A Home Run for Sales Sports Fan Store Apparel

Best-Sellers

Go team, go! Sports fans are big on wearing their favorite team gear, and sports fan stores can attest to that.

At Cy’s Locker Room in Ames, Iowa, Assistant Manager Kelly Galvin described the store’s hottest best-sellers as “Iowa State Cyclones sideline gear, including sideline T-shirts and coach’s polo styles. Beyond those, I would say anything Nike, just because it is Nike. But the Cyclones are our team here and they get plenty of support.”

Looking ahead to 2023, Galvin said, “Jerseys are always popular, and next year I think they will be even more so. It is the 100-year anniversary celebrating Jack Trice. The stadium is named after him. He was the first African American to have a university stadium named for him.” Trice, she explained, was an amazing player who was injured badly during a game against a Minnesota team. He sadly passed away the next day from the injuries incurred. “The uniform the players wore back then had a five-bar symbol on it which has become the Jack Trice Stadium logo. The T-shirts and sweatshirts that we have all bear his name with that symbol. So, I think anything with that logo will be huge for us here next year,” she stresses.

Fresno State merchandise.” For 2023, Crain is seeing red – literally. “Red is our team color. Our main logo is the bulldog and that’s also our mascot. While we sometimes change the layout of our shirts, the pattern for the licensed team logo hasn’t actually changed in years,” she attested. “Everything has to go through Fresno State licensing in regard to merchandise, so other than predicting red will be a top color, I don’t see anything specific for the coming year.”

“Jerseys are always popular, and next year I think they will be even more so. It is the 100-year anniversary celebrating Jack Trice. The stadium is named after him. He was the first African American to have a university stadium named for him.”

Galvin’s top tip to sell licensed apparel is to use “a little bit of social media and easy to find displays,” however, she noted, “A lot of our gear kind of sells itself. We have a lot of hardcore fans around here.” She added, “For display we really separate out categories, with a vintage section, the line gear, hats, and other types of clothing all in different areas of the store.” This makes the apparel easy to find.

In Fresno, Calif., at the Bulldog Fun Zone, Manager Misty Crain described the store’s top-seller in apparel to be “Bulldogs T-shirts. Everything we sell is licensed

The approximately 3,000-squarefoot Bulldog Fun Zone uses a great deal of online presence to sell its licensed apparel, Crain said. “We post to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter twice a day. We put all our new merchandise up on our website as soon as it comes in –which is usually daily.” According to Crain, the store doesn’t do a lot of cross-merchandising in their displays. “Everything is in a different section. We have kids', men's and women's apparel all in separate sections, key chains, glassware, everything is in its own section, which is what works best for customers to find and buy items in our store.”

Heading north to Anchorage, Alaska, Phil Robertson , manager at Excalibur Sports, offers a wide mix of team fan apparel in the 28-year-old store. “Really all the major sports teams do well for us. We don’t have locally based national teams, and we are in a state that has a lot of people here who’ve come to Alaska from elsewhere.

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So, they all have certain teams that they support. Seattle teams are big, probably because Seattle has the closest major league teams,” he said.

Robertson explained that “What team attire sells best for us really depends on how well a particular team does each year. If they’re having a good season, the interest and the sales pick up.” In terms of the type of apparel that sells well, he described T-shirts and sweatshirts as top-sellers.

As to next year, he noted, “I really haven’t seen anything for next year show up yet. Typically, we see new merchandise announced during the Super Bowl.”

Excalibur Sports relies on a variety of resources to sell more licensed apparel. “We use radio advertising, television commercials, and social media, too, but half of the people in my life don’t go on Facebook. Word of mouth is also very important for us. People want to come here,” he asserted. “We don’t put any sales pres - it’s something funny like ‘hey, you suck today’ to catch them off guard, or just something simple like ‘ask about our daily special’ or ‘thank you for shopping local.’” As a final note, Robertson imparted, “We love what we are doing here.” And that kind of passion translates into good sports fan sales.

At Simply Seattle, in Seattle, Wash., Joe Munson , the communication director for both its locations in downtown Seattle, cites a classic best-seller. “One thing people really love, whether they’re locals or in town during cruise ship season, is merchandise from the old NBA team the Seattle Supersonics. They no longer play anymore, but they are still just immensely popular as a brand.” Additional top apparel sellers are hoodies, sweatshirts, and T-shirts for all the local Seattle teams, the Mariners, Seahawks, the Storm, the Kraken, and the Sounders. “We do well with all of them, but I would still have to say the Sonics are the most popular of all our sports collection.”

“We post to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter twice a day. We put all our new merchandise up on our website as soon as it comes in – which is usually daily. … Everything is in a different section. We have kids', men's and women's apparel all in separate sections, key chains, glassware, everything is in its own section, which is what works best for customers to find and buy items in our store.”

- Misty Crain, Bulldog Fun Zone, Fresno, Calif.

For 2023, Munson predicted that “The hockey team the Kraken is going to become more and more popular as they get national recognition. They’re a brand-new team, playing only a year now, and they have a cool visual brand with cool colors. I think that merchandise is going to sell very well.” He’s also heard some interesting rumors about other sports team fan merchandising. “I’ve heard that the Mariners may be changing their color scheme next year. So, I am sure that if they do something new, that will be big, too.” sure on anyone. We just make it a fun environment and I look at everyone like family. We really care,” he said, adding that “Going through the pandemic and coming out of it, we huddle together, we really came together as one.”

Additionally, in-store Robertson uses displays that include “cross-merchandising team items together and lots of signage for sales and other information. We also have a recordable door greeter that people really enjoy, we have it say something new on a daily basis, whether

He said the best way for the company’s two stores to sell more licensed merchandise is through a hearty mix of “social media and display. People come to us from our online presence, and what they find in both our flagship and other store are well-sectioned, clearly displayed merchandise. We keep our apparel and souvenir items as well as other clothing items in three distinct sections. And then within those categories, we mix things up with cross-merchandising, depending on the specific product mix we have available at any given time.”

Summing up: sports fan apparel is a popular way to celebrate teams, and in some stores, classic looks and historic teams are among the best-sellers. ❖