HoopDreams said:

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Just about the only sensible comment in this discussion has been from the OP

He replied that maybe I was interpreting the press release wrong and that "exclusive" was only related to Cal gear sold in mass market stores such as macy's, footlocker, lowes, etc

And therefore Cal's uniform partner (now UA and in the future hopefully Nike) will be able to sell Cal branded fan gear just like Texas, OSU and USC. Maybe UA is a carve out from "exclusive " in the actual Hanes contract since UA already had a licensing contract will cal, and that any future uniform partner would also be allowed an exception

IF SO, GREAT! I think this is a good deal

I have my doubts based on my experience with marketing and licensing.

My cal example was when UA became our partner, the nike gear went on fire sale and is completely gone. I assume that was because of some type of an exclusive licensing agreement

Also, there were several stores that sold a ton of cal branded gear around campus. All 3 stopped selling Cal branded clothes (one had a gigantic room dedicated to cal clothing, now there are only a small section of cal clothes on fire sale. The other devoted almost their entire bottom half of the store to cal gear. Now nothing. The third is closed after decades in business

Was this related to licensing? That is what i heard, but not from a reliable source.

Licenses can be written in all kinds of ways… including distribution channels, geographical, types of product, term/duration

Thats why you can't run a bluray disk of a movie from another country. The would is divided into 6? Licensing Regions

I think the reason we use the same U C Berkeley ad for so long is the licensing agreement is still in place and cal doesn't want to spend the money for a new licensing agreement when UC Berkeley has been paid for

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For the third time, what is your complaint with the deal? Is it the exclusivity issue? If so, do you know what the actual deal states? To what exactly does Champion have exclusive rights? At a minimum, Champion doesn't have the rights to anything beyond fanwear* (at least based on the release).

Are you just b1tching, moaning, and whining because that's your general bent when you read something about the (current only?) Cal Athletic Department or do you have additional information about the deal to which we plebs are not privy? In any case, what is your actual complaint?

*Whatever that means. For instance, does this include general Cal clothing only or does it also include replica jerseys, etc.?

Civil Bear said:

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HoopDreams said:

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My point is a lot of people of all ages care about brands

Whether that's cars, purses, kitchen appliances… or t-shirts

To say that is silly is ok

To say that isn't true is just wrong

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I didn't say adults don't care about brands. I'm just a bit surprised they would care to the extent that you do (i.e. willing to boycott the purchase of Cal gear).

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I still am not sure about the press releases' meaning of 'exclusive', but yeah, I doubt I'll ever buy any of the Champion cal gear (I never have before). Their stuff is so generic and boring.

Look for yourself:

https://shop.calbears.com/cal-bears/champion-men/t-23474784+br-8385+ga-67+z-9765-1131418993?_ref=p-GALP:m-SIDE_NAV

Nike has much better clothes, designs and fabrics

How much do I care?

Since I only typically buy 1 item of Cal gear a year, it doesn't personally impact me a lot.

But from a marketing and recruiting viewpoint it's just another example of decisions that make us look like a second-rate program.

From a general Cal point of view, it's not providing your customers (fans, students, alumni, visitors, etc) a choice between a cheaper generic brand and a name brand.

HoopDreams said:

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Civil Bear said:

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I get that kids may be swayed by a logo. I recall caring about that kind of thing myself back in high school. However, I am a bit surprised to find that it would matter to a grown adult to such a degree.

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do you think that Texas, Ohio State and USC only sell their clothing to young people, however you define it?

there are plenty of grown adults that care, just like there are plenty of grown adults who care about driving around BMWs. Take the label off, and it's a VW (bracing for the blowback from that statement)

by the way, if Cal really wanted to be a leader and sell tons of Cal gear, they should license Lulumon for women. That brand is so popular with women that the company is now selling used Lulumon clothes!

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What?!? "Take the label off (a BMW) and it's a VW"?!?

WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!?

I believe you're thinking of Audis, not BMWs.

I was in LA waiting for a game, but gym was very busy, so I had a long wait for a game and got bored. Fortunately, it gave me time to resume my informal sports brand poll!

The vast majority wore Nike shoes, shorts, shirts. Coming in as a distant second was Adidas, Third were no brand shirts with or without a graphic. Some may be Hanes/Champion but I doubt many.

1 guy had UA shorts. 1 guy wore UCLA shorts (Nike), and the one women wore a Nike shirt and shoes ( she was the most skilled player... fast, quick, shooter, ball handler and good defender, who knew what to do on help defense. My guess is she was a former college player)

people wore a bigger variety of clothes in the rest of the gym, although Nike, Adidas and UA were well represented. lululemon was very popular with women. A variety of NFL and NBA shirts also (both Nike)

I did not see anyone with Champion.

HOWEVER, I posted again because for the first time I saw someone with a shirt with a prominent Champion logo (not the small little logo) in a social media post!

I'm a middle school PE teacher and Champion is becoming more of a popular brand amongst the students

Amazing how many commenters in this thread are off-their-meds hysterical over a deal that includes no gear to be worn by Cal athletes in competition and is expressly limited to "fanwear".

Quote:

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The 10-year strategic agreement gives HBI exclusive rights to design, manufacture and distribute high-quality, on-trend fanwear across mass and campus/local.

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JB was a Chieftain said:

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I'm a middle school PE teacher and Champion is becoming more of a popular brand amongst the students

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I heard the same thing when we switched from Jumpman to UnderArmour

and even if true, it doesn't mean those young school-age kids continue to buy those brands. Those same kids who supposedly loved UA and thought Nike was for old people seemed to have switched to Nike in droves when it was their decision what to buy (and no longer their parents)

HoopDreams said:

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JB was a Chieftain said:

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I'm a middle school PE teacher and Champion is becoming more of a popular brand amongst the students

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I heard the same thing when we switched from Jumpman to UnderArmour

and even if true, it doesn't mean those young school-age kids continue to buy those brands. Those same kids who supposedly loved UA and thought Nike was for old people seemed to have switched to Nike in droves when it was their decision what to buy (and no longer their parents)

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Source? Citation?