Tom Brady is an all-American success story. He was born in sunny California and played football at his alma mater, UMich. After graduating, Brady was picked up by the New England Patriots. He stayed with the Pats for two decades, during which he led them to dominate the NFL with a record-breaking nine Super Bowl appearances and six wins. With an eye towards moving to Florida, Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 — and led them straight to yet another Super Bowl victory, in spite of being over 40 years of age, when most players would have retired.
While he was busy cementing his reputation as the greatest football player of all time, Brady met and married Gisele Bündchen, a former Victoria’s Secret Angel and one of the hottest supermodels in the business at that time. No slouch, Brady himself earned millions from doing side work as a model and spokesman for numerous brands. In 2016, Brady expressed his entrepreneurial side when he launched TB12, a website-based company that offers instruction, nutrition, and coaching for clients to maintain peak physical fitness. And in 2021, Brady co-founded Autograph, an NFT platform that deals in digitally authenticated sports memorabilia.
As former President Trump might say, Tom Brady wins so much, he’s going to get tired of all the winning.
But Tom Brady isn’t tired yet. Yesterday, he announced the launch of his new namesake apparel line, Brady. The Brady brand bills itself as “technical apparel for training and living.” The clothing fits into the performance end of the athleisure spectrum. According to its website, Brady is “the first technical apparel brand to apply two decades of pro sports level innovation and engineering to create a system of clothing that performs across every activity.” The site also notes that “With over 3 years in development, our fabrics and materials fuse natural elements with cutting-edge technology.” Besides its famous super-athlete founder, Brady brand is raising its profile above the saturated athleisure sector by going so far as to trademark a word for their guiding corporate philosophy: “Lifeletics.”
Clearly, Tom Brady is more than just a great football player; he’s intelligent, industrious, entrepreneurial, and creative. In a Dec. 2021 interview with Forbes, Brady talked about how he carries over the skillset he built as a winning quarterback into his business endeavors, including his latest launch. “I realize I can’t play sports forever and at the same time, all of these lessons that I’ve learned in sports are really what I apply to other aspects of life. I’ve been on multiple teams with the best coaches, players, and role models—guys I’ve looked up to for inspiration and determination. And I’ve learned you don’t accomplish anything as an individual.” He explained that “When you take that out of a sports setting and put it in a business setting, it’s the same thing. You build your life around people who have great integrity and values, and there’s no compromise in what you accomplish. And I’ve taken all that to what I want to accomplish outside football, and I was super excited about this project.”
To create the Brady brand, Tom Brady teamed up with Swedish fashion executive and investor Jens Grede and New York designer Dao-Yi Chow, both of whom have already created successful high-profile apparel brands.
Another thing that makes the Brady brand a standout is its reliance on college athletes as spokesmen and models. “Having ten college athletes represent our first campaign is really special,” the GOAT told Forbes. “They are hardworking and driven players in the early stages of their careers, and each one of them embodies the spirit and ethos in which our brand was founded.” Two of these spokesmen are players at Brady’s own alma mater, UMich: Cade McNamara (quarterback for the Wolverines) and Andrew Fenty (tennis player).
A glance around the Brady brand website shows attractive, well-crafted fitness wear, and the prices reflect the presumed quality: a long-sleeved logo t-shirt rings in at $60 and is available in heather gray, black, and the company’s trademark blue color.
“BRADY, the brand, is for Brady, the athlete. It’s for those on the Bucs’ roster, in the MLB dugout, and under the squat racks of some of the most elite college sports programs in the U.S. But it’s also for me, a mediocre runner, and you, a guy two weeks into a New Year’s resolution. [BRADY is] for everyone,” the founder told Men’s Health. “There’s an athlete in all of us. I believe that.”
Brady Brand merchandise is available only at bradybrand.com and Nordstrom.com. No word yet on where the items are manufactured.
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