Wisconsin basketball standout Kamari McGee hopes to break into fashion world
MADISON, Wisc. – You’ve got to give it to a guy who can look fly while pushing a knee scooter.
That’s how serious Kamari McGee takes his fits. A year or two ago Wisconsin basketball players were asked to name the best dressed player on the team. McGee won easily.
Not even offseason surgery on his right foot last spring stopped him. Unable to put weight on that limb, he needed the scooter to make his way around campus. It didn’t take him long to incorporate it into his sense of style.
Each day he would post on Instagram his “Scooter Fit of the Day”, daily proof that even when he wasn’t 100% physically that his fashion sense was still on point.
“Fashion is a way for me to express myself without having to say stuff,” the Badgers senior said. “What I wear is a testament to who I am as a person. When someone comes up to me and gives me a compliment about an outfit or asks me where I got it from it just brings a smile to my face because I take time in my outfits.”
One thing that is clear about McGee from watching him play is that he doesn’t shy away from putting time into his craft. His work in the gym during the offseason led to a breakout season that helped the Badgers emerge as one of the biggest surprises in college basketball this season.
The Racine native has been plotting a breakout into the world of fashion, too, turning his passion for style into his own clothing line. It’s a goal that he has already started to put into motion.
He introduced Karpe Diem last fall.
“Karpe Diem is more than just a brand. It’s a lifestyle!,” he wrote on Instagram. “I want all types of people to see a piece from the brand and go ‘That’s me’.”
McGee credits his sense of style to his uncle
Ask McGee where his sense of style comes from and he’ll tell you it starts with his uncle, Camaal, who is five years older and more like a big brother. The man has style and when he had his own clothing line he’d have McGee help sell shirts or pick designs.
“He kind of put me on to it,” McGee said.
Soon McGee was doing his own research, a lot of shopping and thrifting and carving out his own style. Years later McGee has a well-stocked closet and a deep portfolio of IG pictures of him modeling his various fits.
For home games he likes to wear something special and usually it’s planned in advance. By midday Monday his gameday fit was set for Tuesday night’s game against Washington.
“I’m always thinking about that in advance,” he said. “I started thinking about that after the last game. I just want to have an idea. I don’t want it to get to gameday and I’m scrambling trying to find something to wear. I like to be ahead with that. I don’t know. It keeps my mind on the right things.”
McGee is one of handful of players in the UW locker room who take extra care with their look. He and junior Xavier Amos has a similar eye for clothes.
“He passed down some things he bought that didn’t fit him. … He’s got good taste. He knows how to dress,” McGee said. “It’s a few other guys. Both the Johns (Blackwell and Tonje). But if I had to pick one I would say Xavier. Cam Hunter is sneaky, too. He walks into the locker room with some good fits on too and don’t nobody really be noticing, but I always notice things like that.”
Kamari McGee has been dressed for success
While McGee likes his clothes to make a statement, it is his play that is speaking volumes this season.
After the Badgers were hit with the transfer portal departures of guards Chucky Hepburn and AJ Storr, a void was left in the backcourt that McGee has helped fill as the team’s sixth man.
The 6-foot point guard is averaging career best across the board. He enters the Badgers game Sunday vs. Michigan State with averages of seven points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. His 21.3 minutes per game are 13 more than he played last season.
He has also become a dangerous three-point shooter. Deadly from the corner, McGee is shooting 56.1% (32 of 57) from three-point range after shooting 26% beyond the arc in his first three seasons. He also has been smart with the ball, posting a 3.38-to-1 assist-turnover ratio.
Tuesday was a typical showing: eight points, three rebounds, two assists and zero turnovers in 23 minutes.
Before the game, an 88-62 victory, UW coach Greg Gard challenged his point guards, Blackwell and McGee, to take more command of the team.
“You don’t have to be a man of a lot of words, but how aggressive you are and how you’re in attack mode, they play off that,” Gard said. “That’s infectious when they see your lead guards really bringing the ball with some pace and getting it moving.”
It also makes a difference when a team has a player as vocal and energizing as McGee. Though not a statistical leader, he is one of UW's emotional leaders.
“You try to fan the flame as much as you need to, but really from Kamari’s standpoint it’s genuine,” Gard said of McGee energy. “It’s organic. It’s how he is every day.”
Clothing line could take backseat to chance to play professionally
Why do people buy what they buy? That is a key part of what McGee has been learning in his study of consumer behavior and marketplace studies, a major that, according to the UW, blends marketing, entrepreneurship, merchandising and product development.
It’s the perfect realm of study for someone who hopes to build his own business and brand.
McGee got a taste of the process last summer during an internship he had on campus that led to a photo shoot that was part of Karpe Diem’s introduction.
McGee’s paused his work on the brand to focus on the basketball season and his school work. And if he gets a chance to play professionally, the line would likely take a backseat, but he has a plan whenever he is ready to execute it.
“It really could come together in a year or two because I have all the pieces to have my own line,” he said. “I have my own screen-printing board, I have connects that I can use to start getting the clothes out. I have great mentors to help me push my clothes out. I’ve got good connections to help broadcast the brand even more. It could take off within a year or two. I would just have to really lock in.”
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