If you've ever wondered what happens to the losing Super Bowl team's pre-printed championship apparel, or would like to see a rare Bengals Super Bowl XXIII "Champions" shirt from 1989, check out this week's LA Times story.
BreakingT receives a feature in the middle-third, which we'll excerpt here:
[BreakingT] uses an in-house software tool to track what’s happening on social media with every major pro and college-level team to figure out what’s capturing fans’ attention, then calls on artists to whip up a new design within hours, and goes to the league in question for licensing approval. Then the design goes up online. It’s only once the orders start coming in that printing begins.
The company typically relies on its in-house printing facility in Virginia to produce its wares, but in the case of a true merch emergency across the country, [BreakingT President Jamie] Mottram said he can call on local printers to meet demand. When the Padres hit their “Slam Diego” streak in 2020, “that took off overnight, and we were working with printers in San Diego to get products into the stadium and into the players’ hands, so they all had the shirts at batting practice,” Mottram said.
In the lead-up to the Super Bowl, Mottram said that Bengals gear has been outselling the Rams 4 to 1 — “If you’re a Bengals fan, you’re losing your money and your mind right now,” he said — but the company has a number of “if win” orders in place with retailers across the country."
In the lead-up to the Super Bowl, Mottram said that Bengals gear has been outselling the Rams 4 to 1 — “If you’re a Bengals fan, you’re losing your money and your mind right now,” he said — but the company has a number of “if win” orders in place with retailers across the country."
In the end, it was the Rams that prevailed, and you can check out our Los Angeles Football Collection to see what we ended up releasing.