Image via Getty/Robert Gauthier
Whether they like him or not, most football fans would likely say that Tom Brady is the greatest NFL player of all time. With a resume that spans over two decades and includes accolades like seven Super Bowl rings and three MVP awards, it’s hard to argue.
At 44 years old, Brady remained in the MVP conversation as the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past season, which made his announcement back in February even more shocking. On Feb. 1, Brady announced he would be retiring from the game of football citing a desire to spend time with his family as a big deciding factor. Just a month prior, he launched BRADY, a brand bearing his name that sells what he refers to as “life-letics” apparel with the help of Swedish entrepreneur and Skims CEO Jens Grede. Public School co-founder Dao-Yi Chow is the creative director. The launch seemed like a logical way for Brady to transition into his life after football and focus more on his business portfolio.
“I think the intention was to create a brand that’s gonna be around for a long, long time,” Brady tells Complex. “You’ve gotta solve the problems and you’ve gotta continue to build on your strengths and understand your weaknesses. I think that part of it is gonna really fuel me in the second part of my career after I’m done playing. That’s really gonna satisfy the competitive nature in me.”
Today, BRADY introduces a collection focused on golf, one of Brady’s favorite hobbies. The line of golf apparel aims to mesh durability, technology, and style. With prices ranging from $75 to $195, the release includes traditional items ranging from knit polos constructed of lightweight fabrics to water repellant zip-ups. Supporting the next generation of athletes is a brand pillar for BRADY, and they’ve enlisted NCAA golfers Cole Hammer and Michael Brennan to star alongside Brady in the latest campaign. Legendary music video director Hype Williams, who shot all of the visuals, is also a part of the star-studded ensemble.
Clearly, this isn’t just another side project Brady has stamped his name on. But as most sports fans already know, 40 days after his first retirement announcement, Brady took to Twitter to make it clear he wouldn’t be stepping away from the game yet after all. He’s coming back to play another season as the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But the question is: Why?
“I decided to talk with my family and I said, ‘I think I wanna do this one more time if you guys will support that.’ And my wife was so supportive of it and she said, ‘Look, I want you to be happy. I want you to enjoy it and go out there and win.’ Ultimately, that’s why I came back, to win,” says Brady. “There’s only one reason to play for me at this point in my career. And that’s to win.”
We recently got a chance to speak with Brady for a rare interview to discuss why he decided to not retire, if he thinks he could play until age 50, working with Hype Williams on his new BRADY Golf campaign, and more.
(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
News broke of your retirement on Feb. 1. Since then you’ve announced that you’re gonna be coming back and playing this season, but I’m sure there was a lot of back and forth for you. Could you just speak a little bit about what ultimately changed your mind and you decided that it wasn’t time just yet?
I wanted to make sure the team had time to plan. I didn’t want them to get too far down the line and then realize that I wasn’t gonna play. So I tried to let them know as early as possible when I felt like I was sure that I wasn’t gonna be able to make the commitment to play. I wanted to tell them that my life was gonna take me in a different direction. Having different conversations with Bruce [Arians] and Jason [Licht], there’s still an intense love of the sport. I think that will always be there. I really wanted to make sure this offseason, and I had told the team, that I really need to spend time with my family if I’m gonna come back and play and make this commitment to this team. I love the players. There’s no way in the world I’d be coming back to play with guys that I didn’t care deeply about. I love Mike Evans. I love Chris Godwin. I love Leonard Fournette. I’m hoping Gronk comes back to play. And Donovan Smith and Lavonte [David], and Devin [White], and Carlton [Davis], and Sean [Murphy-Bunting], and Vita [Vea], all these guys that mean a lot to me.
Eventually, I had to make a decision just because they were getting into free agency. Would I have preferred to wait in the end to make sure I was really, really sure? Yeah. But that wasn’t the way the NFL calendar works. So I spoke to Jason right before free agency. And I spoke to Bruce. And they’re like, as much as we’d love for you to give you time, we don’t have time. At that point, I decided to talk with my family and I said, “I think I wanna do this one more time if you guys will support that.” And my wife was so supportive of it and she said, “Look, I want you to be happy. I want you to enjoy it and go out there and win.” Ultimately, that’s why I came back, to win. There’s only one reason to play for me at this point in my career. And that’s to win.
What really motivated you to launch BRADY? I know you’ve had some apparel stuff in the past with TB12 and Under Armour. What makes this different?
Well, I think the intention was to create a brand that’s gonna be around for a long, long time. I approached Jens [Grede] because it’s something I really wanted to get into and be involved in. I talked to some different people at places I had been working with and there’s a lot on their plate. Sometimes they don’t have the ability to say, “Hey, this is something we want to get behind.” So I spoke with my friend Andrew Rosen who I got to know and he introduced me to his friend Jens. I have a very athletic lifestyle. It’s not just an athletic life, but I’m constantly going between things for my kids as I’ve gotten older, to business meetings, to working out and training. I wanted to create something that can sustain the entire part of the day. And it’s gotta look great. I want it to be timeless. When I look back years from now, it’s not something that I’m like, “Man, what was I wearing?” I really wanted to use the things that I’ve learned about performance, being technical about the details, that’s what mattered and had mattered in my football career. There was great intention of trying to accomplish something really special and there was a lot of details that went into our work and there was a lot of creativity to what we are doing.
In my opinion, I try to be a very creative person to try to grow and learn about a lot of different things. This is an apparel business. For the last three years we’ve been working very hard on this. I wanted it to become a part of our everyday lives and it was really designing for myself. I think creating it was an opportunity for me to bring 20 years of pro sports, to create a real performance brand that I wear every day. I didn’t wanna do anything unless I felt like it could be great. I partnered with great people like Jens, who I believe is an amazing operator, Dao, who’s got a great creative vision, and I think we’ve built a really good team. This team is gonna have to continue, like every great team does, to solve problems along the way. The market’s very competitive. We’re talking about football, about the competition year in and year out, that’s just the way every business is. You’ve gotta solve the problems and you’ve gotta continue to build on your strengths and understand your weaknesses. I think that part of it is gonna really fuel me in the second part of my career after I’m done playing. That’s really gonna satisfy the competitive nature in me.
What’s your involvement in the creative process and the development of these collections? Are you with Dao going through swatches and colors? Are you breaking out the sketchbook?
I’m very involved. It’s very personal. It’s something that I really want to be involved in, but I also understand a quarterback can’t run routes, I can’t catch the ball, I can’t tackle people, and I can’t make extra points. But what I can do is play quarterback and do that to the best of my ability. I can be involved to learn and I’m gonna continue to learn as I go. But I think creating the brand was important for me because I wanted to create a collection that everyone can wear and be proud of that performs for their active life. We’ve referred to it as “life-letics” rather than athleisure. I think people see athleisure as, “How do I get into chill mode?” I think this is, “How do I live a very active life in a very functional way?” I’m gonna wear things that I’m gonna be really comfortable in so that I can approach my day in a very confident way. So, I see everything we’re doing. I’ve seen every sample. I’ve tried it on. Ultimately, I listen to what Dao really likes and what he believes in because I feel like he’s got a great understanding of that and I have implicit trust. I think we have a great creative culture that we’ve built in a very short period of time.
This newest collection is focused on golf apparel. Why did you want to move into that category?
I’ve been playing golf since I’ve been a kid. I grew up in a family where my dad liked to play. I had three sisters, so it was kind of my dad and myself’s way to spend time with one another. It’s probably my favorite hobby outside of playing football. I’ve been watching golf tournaments for a long time. I’ve been on a lot of golf courses with a lot of friends and I kind of see the style they have and I’m always like, “Man, we gotta upgrade this. Cause what you’re wearing is trash.” We gotta make you look good out there. So, we created a system of clothing for golf that was non-restrictive and you could take on the golf course. Obviously, there’s a lot of dress codes on a golf course, but great performance polos that have a lot of technology built into them that have a great fit, things that could allow you to play and walk, something that you’re gonna look good in. So I think part of it was I always feel like you can see someone like, “Oh, you must be going to the golf course.” I wanted something that said, “Man, where are you going? Are you going to the office? Are you coming home? You look great.” I don’t like when you look like a golfer per se, it’s almost like a uniform. I feel like you could bring a style to the golf course that people haven’t seen before.
For the campaign, I know you worked with Hype Williams. What was it like working with him and why do you think his creative vision made sense for the brand?
He’s done a lot of hard work over the years and I think he’s put himself in the middle of popular culture for a long time with a lot of amazing work that he’s done. Shooting with him, I was so impressed. I’ve been on a lot of shoots for 22 years. How he approached it and the mood on the set and his vision for what he wanted was very unique. And in the end, when I saw the way that the pictures came out, I was blown away by his creative vision. He’s always been very unique to what he’s done. I think he’s contributed a lot to a lot of guys’ work that I’ve really respected over the years in music. A lot of these guys have been my friends for a long time, too. I know when Jay-Z has a lot of respect for Hype, for example, that gives me an implicit trust in what he’s gonna shoot with me.
It’s funny you mentioned Jay-Z. I spoke with Hype as well and he told me that on the shoot you guys were blasting some Jay-Z deep cuts out of the speakers. I didn’t know Tom Brady was such a big Jay-Z fan.
I’ve run out to “Public Service Announcement” since that album came out, every time I leave the tunnel. Jay’s been a friend and obviously he’s kind of my era of music. It’s been really relevant to me. I’ve been in locker rooms for a long time. There’s lots of different varieties of music that you get to listen to. I gotta get myself in the mood and empower myself to go out there and feel free and to feel energized. And I think his music’s always done that for me. In a unique way, I think music shapes a lot of our lives, a lot of our performances. They’ve been creating music for decades. I still hear music from when I was a kid, whether it’s Bob Marley or U2 or Jay-Z, and it has a deep meaning in my life.
Another aspect of the brand thus far is all the campaigns have highlighted various college athletes. Why is that important for you and how do you think those types of NIL deals will impact college sports moving forward?
I think it’s interesting. It came about at the beginning of last year, which was something that was new for Jens and I. This is the first time where people have had the opportunity to work with these “amateur athletes.” They could never represent brands and be paid for it. I just remember when I was in college and I was getting the $400 scholarship check every month. But we can help put some money in these kids’ pockets and allow them to do something cool while helping them in a way that I wasn’t allowed to be helped when I was in their position. You leave home as a kid, you’re just trying to make it. I worked at a golf course. I worked at a beer festival in the summertime. I worked as an intern at a financial services job at one point. I worked as a park ranger. These were things that I had to do because I was a normal college kid. I didn’t have any money. So I see my niece, for example, at UCLA, has signed some NIL deals and it’s changed her life. So, that part has been really amazing. I feel working with young athletes who have so much ahead of them is great. A lot of the big brands, the big consumer brands, they have the money to pay these athletes to represent their brand. But a lot of these guys, their career is kind of what it is at this point. When you approach a 33 or 34-year-old athlete, he’s kind of accomplished the things that he’s wanted to accomplish.
I think from my standpoint, I never felt like BRADY brand was to be like Tom Brady. It was meant to provide the tools to be the best that you could be as an individual. What could you do to better your circumstances in life? How can you grow and mature physically, mentally, emotionally, so that you could be the best person you could be in life? I didn’t want it to be a glorification of some football career that I had. It’s not that it’s not important to me. It’s very important, but it’s compartmentalized to a place that I’m very proud of it, but I’m also very proud of many other aspects of my life, my relationship with my family and my relationship with my friends. What football brought me more than anything is the most amazing memories and the best relationships. I’ve met so many guys from all around the country that have had the biggest impact on my life, guys that were younger or older than me from Florida and Texas and Louisiana and California and Washington and New York and New Jersey. They’ve added so much to my life. Without them, I’m not where I’m at today with the opportunities that I have. I wanna do right by people. And I wanna do right by my friends and my family. And I always wanna represent them the right way.
These young athletes are trying to look for inspiration in their young careers and look to people who they can say, “Man, I like the way that he did things. I liked his approach.” That’s more important to me than going, “Man, he’s great cause he won some trophies.” Yeah, that’s great. But the “how” I did it was the most important thing. You gotta work hard, be disciplined, be determined, be humble, be open and curious about learning along the way. Without that, we’re not gonna be able to accomplish what our potential is. It’s gonna let us down at some point. So, let’s work to achieve our best by caring about the people that we’re working with and caring about the mission we’re trying to partake in together. When you do that, great things can happen.
You’re still producing it at such a high level. Can you envision yourself playing until age 50? It’s something we’ve never seen before.
It’s a great question. There’s two answers to that. I do think I could play till 50. But I don’t think I will just because I know the commitment that it takes. I know the commitment that it takes for me at 44 and 45. I worked out today and it’s a big commitment and I’m away from my 14-year-old son and my 12-year-old son and my nine-year-old daughter. And they deserve my time and energy and they’re getting older. I wanna be there for my son’s football games and lacrosse games and basketball games. He’ll be a freshman this year in high school. He goes to school in New York City. And that’s a big part of my life. I wanna win on the field, but I wanna win off the field.
If I played till 50, I’d miss a lot of really important things in his life. And I don’t wanna do that. I wanna be there for him. I wanna be there for my wife. She has goals and ambitions. I’ve really pushed the limits. Personally, I’ve pushed the limits with a lot of people that have been supportive of me over the years. I’ve pushed the limits with my body physically. Emotionally things change over a period of time. I was talking with my wife this morning. Things are a lot different than when we were 25 and 35, what our motivations and priorities were. And when you’re 45, they’re certainly very different because you’ve gotta adapt to the challenges that life’s gonna bring to you. You want to grow in a similar way with your partner and you want to grow in other aspects of your life, too.
So I’m gonna enjoy this year. I don’t know what’s gonna happen beyond this year. We’re not really promised anything. I’m gonna have to work my ass off to get my body the way it needs to in order to give my team the best chance to succeed. And the best part about me doing it is I get to do it with people that I love and care about. I have my body coach and almost my brother with me along the way, my boy Alex [Guerrero], who is with me every day to work with me to get my body right. And I also know that these things that I’ve really been engaged in during the offseason over the last three years, like BRADY, are in great hands. Jens knows exactly what he’s doing and Dao does an amazing job. And I want to give them as much inspiration to see my true authentic, athletic, competitive self out there on the field. That’s a bad loser. That’s someone highly competitive who is ferociously vigilant about how I approach my job, who loves being a leader, who loves engaging with my teammates, and ultimately loves winning. It’s been the biggest blessing in my life. Having the ability to do something this long, it’s taught me a lot about myself. It’s brought out the best in me. It’s brought out some of the things that are probably the worst in me. But again, the relationships have allowed me to grow in ways that I could never have grown had I not had them. I’m super excited about the things I’m going to do on the field and I’m excited about what’s going on off the field too. I want to be as supportive to a new group of teammates in the future as I have been to the guys I’ve gone to battle with year in and year out. I want to over deliver. And I’m prepared to do that.