2022 Adidas Swag Watch

GT flunkout

GT flunkout

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
376
No this is not a licensing issue or our ineptness at branding and marketing, or any of those very real things that have plagued us for decades. Over the past 2 years, selection at the bookstore has completely fallen off a cliff. It's sad and no one at the Institute or in the AA seems to notice which is really bizarre.

I suspect, without knowing for sure, that a lot of this is just pure mismanagement. B&N turned web operations and most merch logistics to Fanatics (which has always been really bad at doing Tech), and at the same time our official athletic store (ramblinwreckstore) terminated its agreement with Fanatics to go with Legacy. Bookstore has had the same wall of orange hats for over a year.

There can't be very many P5 schools that are merchandised and branded worse than Georgia Tech. Tons of G5 schools have it better. A lot of that speaks to the continued amateur dysfunction in our AA, jmo.

And Adidas also sucks which compounds the problem even more.
 
Vespidae

Vespidae

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,337
Location
Auburn, AL
GT flunkout said:
No this is not a licensing issue or our ineptness at branding and marketing, or any of those very real things that have plagued us for decades. Over the past 2 years, selection at the bookstore has completely fallen off a cliff. It's sad and no one at the Institute or in the AA seems to notice which is really bizarre.

I suspect, without knowing for sure, that a lot of this is just pure mismanagement. B&N turned web operations and most merch logistics to Fanatics (which has always been really bad at doing Tech), and at the same time our official athletic store (ramblinwreckstore) terminated its agreement with Fanatics to go with Legacy. Bookstore has had the same wall of orange hats for over a year.

There can't be very many P5 schools that are merchandised and branded worse than Georgia Tech. Tons of G5 schools have it better. A lot of that speaks to the continued amateur dysfunction in our AA, jmo.

And Adidas also sucks which compounds the problem even more.
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I visit Knoxville regularly and the VolShops are amazing. Tennessee operates 5 stores around Knoxville (which is 1/25th the size of Atlanta). The main store is about the size of a small supermarket with a wide selection of swag, gear and souvenirs. There's another one 1/2 mile away across from campus and yet another one in the bookstore. Two more are out west and in one of the larger hotels. Tennessee clearly understands merchandising and all shops are directly run by UT employees.

Auburn has a good selection in the main bookstore with great designs from UA. (Still, I hate UA.). They also operate popups at the Coliseum which are always packed. FWIW, Auburn might not be as big as Tennessee in terms of merchandising, but they have full-time folks working it with incredible levels of detail.

It's no secret that both schools are featuring basketball teams in the SEC. There is SO MUCH MONEY washing around the SEC that football can't absorb it all. It's crossing over into basketball with Bruce Pearl just signing a $50M, 8 year deal.

I agree with your adidas comment. I have warmups from the AA (same as wha the players get) and while the fit is better, the overall product is meh. For golf I would prefer Peter Millar and for other sports, find Nike is a better fit with better technical fabrics.

I had thought GT had hired a merchandiser from the Dallas Cowboys but honestly, I think it's worse now than it's ever been.
 
forensicbuzz

forensicbuzz

21st Century Throwback Dad
Messages
9,024
Location
North Shore, Chicago
TooTall said:
The issue, that is slowly being resolved through independent websites, is that B&N run OUR bookstore. Most D1 FBS Power 5 have the bookstore, but also a large school ran, or contracted, swag only store that has everything you could imagine in you logo. We don't have that. That Green Bay Packers logo the school northeast of ATL uses is allowed to be on anything and sold anywhere. The GT logo is a sacred cow that only a few get the license to produce. This has always ticked me off. GT fans have money and want GT gear, but can't fine it anywhere.
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Fanatics has the logowear contract for B&N. They paid big bucks for it, on the order of $15MM.
 

cthenrys

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
942
Location
Highland Village, TX
Vespidae said:
I visit Knoxville regularly and the VolShops are amazing. Tennessee operates 5 stores around Knoxville (which is 1/25th the size of Atlanta). The main store is about the size of a small supermarket with a wide selection of swag, gear and souvenirs. There's another one 1/2 mile away across from campus and yet another one in the bookstore. Two more are out west and in one of the larger hotels. Tennessee clearly understands merchandising and all shops are directly run by UT employees.

Auburn has a good selection in the main bookstore with great designs from UA. (Still, I hate UA.). They also operate popups at the Coliseum which are always packed. FWIW, Auburn might not be as big as Tennessee in terms of merchandising, but they have full-time folks working it with incredible levels of detail.

It's no secret that both schools are featuring basketball teams in the SEC. There is SO MUCH MONEY washing around the SEC that football can't absorb it all. It's crossing over into basketball with Bruce Pearl just signing a $50M, 8 year deal.

I agree with your adidas comment. I have warmups from the AA (same as wha the players get) and while the fit is better, the overall product is meh. For golf I would prefer Peter Millar and for other sports, find Nike is a better fit with better technical fabrics.

I had thought GT had hired a merchandiser from the Dallas Cowboys but honestly, I think it's worse now than it's ever been.
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I bought a Peter Millar GT pullover and love it. We should have a better selection. We’re just leaving money on the table. I thought the Dallas Cowboys connection was broadcasting and branding but not actual merchandise
 
Vespidae

Vespidae

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,337
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Auburn, AL
cthenrys said:
I bought a Peter Millar GT pullover and love it. We should have a better selection. We’re just leaving money on the table. I thought the Dallas Cowboys connection was broadcasting and branding but not actual merchandise
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This is what I do not understand. Tech has skated close to breakeven for every year of my association with the school/AA (45 years or so). TStan has operations leads for each of the major sports, so let them run the sport and then ... focus your time on raising money and lowering costs. It seems like we lurch from one shiny object to the next. You can't do much without cash, so if there is no solid plan to raise $100M a year, we are stuck like Chuck.

We need an entirely new program for merchandising. With a small fanbase, I would almost advocate that we curtail retail altogether and sell direct to fans. We will double our profit on half the sales volume. and probably completely eliminate obso inventory. We can launch new products faster (e.g., the 404 program) and be far more flexible. I recently bought a new shirt online from a vendor and was super pleased with the service, price and quality. Magic? No. There is no legacy infrastructure so they bought the latest, greatest tools and the result is a small company that is offering great products at very affordable prices. We like to say that Tech is the best and the brightest, but we often lag everyone else. (Remember trying scheduling classes at O'Keefe? Here it is, we are creating the new online scheduling systems used by everyone else .. but us.)

To sell virtually anything, all you need are three things. First, you need a product. Then, you need an offer. Third, you need a customer list. We already have the customer list! Instead of being passive, use the first two and create a revenue stream using our own products and demand. That's innovation and ... it is something Tech can truly excel at. But we probably won't. We'll just outsource it Fanatics, just like everyone else and cash our checks for $9.17 for the royalties earned that week.

I'll never understand why the AA doesn't make cashflow a priority. It enables everything else.
 
forensicbuzz

forensicbuzz

21st Century Throwback Dad
Messages
9,024
Location
North Shore, Chicago
Vespidae said:
This is what I do not understand. Tech has skated close to breakeven for every year of my association with the school/AA (45 years or so). TStan has operations leads for each of the major sports, so let them run the sport and then ... focus your time on raising money and lowering costs. It seems like we lurch from one shiny object to the next. You can't do much without cash, so if there is no solid plan to raise $100M a year, we are stuck like Chuck.

We need an entirely new program for merchandising. With a small fanbase, I would almost advocate that we curtail retail altogether and sell direct to fans. We will double our profit on half the sales volume. and probably completely eliminate obso inventory. We can launch new products faster (e.g., the 404 program) and be far more flexible. I recently bought a new shirt online from a vendor and was super pleased with the service, price and quality. Magic? No. There is no legacy infrastructure so they bought the latest, greatest tools and the result is a small company that is offering great products at very affordable prices. We like to say that Tech is the best and the brightest, but we often lag everyone else. (Remember trying scheduling classes at O'Keefe? Here it is, we are creating the new online scheduling systems used by everyone else .. but us.)

To sell virtually anything, all you need are three things. First, you need a product. Then, you need an offer. Third, you need a customer list. We already have the customer list! Instead of being passive, use the first two and create a revenue stream using our own products and demand. That's innovation and ... it is something Tech can truly excel at. But we probably won't. We'll just outsource it Fanatics, just like everyone else and cash our checks for $9.17 for the royalties earned that week.

I'll never understand why the AA doesn't make cashflow a priority. It enables everything else.
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I 100% agree with you about the merchandise.

I think the registration is a bad example, though. GT was the first university to have online registration. I registered for classes online from Connecticut in 1987. No other university in the US was doing 100% online at that time. We led the way.
 
Gold1

Gold1

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,372
GT flunkout said:
I've decided I no longer care about shade of gold or yellow, so long as it is some shade of gold or yellow and white. Anything that is not ridiculously blue. I long for the days that we knew what we were even if we didn't get the shade just right. So I'll definitely buy that hat 🙂

View attachment 12175
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TOTALLY AGREE! GT and Adidas just please make some sort of gold apparel and sell it everywhere. It’s infuriating
 
MidtownJacket

MidtownJacket

Moderator
Staff member
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4,872
Vespidae said:
This is what I do not understand. Tech has skated close to breakeven for every year of my association with the school/AA (45 years or so). TStan has operations leads for each of the major sports, so let them run the sport and then ... focus your time on raising money and lowering costs. It seems like we lurch from one shiny object to the next. You can't do much without cash, so if there is no solid plan to raise $100M a year, we are stuck like Chuck.

We need an entirely new program for merchandising. With a small fanbase, I would almost advocate that we curtail retail altogether and sell direct to fans. We will double our profit on half the sales volume. and probably completely eliminate obso inventory. We can launch new products faster (e.g., the 404 program) and be far more flexible. I recently bought a new shirt online from a vendor and was super pleased with the service, price and quality. Magic? No. There is no legacy infrastructure so they bought the latest, greatest tools and the result is a small company that is offering great products at very affordable prices. We like to say that Tech is the best and the brightest, but we often lag everyone else. (Remember trying scheduling classes at O'Keefe? Here it is, we are creating the new online scheduling systems used by everyone else .. but us.)

To sell virtually anything, all you need are three things. First, you need a product. Then, you need an offer. Third, you need a customer list. We already have the customer list! Instead of being passive, use the first two and create a revenue stream using our own products and demand. That's innovation and ... it is something Tech can truly excel at. But we probably won't. We'll just outsource it Fanatics, just like everyone else and cash our checks for $9.17 for the royalties earned that week.

I'll never understand why the AA doesn't make cashflow a priority. It enables everything else.
Click to expand...
I can't let go of this idea of GT creating a DtC Model for merchandise. Seems like we could do so with minimum effort and frankly low/no risk even if not exclusively.

Do some limited runs, go hire the Section 103 team or the creative team doing the staff/players piece and boom. Donesies.
 
boger2337

boger2337

Helluva Engineer
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3,435
The 2021 white jerseys normally $110 are at the Adidas in Woodstock for only $30 and the hoodie posted below normally $80, sometimes marked down to 50 is now $12.
 

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boger2337

boger2337

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3,435
RyanS12 said:
Makes you wonder if we’re getting a new style of jersey for this season.
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I think it's mostly the fact they had about 40 of them available on clearance. She said they've been in clearance since January. No one buys them. Plus they are '21 last years jersey. Likely more that no one that goes to that mall gives a flying flip about GT and they are last years model. My understanding is each year they will have the year number on it. This years jersey number will be 22.
 
Vespidae

Vespidae

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Auburn, AL
boger2337 said:
I think it's mostly the fact they had about 40 of them available on clearance. She said they've been in clearance since January. No one buys them. Plus they are '21 last years jersey. Likely more that no one that goes to that mall gives a flying flip about GT and they are last years model. My understanding is each year they will have the year number on it. This years jersey number will be 22.
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I caught Charles Barkley on TV the other night during March Madness. He was asked about non-athletes wearing jerseys and said "don't do it". The only people who should are small children and women and never, ever keep the player's name on the jersey ... they are athletes, not necessarily role models. Been saying it for years ... interesting POV and definitely swimming upstream.
 
AlabamaBuzz

AlabamaBuzz

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Hartselle, AL (originally Rome, GA)
BuzzThePlumber said:
FYI, went by the Bookstore the other day and there are probably 5-6 newer adidas hats that I haven't seen on any website yet, as well as a few shirts and sweatshirts. Sorry, didn't get any pics this time.
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If anyone has time to make picks, especially of the shirts/sweatshirts, it would be greatly appreciated. I don't mind ordering from the bookstore, but many times these items are not even viewable on their website. For example, I have a hat I purchased in 2019 when I travelled through ATL that never showed up on the website.

Thanks.
 
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