01Bear said:
HoopDreams said:
StrawberryCanyon said:
StrawberryCanyon said:
This is separate from Cal's uniform sponsorship with Under Armour.
https://ir.hanesbrands.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hanesbrands-teams-university-california-berkeley-primary-apparel
Ha. I didn't expect to set off a firestorm. Cal already had a deal with Hanes/Champion. It's a separate license from Under Armour. Look here:
https://calstudentstore.berkeley.edu/merchandise/champion
This is printwear. It's the blank t-shirts, hoodies, etc., that organizations buy to customize for their company, softball team, college, etc. The benefit to partnering with Hanes/Champion is that the Champion logo also appears on the shirt. So, instead of just "regular Cal t-shirt", it's a "regular Cal t-shirt with a Champion logo". It's slightly cooler.
I know Cal already had Champion clothes. And I've looked at them and find them very generic.
However they didn't have Exclusive rights until now.
But if you are saying Exclusive rights means that other brands such as UA, Nike, Adidas, etc can get a license from Cal and offer Cal/Nike branded clothes then I mis-understand the meaning of "Exclusive"
So what exactly is your complaint with the deal? That it's with Champion? I've already addressed that your personal bias is not shared by today's young people, so is the problem that you want to buy Nike gear and further enrich Uncle Phil and U of O?
you say that today's young people prefer Champion over Nike.
I guess the 'young people' I'm around are unique
I actually did an informal poll at my gym today as I was waiting to get in the next game... 15 guy, mostly high school and college age
... most wore nike shoes, 2 wore Adidas, 1 wore UA, and 1 wore a skater brand
... they wore an array of shirts, including one player who was wearing a Cal shirt with a drawing of a player with a Big C behind it. I think it also had a number so I thought he might be a current or past FB player. I unfortunately never had the chance to talk to him.
Several of the players wore no name solid t-shirts, some of which were very well used. These could be any brand, but maybe they were champion. Some wore workout shirts from various sports brands (it's common that people go to the gym primarily to workout, but also play basketball. Of the brands I could actually tell because they had a prominent logo on it, 4 were Nike and none were Adidas or Champion (Champion doesn't typically display their logo prominently like the 3 major brands do. Instead they just have their small classic logo, but Champion is now also selling clothes with big/prominant logos, but I literally have never seen anyone wear these (I'll be more aware in the future to see if there are actually a lot of people wearing their clothes). The possible Cal FB player was the only one wearing UA, although I think there typically would be more people wearing UA.
Now that's just my court observation
Nike is the most prominent brand in all the major sports stores, and they have their own stores including Nike Town, Nike Stores and Nike Outlet (I'm sure Champion also has a outlet store, but I've never seen a Champion premium or regular store.
When I go to any of these Nike stores (including Footlocker which has a Nike/Jumpman House of Hoops I see many 'young people'
Then there are the people I know (family, friends, etc) and those I've coach). When Cal switched from Jumpman/Nike to UA, there was a similar discussion (and I was in the minority then too). At that time I asked players what their favorite brand was. Some said they don't really have a favorite or 'don't know'. Most by far said Nike. I was surprised that a few said the UA Curry, and Adidas rarely came up. No one said Champion (again this was several years ago)
Then you can look at the Cal players and what they wear. Certainly a lot of them wear UA because they are given these shoes, but the next most common shoes are Nike. One of the women players actually has a small business where she custom paints Nike shoes. There is even a special Nike app SNKRS that is just for upcoming drops that is followed religiously by many, with a very active collectors following
Then there are the numbers. See this article from May 2022. It shows market share showing Nike with 33% of the market with #2 Adidas at 6%
but also talks about Nike "Super Fans". Do you think there are any Champion Super Fans?
https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog/how-nike-is-turning-your-smart-phone-into-a-digital-shopping-assistantbasically, Nike and Adidas are the premium sports brands, followed by UA.
Champion is also present in many college student stores, dept stores such as Macy's, etc, but is positioned more as a generic budget brand