Anthony Partipilo, the Blue Jays’ vice president of marketing and merchandising, won’t give an exact figure for the bump in apparel sales this off-season, but he says there has been a “very significant high double-digit” increase compared with this point in 2012.
Those figures surprised team officials, who figured it would be difficult to increase the sales boost that came when the club unveiled its new logo last winter.
New York-based online retailer Fanatics.com reports a 70 per cent jump in sales of Jays apparel compared with last off-season, and a 60 per cent increase this month over March, 2012.
Though sales of all types of Jays merchandise are rising, Partipilo identifies four players’ jerseys as bestsellers. While Jose Bautista and Brett Lawrie are popular holdovers from previous squads, pitcher R.A. Dickey and shortstop Jose Reyes are high-profile off-season acquisitions who have quickly become local favourites. Also added during the off season were well-known players such as Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle.
“We used to have two or three players with jerseys constantly in stock. Now we have 14,” Partipilo says. “When you have 14 guys that are all selling well, that’s something that I’ve never seen.”
According to hat supplier New Era, sales of Jays team caps shot up 81 per cent last year thanks to a new logo design. While team cap sales figures for this winter aren’t yet available, New Era says sales of the Jays’ Diamond Era cap — the one with the maple leaf on the front — are up 75 per cent compared with 2012.
The Jays aren’t the only major league team riding an apparel sales wave heading into 2013. Fanatics.com reports purchases of San Francisco Giants gear have risen 547 per cent over last off-season, understandable considering the Giants are the World Series champs. And sales of Washington Nationals merchandise spiked 256 per cent, also logical since the two of the sport’s most marketable stars — pitcher Steven Strasburg and outfielder Bryce Harper — led the club to its first playoff appearance last autumn.
Teams don’t profit directly from increased jersey and hat sales. Instead, licensing revenue is pooled and distributed evenly among all 30 major league teams, with each club receiving roughly $15 million last season.
If the Blue Jays turn out to be as good a team as plans hope, look for apparel sales to take another steep jump.
“Really what moves the needle is winning,” says sports apparel industry analyst Matt Powell of Charlotte-based SportsOneSource. “The stars are lining up really nicely. They have better players and they’re projected to do well. With the new logo, it really lines up for them to have a really nice year in merchandise sales.”
Partipilo says the biggest growth in sales comes from online buyers in Alberta and British Columbia, while inside the Jays Store at the Rogers Centre the club has increased the size of its youth section by 50 per cent to keep pace with rising demand.
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