athletic. We're
Speaker 4: kind of a blend of both, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2: I've got yoga pants on that are pilling a little bit,
Speaker 2: so I totally get you. What's the kind of what's
Speaker 2: the growth trajectory? Tell me what we can tell we're Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: We love numbers, you know that. What's the growth on this?
Speaker 1: Well, we need you to go buy some pants, just
Speaker 1: get right on it to help it's out. But I
Speaker 1: think for us, I'll let Chris follow up on it.
Speaker 1: I think what we want to show as a brand,
Speaker 1: this is only our second year. We want to show progress.
Speaker 1: You know sometimes when you when when you're building a company,
Speaker 1: a startup company, you want success right away to understand
Speaker 1: you're you're a startup company for I think they say
Speaker 1: ten years. I mean that's a long long time. So
Speaker 1: we want to show some steady progression. I'll let Chris
Speaker 1: get in a number.
Speaker 2: Yeah, will be ten years before you really feel like
Speaker 2: it's there.
Speaker 1: No ends on how much you buy, Okay, no, I.
Speaker 4: Mean so much competition. You want to just stay relevant.
Speaker 4: You want to make a great product. That's the first thing.
Speaker 4: You got to make a great product. You need your
Speaker 4: repeats to be there. Which they are for us. The
Speaker 4: other thing that's really exciting with us is not just
Speaker 4: you have the e comm then eventually stores, which is
Speaker 4: what I did with on Tucket. We have a great
Speaker 4: wholesale business we're building at Greatness Wins. We have a
Speaker 4: golf business. We'll be in eighty clubs. We were in
Speaker 4: eighty clubs this spring. We have a bookstore business. Derek
Speaker 4: just wore a Michigan sweatshirt on his honore a captain
Speaker 4: in Michigan this weekend. We have a new dance relationship
Speaker 4: with Misty Copeland, who's our women.
Speaker 2: This foundary women who do a little bit of shopping.
Speaker 4: So we have something that will be announcing soon. That's exciting.
Speaker 4: So I'm very happy with earlier are. People love the product,
Speaker 4: they love the quality, and we're just getting going, but
Speaker 4: very excited for the future.
Speaker 2: All Right, We're going to just shift a little bit
Speaker 2: because I am curious, Derek, are you looking for any
Speaker 2: other investments, you know, in sports beyond baseball or maybe
Speaker 2: an MLB team or anything.
Speaker 1: No, I've been down that path. No, take a break
Speaker 1: from that. I spend a lot of time with my
Speaker 1: four kids who are seven and under, so it's a
Speaker 1: full time job, especially when you're talking about Major League
Speaker 1: Baseball ownership. So at this particular point, I think I
Speaker 1: have my hands full.
Speaker 2: So no other Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, when you say take a break, are you ruling
Speaker 3: it out for the future or do you want to
Speaker 3: get back in there.
Speaker 1: I learned a long time ago never say never yeah,
Speaker 1: because you never know. I just said it three times
Speaker 1: in a row. But you don't know where the future
Speaker 1: is going to lead you. But at this particular point now.
Speaker 2: I do also wonder the two of you, like when
Speaker 2: you think about either ath leisure or athletic appareled you know,
Speaker 2: companies that you look at that you admire or leaders
Speaker 2: you admire. Let me ask you, Chris first, like, is
Speaker 2: there somebody that you look at and say that's who
Speaker 2: I kind of get some cues from.
Speaker 4: Or I mean we always talk about Nike and the
Speaker 4: Jordan brand. Those are the greatest, you know, probably the
Speaker 4: greatest brand maybe ever, so well, you know you want
Speaker 4: to be them, but if you're half half of what
Speaker 4: they become, you're very successful. And I think the ath
Speaker 4: leisure brands are great too. I mean I won't name
Speaker 4: them because you know, but I think there's a lot
Speaker 4: of great brands these days. So we're just trying to differentiate,
Speaker 4: give a reason, you know, why you might need our
Speaker 4: product versus those products, and yeah, hopefully it works.
Speaker 2: Leader you look at your smiling.
Speaker 1: No, there's a lot, you know, it's one that comes
Speaker 1: to mind, he said, Jordan Brand. You know, MJ's been
Speaker 1: like a big brother than me. And I think you know,
Speaker 1: I have young kids now, and you want them to
Speaker 1: choose their career path and find someone that they can
Speaker 1: look up to. You want them to see someone who's
Speaker 1: been successful. And you know, you talk about Michael on
Speaker 1: what he was able to accomplish on the basketball court,
Speaker 1: but I think you look at athletes post playing career.
Speaker 1: He's up there at the top what he's been able
Speaker 1: to accomplish from a business standpoint. So he's someone that
Speaker 1: I look to and go to for advice.
Speaker 2: All Right, you're going to go there, you go, world serious,
Speaker 2: I know I have to do this. I have to
Speaker 2: do this, all right, So you're going to be in.
Speaker 1: The booth, right I am? Yes? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Who do you can you think about?
Speaker 1: Who might be there? I don't know, it depends, you know.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to skirt the question I'm really not.
Speaker 1: But a lot of it is matchups. We'll know in
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks, because you know, some teams I
Speaker 1: know during my careers to play Anaheim Angels all the time.
Speaker 1: We just couldn't beat them, and you know, finally we
Speaker 1: broke through and we were able to win in two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine. But it all comes down to matchups.
Speaker 1: So there's some good teams out there.
Speaker 2: Chris, you talk baseball, and I'm curious what you might
Speaker 2: think for the World Series.
Speaker 1: It knows nothing about basic do know baseball?
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't did a deal with I don't
Speaker 4: bother Derek with it, but I'm a Yankees fan. We'll
Speaker 4: see it's they don't seem to be able to perform
Speaker 4: in the playoffs for the last what is it fifteen years.
Speaker 1: Now, we'll discuss it on.
Speaker 2: Hey listen, guys, got about forty seconds left here, real
Speaker 2: quickly in I don't know, a year from now, what's
Speaker 2: the conversation around your company.
Speaker 4: I think we'll start to look at stores. I mean,
Speaker 4: I love stores. Not many people do in retail. We
Speaker 4: have nine of them on Tucket and we're opening more.
Speaker 4: I think it's really important for the male shoppers. So
Speaker 4: I think we'll look at that and we'll look at
Speaker 4: continued growth in these different areas that we discuss, bookstores, golf,
Speaker 4: e commerce. So it's very exciting.
Speaker 2: Same thing for you, Derek, in terms of greatness, wins
Speaker 2: and a year from now, what are we gonna be
Speaker 2: talking about.
Speaker 1: Oh, I think it's all awareness. You want people to
Speaker 1: be aware. You want to walk around the streets and
Speaker 1: see people wearing it. And I'm very confident in the
Speaker 1: fact that someone buys our product and they wear it,
Speaker 1: they'll be happy with it and they'll return.
Speaker 2: As a customer and no pilling.
Speaker 1: You promise, Well, you got to tell me.
Speaker 2: Derek, Derek Jeter, of course, Chris Ricobono, you guys got me.
Speaker 1: FLLL mixed