Fanatics Will Be NHL’s new on-ice uniform partner starting in 24-25

[S E P H]

Awful stuff, they used exact same hat as the Avs Stanley Cup-winning 2022 hat for the Panthers ECF winning hat yeterday. They couldn't even put it in the Panthers' colours.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Championship hats are never in team colors. They need to be produced well ahead of time, so they always are in neutral colors so they can slap a patch on.

Disappointing the patch was so similar, though, you can make that argument.

 

[KevFu]

If it makes anyone feel better, Fanatics is totally ruining MLB jerseys this season.

We can expect everyone to look worse as they cheap out on NHL gear next year.

Detroit fans, with the arch letter tradition... oof, it's gonna be rough on you guys.

 

[TheLegend]

If it makes anyone feel better, Fanatics is totally ruining MLB jerseys this season.

We can expect everyone to look worse as they cheap out on NHL gear next year.

Detroit fans, with the arch letter tradition... oof, it's gonna be rough on you guys.

Fanatics is probably going to make buying fakes off Temu look good.

 

[KevFu]

Fanatics is the antithesis of the founding principle of free market capitalism (and our nations as a whole).

You are supposed to succeed because of things like hard work, quality craftsmanship, good ideas, good service and doing right by your customers. Laziness, short-cuts, inferior products, and screwing over customers should lead to failure.

Fanatics didn't become big enough to cut deals with all the sports leagues and industry giants like Nike by growing their apparel company into an industry leader. They just bought out ALL of their competition with a series of venture capitalist funding calls until there was literally no one left. They didn't become a better option for MLB than Majestic... they just bought Majestic!

They're cheap, corner-cutters, putting out merchandise of horrible quality and screwing their customers over every chance they get (with "warehouse fees" and a return fees on the order they screwed up by having the name/number wrong or logo upside-down) because they can't afford to make quality products AND pay back their investors at the same time.

 

[ThePsychicSaw]

Looking for capitals reverse retros 1.0 and 2.0 and even coyotes , are there no places left officially? Anyone got some Intel?

 

[cg98]

Looking for capitals reverse retros 1.0 and 2.0 and even coyotes , are there no places left officially? Anyone got some Intel?

You can find many of these leftover jerseys on ebay or Jersey Baron

 

[KevFu]

Looking for capitals reverse retros 1.0 and 2.0 and even coyotes , are there no places left officially? Anyone got some Intel?

It's far better to get a good one used on Ebay than to get a "new" one made by Fanatics.

My 2004 jersey looks better now than my 2022 jersey.

 

[donghabs98]

The name and numbering looks very noticeably cheap.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

New MLB jerseys are getting ripped by everyone. Ouch.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Nike and Fanatics: Who’s Responsible for MLB’s New Uniforms?

Lots of assertions and accusations are flying around the MLB uni-verse. Let’s take a minute to sort out fact from fiction.

uni-watch.com

Tl;dr - it's Nike's fault. Fanatics is just making what Nike had speced and ordered.

 

[KevFu]

The excuse that we all saw these jerseys and were fine with them at the 2023 ASG is comical to me.

A. most fans know the ASG jerseys are just an excuse to sell more stuff.

B. The All Star game jerseys didn't change any team's look. Fans didn't have a negative reaction to seeing a smaller nameplates that were arched for the ASG. That was a style choice for the jerseys of a team that is worn once and ISN'T MY TEAM. NOW you're messing with my team's look and that's different.

 

[tucker3434]

Fanatics still sucks. Everything they touch is worse than when they got there. So this MLB jersey thing could be a coincidence, but I don’t give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[KevFu]

Fanatics still sucks. Everything they touch is worse than when they got there. So this MLB jersey thing could be a coincidence, but I don’t give them the benefit of the doubt.

It's not a coincidence. Even though "well, Nike designed them," they designed them knowing Fanatics was producing them; and knowing Fanatics can't afford to run production like Majestic did.

Majestic made a name for themselves providing quality. Their costs of production were higher and their profits only marginal, because of the time and care they put into their product.

Fanatics can't do that because they borrowed investor capital to purchase Majestic and have to pay back all those venture capitalists with higher profit margins, and the only way to do that is slashing costs.

All of the changes shrink costs by standardizing as much as possible, shrinking letters and amount of trim and limiting detail as much as possible.

 

[Kryten]

Fanatics is the antithesis of the founding principle of free market capitalism (and our nations as a whole).

You are supposed to succeed because of things like hard work, quality craftsmanship, good ideas, good service and doing right by your customers. Laziness, short-cuts, inferior products, and screwing over customers should lead to failure.

Fanatics didn't become big enough to cut deals with all the sports leagues and industry giants like Nike by growing their apparel company into an industry leader. They just bought out ALL of their competition with a series of venture capitalist funding calls until there was literally no one left. They didn't become a better option for MLB than Majestic... they just bought Majestic!

They're cheap, corner-cutters, putting out merchandise of horrible quality and screwing their customers over every chance they get (with "warehouse fees" and a return fees on the order they screwed up by having the name/number wrong or logo upside-down) because they can't afford to make quality products AND pay back their investors at the same time.

Sounds exactly like current free market capitalism

 

[jkrdevil]

Fanatics is the antithesis of the founding principle of free market capitalism (and our nations as a whole).

You are supposed to succeed because of things like hard work, quality craftsmanship, good ideas, good service and doing right by your customers. Laziness, short-cuts, inferior products, and screwing over customers should lead to failure.

Fanatics didn't become big enough to cut deals with all the sports leagues and industry giants like Nike by growing their apparel company into an industry leader. They just bought out ALL of their competition with a series of venture capitalist funding calls until there was literally no one left. They didn't become a better option for MLB than Majestic... they just bought Majestic!

They're cheap, corner-cutters, putting out merchandise of horrible quality and screwing their customers over every chance they get (with "warehouse fees" and a return fees on the order they screwed up by having the name/number wrong or logo upside-down) because they can't afford to make quality products AND pay back their investors at the same time.

Came up to NY/NJ for the Stadium Series on Saturday. Went to the NHL store hoping to find a Devils Stadium Series jersey, but they were sold out. The Fanatics gear they did have just looked screened on and looked like worse quality than the old bootleg t-shirts that guys in the Meadowland parking lot used to sale. The jerseys they did have looked like the numbers were about to peel off.

 

[CokenoPepsi]

Fanatics is the antithesis of the founding principle of free market capitalism (and our nations as a whole).

You are supposed to succeed because of things like hard work, quality craftsmanship, good ideas, good service and doing right by your customers. Laziness, short-cuts, inferior products, and screwing over customers should lead to failure.

Fanatics didn't become big enough to cut deals with all the sports leagues and industry giants like Nike by growing their apparel company into an industry leader. They just bought out ALL of their competition with a series of venture capitalist funding calls until there was literally no one left. They didn't become a better option for MLB than Majestic... they just bought Majestic!

They're cheap, corner-cutters, putting out merchandise of horrible quality and screwing their customers over every chance they get (with "warehouse fees" and a return fees on the order they screwed up by having the name/number wrong or logo upside-down) because they can't afford to make quality products AND pay back their investors at the same time.

I bought a majestic jersey, it weird...cuts very low

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Get adidas jerseys while you can. Been on a a buying spree and don’t regret it one bit.

 

[red devil]

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

That picture is amazing

 

[Voight]

Awful stuff, they used exact same hat as the Avs Stanley Cup-winning 2022 hat for the Panthers ECF winning hat yeterday. They couldn't even put it in the Panthers' colours.

Their championship hats for the finals have been God awful.

Compare Vegas' last year to say Washington in 2018, Pittsburgh the two years before, Blackhawks 2015 etc.

 

[aqib]

I also hate how they basically control all the retail.

Up in Canada if you want NFL gear the main online options are Lids.ca, Fanatics.ca, and nflshop.ca

They are all the same store just with different urls. You want a particular hoodie and go on one of the 3 sites and its sold out, go on the other 2 its sold out on them as well. If it says "only 2 left" the other 2 sites will also only have 2 left. Their "flash sales" are also identical.

The sports leagues don't realize if you keep pricing people out eventually you won't have a fan base. A hat should not cost $50. A hoodie shouldn't cost $100.

Now people keep telling me "well if people are willing to pay it" or "that's the market" blah blah blah.

Two things.
1) For people who have been fans for 20+ years. Sure we're hooked. But the generations that come later they aren't going to start being fans.

2) Way back when, Shakespeare was entertainment for the working/middle class. Now it appeals to a very narrow slice of society.

 

[KevFu]

The thing that can really help bring down Fanatics is the fact that the companies who used to make quality merch for fans was so much better quality that it will LAST LONGER than Fanatics stuff.

Unless you're Kevin Smith or living the World of Chel in real life, you're probably not wearing your hockey sweaters more than 10 times a year each, so any old jersey you have is probably in great shape.

I hope all die hard fans just rock their vintage old merch and stop buying new stuff. Everyone in the arena is gonna know Fanatics sucks, know you've been a fan for a while, and even the stuff we have that we'd be embarrassed about is gonna be retro and cool again.

That birthday gift Ziggy Palffy Fishsticks jersey that I was embarrassed to wear is cool now.

We should all be rocking our OG gear for the length of the Fanatics deal.

 

[donghabs98]

I also hate how they basically control all the retail.

Up in Canada if you want NFL gear the main online options are Lids.ca, Fanatics.ca, and nflshop.ca

They are all the same store just with different urls. You want a particular hoodie and go on one of the 3 sites and its sold out, go on the other 2 its sold out on them as well. If it says "only 2 left" the other 2 sites will also only have 2 left. Their "flash sales" are also identical.

The sports leagues don't realize if you keep pricing people out eventually you won't have a fan base. A hat should not cost $50. A hoodie shouldn't cost $100.

Now people keep telling me "well if people are willing to pay it" or "that's the market" blah blah blah.

Two things.
1) For people who have been fans for 20+ years. Sure we're hooked. But the generations that come later they aren't going to start being fans.

2) Way back when, Shakespeare was entertainment for the working/middle class. Now it appeals to a very narrow slice of society.

Im a bit surprised no one caught onto the monopoly fanatics created over sports apparel. They basically own the online e-commerce market for sports appreal and they are the supplier for a lot of businesses who sell sports apparel. In the end, the consumer suffers greatly.

 

[aqib]

Im a bit surprised no one caught onto the monopoly fanatics created over sports apparel. They basically own the online e-commerce market for sports appreal and they are the supplier for a lot of businesses who sell sports apparel. In the end, the consumer suffers greatly.

Way back in the late 90s there was a company called Genesis Direct. They bought up a bunch of catalogs and tried to centralize order processing and inventory management. The company I was working for had lent them a bunch of money. In 1999 they sold a bunch of their catalogs and decided to focus only on sports apparel and they changed their name to proteam.com
One of their catalogs was Hot Off The Ice which was the official NHL catalog.
When they made that change I told my boss it was going to work. I showed her that when I do an online search for hockey jerseys I find 30 places that sold jerseys cheaper than them.
She said "maybe you aren't the target customer" I told her "they say the target customer is sports fans who spend time on the Internet. I am their perfect customer'"
The problem for them was before the Internet if you rooted for a team from a different city you had to go to a catalog to buy gear for your team. However once people could go online they could just find a store in their teams city and have them ship it. If I wanted Browns gear I'd find a store in Cleveland.
Now there are fewer apparel makers and fewer retailers so we're all screwed. The only reason I have bought any gear in the last year was because I changed my NFL team.