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Nike deal

canesfanmpls said:
@Rellyrell and @TheOriginalCane - would love to hear your opinions on Fanatics entering into the exclusive professional uni market. They got the NHL contract (secretly they were producing the Adidas NHL jerseys all along). I play hockey and was not a fan of the adidas jerseys. They had a slim fit and literally what would have been an XL (52) with CCM or Reebok was like a 4xl (58) with adidas. How does this effect other suppliers like Nike etc when they are probably the biggest seller of Nike jerseys for instance.
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Rellyrell said:
I don’t think it affects anything, as of today. Right now, Fanatics is not a direct competitor to any of the big brand apparel companies. I knew Nike wouldn’t get involved in the NHL arena b/c they lost a ton of money w/ the Bauer acquisition which is y they sold it off. I think Fanatics as of today is testing the waters, but if they happen to get into the NBA, NFL, or MLB market then things could change. As of now, they are the premier 3rd party vendor for sports apparel, and I don’t see that changing as of now.

However, it is of note that Nike’s CEO is a digital guru, so he’s set up Nike to kill any relationship that’s not fruitful or becomes an indirect competitor in a moment b/c of their own digital platform.
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So I didn't know this until a day or two ago, but Fanatics has been making MLB jerseys for Nike since 2017 for all 30 teams (they acquired Majestic back then) and also some Nike authentic NFL jerseys for retail (not sure about player worn).

I play hockey too, and I actually like the Adidas jerseys (pretty sure they own Reebok and CCM so it was just a rebranding when they introduced the new Adidas jerseys a few years ago, but the fit may have changed along with it). As I understand it there is a classic fit and a modern fit, but it seems all retail has gone with the modern fit. Fortunately I have a guy who makes our beer league jerseys almost indistinguishable from Adidas/CCM at ******* bargain and he let's us choose which fit we want.

Fanatics has said they're using the same production facility Adidas uses to make the jerseys in Quebec, so there won't be any significant changes to the authentic gear other than branding, at least not right away.

Their fan gear is absolute trash though, and that's what sucks as a hockey fan. I'm terrified to wash my Avs Stanley Cup t-shirt from last year. Nothing comes close to Nike for fan apparel, so I hope we make the switch sooner than later.
 
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canesfanmpls said:
@Rellyrell and @TheOriginalCane - would love to hear your opinions on Fanatics entering into the exclusive professional uni market. They got the NHL contract (secretly they were producing the Adidas NHL jerseys all along). I play hockey and was not a fan of the adidas jerseys. They had a slim fit and literally what would have been an XL (52) with CCM or Reebok was like a 4xl (58) with adidas. How does this effect other suppliers like Nike etc when they are probably the biggest seller of Nike jerseys for instance.
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While Fanatics HAS entered the apparel market, I think they are years away from making a sizable impact. They are much better at t-shirts and hats, and I think they would have to make some substantial investments into technology & production to ever go head-to-head with Nike/adidas.

In all honesty, I believe that the NHL deal is a fluke. Nike really didn't want to bid on it, nor did adidas. And Fanatics was able to get a foot in the door, as you point out, because they were already producing the jerseys for adidas on an outsourced basis.

Right now, Fanatics makes stuff that fills gaps in the market (for instance, I got "St. Louis Blues Stanley Cup Champs" gear right after they won, and it was all Fanatics-branded). I don't think there has been a lot of DIRECT competition from Fanatics, at least thus far.

It's going to be interesting to see how far Fanatics can take this. They've taken over the merch ops for many, many pro and college teams, and so they have to be a bit "agnostic" about selling Nike or adidas or UA or whatever.
 
Baba Yaga said:
So I didn't know this until a day or two ago, but Fanatics has been making MLB jerseys for Nike since 2017 for all 30 teams (they acquired Majestic back then) and also some Nike authentic NFL jerseys for retail (not sure about player worn).

I play hockey too, and I actually like the Adidas jerseys (pretty sure they own Reebok and CCM so it was just a rebranding when they introduced the new Adidas jerseys a few years ago, but the fit may have changed along with it). As I understand it there is a classic fit and a modern fit, but it seems all retail has gone with the modern fit. Fortunately I have a guy who makes our beer league jerseys almost indistinguishable from Adidas/CCM at ******* bargain and he let's us choose which fit we want.

Fanatics has said they're using the same production facility Adidas uses to make the jerseys in Quebec, so there won't be any significant changes to the authentic gear other than branding, at least not right away.

Their fan gear is absolute trash though, and that's what sucks as a hockey fan. I'm terrified to wash my Avs Stanley Cup t-shirt from last year. Nothing comes close to Nike for fan apparel, so I hope we make the switch sooner than later.
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See this is what I’m talking about. They also make unis for MLB etc. I know they are not in the shoe market - but as far as team unis - they are at least #3-4. I could easily see them overtaking underarmor and maybe more. Edit: gotta say again - not a fan of the adidas hockey jerseys tho. Where does @Baba Yaga play hockey?
 
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canesfanmpls said:
See this is what I’m talking about. They also make unis for MLB etc. I know they are not in the shoe market - but as far as team unis - they are at least #3-4. I could easily see them overtaking underarmor and maybe more. Edit: gotta say again - not a fan of the adidas hockey jerseys tho. Where does @Baba Yaga play hockey?
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Yeah here it is, good read.

www.espn.com

Everything you need to know about the NHL-Fanatics jersey deal

Why did the league choose Fanatics? How soon will we see changes for teams? What other innovations are in the works?
www.espn.com www.espn.com


I had no freaking clue. They're obviously capable of making high quality jerseys, but their retail fan gear is cheeks. I won't buy it anymore.
[BGCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]Nike is the "official outfitter" of Major League Baseball, but Fanatics has made MLB's Nike-branded uniforms for all 30 teams since 2017, when it acquired Majestic. Fanatics also makes authentic NFL jerseys that also carry a Nike logo, which are sold online and in retail stores[/BGCOLOR]
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I'm getting my *** ready for a game now, I'm in Maryland. Just low-level beer league but it scratches the competitive itch for me.
 
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Baba Yaga said:
Yeah here it is, good read.

www.espn.com

Everything you need to know about the NHL-Fanatics jersey deal

Why did the league choose Fanatics? How soon will we see changes for teams? What other innovations are in the works?
www.espn.com www.espn.com


I had no freaking clue. They're obviously capable of making high quality jerseys, but their retail fan gear is cheeks. I won't buy it anymore.



I'm getting my *** ready for a game now, I'm in Maryland. Just low-level beer league but it scratches the competitive itch for me.
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Apparently they are able to master separating the textile industry from shoes.
 
Maybe while I was growing up in the 80’s wearing Nike and Adidas - the kids these days all wearing fanatics clothes too. Something to be said about that. Still they a not into shoes (yet).
 
canesfanmpls said:
By putting their logo on every NHL jersey - that has to be a massive step. I mean the jersey logos are huge.
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The fees for gear are insane. For each piece of equipment, the NHL charges gear manufacturers a fee. Think six figures for gloves, six figures for helmets, pants, etc. If a gear company says "**** that", players can still wear their gear but must cover up the logos.

I can't remember who it was, a Detroit goalie years ago who used Warrior pads but Warrior only had a handful of goalies using their goalie gear and were more focused on marketing to juniors and beer leaguers, so they wouldn't pay and their logos had to be covered up on his pads.

Definite a big step for Fanatics, I think they back-doored their way into as others have mentioned. Gonna be weird seeing their logo instead of CCM or Adidas.
 
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Baba Yaga said:
The fees for gear are insane. For each piece of equipment, the NHL charges gear manufacturers a fee. Think six figures for gloves, six figures for helmets, pants, etc. If a gear company says "**** that", players can still wear their gear but must cover up the logos.

I can't remember who it was, a Detroit goalie years ago who used Warrior pads but Warrior only had a handful of goalies using their goalie gear and were more focused on marketing to juniors and beer leaguers, so they wouldn't pay and their logos had to be covered up on his pads.

Definite a big step for Fanatics, I think they back-doored their way into as others have mentioned. Gonna be weird seeing their logo instead of CCM or Adidas.
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Probably Osgood. That guy wore archaic equip.
 
For @Rellyrell
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It looks like Adidas didn’t provide us with the last uniforms design, could it be a sign that we are moving on from them?

Miss State, Arky State and UTEP (but I’m sure there are plenty of others) all have the new design.

 
Alex Del Piero said:
It looks like Adidas didn’t provide us with the last uniforms design, could it be a sign that we are moving on from them?

Miss State, Arky State and UTEP (but I’m sure there are plenty of others) all have the new design.

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Miami along with several other power 5 schools like Washington, Texas A&M, Miss State and Arizona State usually get first crack at what adidas considers their top template. Louisville too probably. The rest usually get a different template first that may be more pleasing in how they fit to fans like Kansas and UTEP got this year but aren't considered the template that goes to the top tier programs. Miami didn't get the new one. Same goes for Louisville.

Washington, Miss State, Arizona State, NC State, Fresno State and A&M did
 
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fincane said:
Miami along with several other power 5 schools like Washington, Texas A&M, Miss State and Arizona State usually get first crack at what adidas considers their top template. Louisville too probably. The rest usually get a different template first that may be more pleasing in how they fit to fans like Kansas and UTEP got this year but aren't considered the template that goes to the top tier programs. Miami didn't get the new one. Same goes for Louisville.

Washington, Miss State, Arizona State and A&M did
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New update was on Wes B. IG video. Someone screengrabbed it for Twitter
 
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