When Lisa Piken Koper was young, she attended New York Knicks games at Madison Square Garden. As a New York native, her fandom revolved around Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks, and Anthony Mason. “That was my team,” she says. “I used to get pedicures and paint my toes orange and blue. I was a huge, huge fan.” But, she’d never imagined actually working for the NBA.
Koper, who previously worked in the circulation department at Brant Publications, got her big break when she was given the opportunity to help a friend as a production assistant for the NBA on TNT. “I went to the locker room and we sat courtside. I remember saying to my friend, ‘I can’t believe this is your job. This is incredible,’” she says. “From that moment on, I took every side job related to sports I could.” Later, she worked as game-night staff with the WNBA’s New York Liberty. In 2000, she became an apparel licensing coordinator for the NBA.
After 16 years at the NBA, Koper is now the vice president of licensing, overseeing the management of the apparel, sporting goods, footwear, and accessories for the NBA, WNBA, NBA D-League, and USA Basketball. In other words, she grants the rights for companies and brands to use the NBA’s and its teams’ trademarks. In 2015, she spearheaded a licensing partnership with Stance, making the brand the official on-court sock provider of the league. “They came to us for sock rights,” explains Koper. “They kept asking, ‘When are you going to put us on the court?’ Finally, we had a meeting with them and it was at All-Star Weekend in New Orleans. They showed up with a million dollar check and said, ‘Listen to us.’ They kept talking about how they’re going to create the most superior sock in the entire industry. It got our attention.”
She continues: “What we like about Stance is that they’re an incredible brand, from a fashion perspective, they’re technologically innovative, and they really understand how to build a brand. We like what they stand for.”
That same year, Koper was involved in the signing of another major partnership for the NBA: a reported eight-year, $1 billion apparel deal with Nike that starts in the 2017-2018 season. “Adidas has been an incredible partner for us, but moving forward we’re extremely excited about Nike, particularly because the NBA fan base is really global and when you think basketball you think NBA and Nike,” she says. “We’re the two most endemic brands for the sport. We think they’re going to elevate our product and the assortment. We can’t wait.” Koper says Nike is currently in the process of creating new uniforms for all 30 teams for the 2017-2018 season. While she says there won’t be any considerable changes, Nike will use its innovative technology to enhance the costumes.
For Koper, it’s about working with a variety of brands—both performance and fashion brands. In addition to Nike, the NBA has worked with Drake’s OVO label for Toronto Raptors merchandise, All-Star Weekend specific gear with Canadian menswear brand Reigning Champ, Don C’s Just Don line, Mitchell & Ness, and New Era. “We try to do different collaborations because we don’t want people to wear our products just to go to a game,” she says. “We want them to wear it everyday because they like the way it looks and feels.”
The decision to work with fashion brands is a direct result of their fan base and the players in the league. “We’re responding to our fans,” she says. “I think we have the most fashionable fans who demand more from us than just a traditional fan T-shirt. We also have our players, who are global fashion icons, who sit in the front row at fashion shows.” According to her, the NBA dress code, implemented by former NBA commissioner David Stern in 2005, helped players more easily express themselves through fashion. “When the dress code was first established, there was some feedback. It wasn’t perceived as great,” she says. “But, I think the NBA players have taken pride and have now started to really spend time and energy on how they present themselves. People tune in now just to see what guys are wearing at the podium or as they walk into the arena.”
The NBA has become the most stylish league in sports. And the following seasons will be about building on that. The Nike apparel deal with kick in at the beginning of the 2017-2018 season. That same year, New Era will become the official draft hat and official, authentic headwear for the NBA.
“If you told 16-year-old Lisa that this would be my job, I would lose my mind,” she says. “It really is somewhat of a dream come true for me because I was and am such a sports fun. Apparel is fun, who doesn’t want to wear great clothes and create great products for people?”
She continues: “I remember working with adidas back in January on finalizing what the Cavaliers locker room T-shirt was going to be the night they clinched. Now, to see it, to be selling thousands of units, and to see it on fans… the fan in me can’t even believe it. I love what I do.”
