“There are approximately 450,000 college athletes in Division 1, 2, or 3 sports,” said Karthik Shanadi, CEO and co-founder of Threadly, a merchandising platform that owns four brands in the apparel industry. told Business Insider. “We did some rough numbers and found that if each athlete brought in $100 in product sales, we would be looking at a $45 million market. If we bring in that, that’s a $450 million market.”
Shanadi and his co-founder Luke McGarlin first launched the brand in 2013 while students at the University of Florida. They called it Greek House and manufactured custom apparel for fraternities and sororities.
After graduating from college and eventually quitting my full-time job to devote myself fully to Greek House, friends and business partners introduced two more brands in 2017 and 2020. They are College Thread and Threadly, which create custom merchandise for college organizations. We focus on custom products for businesses and non-profit organizations.
In July 2021, in response to the new NIL law, Shanadi and McGarlin launched a fourth brand dedicated to athletes: Athlete Threads.
“We had always looked into working with student-athletes, but we weren’t legally allowed to do it,” Shanadi said, adding they were ready to jump on the opportunity. said. “We were closely watching the case leading up to the verdict. We knew it would be handed down.”
They also have nearly a decade of experience in the licensed custom apparel industry at the time, and have established relationships with college campuses through operating Greek House and College Threads, managing and expanding apparel brands. had already built the technology needed to
McGarlin and Shanadi were students at the University of Florida when they started Greek House. Courtesy of Kartik Shanadi
Despite being the newest brand, Athlete’s Thread, which produces co-branded products with universities and athletes, is already the most profitable brand. Shanadi said the brand’s sales reached six figures in 2022, his first full year. By 2023, it will reach seven digits. He expects his business to be an eight-figure business by the end of 2024.
Student-athletes are benefiting as well. Athlete’s Thread allows college athletes to start a personal goods store essentially for free. When a user signs up on the platform, the Athlete’s Thread team creates a catalog. When athletes meet certain sales goals, they have the option to work directly with designers to design their own merchandise.
Athletes are paid in two categories: royalties and affiliate commissions, and Shanadi said the brand pays out more than $500,000 to student-athletes alone. He expects that amount to exceed $1.5 million by the end of 2024.
“While we certainly work with major sports and stars, our focus is on supporting all athletes and building an equitable product program for all college athletes,” he said. said. As of March 2024, Athlete’s Thread is licensed with 150 universities and has approximately 14,000 student-athletes on its platform.
Identifying opportunities and how to build your business in 2024
Mr. Shanadi and Mr. McGarlin recognized the opportunity in the NIL field long before the formal judgment was handed down.
“I went to the University of Florida, where sports are very big, football is very big, so I was friends with some of the guys on the team and this was a pain point for them and an opportunity for them. I definitely knew it was going to happen.” Shanadi said she stays up-to-date on her industry by reading the news and talking to former and current athletes. .
“Staying on the cutting edge of what’s going on in your industry and reading about it also ensures that you have a genuine curiosity about whatever industry you’re entering. I would say that’s a very important quality for entrepreneurs: genuine curiosity.”
Mr. Shanadi, 32, is based in New York City and oversees four apparel brands. Luke Sirimonhon
Taking advantage of NIL rulings comes with the challenge of navigating ever-changing state laws and university guidelines, especially around what student-athletes can and cannot do.
“Once that happened, it was like the Wild West. Every state had its own laws, each university had its own policies, and now every month the NCAA brings new lawsuits. It’s like I’m waking up,”’ he says, adding that when you’re interested in the space you’re working in and enjoy it, it’s less of a hassle to stay informed. Watch March Madness and think of it as a job. ”
If you lose everything and have to start your business from scratch in 2024, you’ll think about other underserved industries around technology.
“You basically look for industries where you can leverage existing technology and find very large markets where the technology is not serving that market base,” he said. To narrow it down further, he asks himself his four questions: “What am I passionate about? What is the big market? What is the problem? How are we going to solve it?”
That led him to where he is now: in the sports industry.
Specifically in the NIL space, “I don’t think there’s enough emphasis on Division 2 and Division 3 athletes, and women’s sports as a whole is very underserved,” she said, adding that he added. “This is entrepreneurship: taking risks and finding creative opportunities to solve problems in a different or better way than the current solution.”
