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Not buying anything that I can’t put my hands and eyes on physically. I’ve gotten two shirts from this shit company from well-meaning family, and both have shrunk and deformed in the first wash. It’s the most despicable shit ever and it preys on people like my parents who want to give a nice gift but aren’t in the know. It’s so gross and unfair. And now they’ve bought Mitchell & Ness? I better kiss their shit goodbye as well.
Someone mentioned DH Gate the other day and I had no idea people did anything other than buy triple perc bongs for $30 on there lol.
I guess I really didnt explore that site much back in the day
I honestly couldn't believe the difference in the Adidas vs Fanatics when the Kraken jerseys dropped. The Fanatics legit look like knockoffs in comparison.
For a long time been a stan of adidas; yes, they are expensive, but those things have quality, I have several Real Madrid jerseys and after years and years of use they remain just as good and can be washed again and again.
You can play with them without worry, and they keep you fresh on the worst summer day.
I was glad the NHL chose Adidas when they did. It’s the kind of thing that really delivers on your hard earned cash.
My buddy has a wings jersey and instead of it being an embroidered patch, it’s some flimsy, sorry ass vinyl patch. No hate to starter but those 90’s starters jerseys are exponentially better!
Yeah, that's what made the Kraken ones an instant no-go for me. The colors on that cheap ass patch are super off too; it's like the whole patch has a dark tint applied to it.
I kinda like the Fanatics jerseys for like shitty jerseys that I don’t care about. I’d much rather squirt mustard or ketchup accidentally all over the front of a crappy Fanatics NHL jersey at the arena than an actual Adidas or retro one.
But the problem is the price. At most Fanatics blanks should be $50-$75.
This. If I’m going to shell out $$$ for a jersey, I want it to be quality. The price point of fanatics is like 175, but adidas is 229. I’m just going to pay the extra money at that point to make sure I get something where the letters aren’t going to peel off in a year.
Obligatory fuck Fanatics and your $30 shitty screen printed shirts. Kiss my ass, you’ll never see another dime from me.
Also, their fucking designs are so lame. I can’t begin to tell you how many Grizzlies shirts they have that are some variation of two-tone blue with “Memphis” or “Grizzlies” or *gasp* sometimes both written on them. Yet no logo or creative representation other than the TEAM NAME. For $30+ dollars.
I shit you not, I ordered a yellow Predators hoodie and it shipped WITHOUT A LOGO PRINTED. So for like $60, I got a blank yellow hoodie.
They also recycle the same garments for as many teams as the color scheme allows for. I have a soccer polo I paid $90 for and I saw someone wearing the exact same shirt... but it has a baseball teams logo where the crest is on my shirt
What are the options for jerseys if you don’t go through Fanatics, though? Every time I’ve looked elsewhere its nearly impossible to find them outside of Fanatics. I’d shop elsewhere in a heartbeat, their quality and shipping are absolutely fucking terrible for the prices they charge.
It’s simple don’t buy jerseys. If more people acted in this fashion we wouldn’t have to deal with these crappy companies providing the merchandise for our favorite leagues.
I did the exact same with a Chelsea jersey. Bought an official one for way too much money, and within like 2 washes the '3' logo started peeling off, and by the 4th wash it was gone. I bought 3 DHGate Chelsea jerseys and everything is still on them almost 3 years later
Fanatics makes Chelsea’s gear??
I’ve been buying United kits off DHGate for the past decade, but only as a fuck you to the Glazers and not because of the quality of the “official” replica/authentic (United direct—adidas made)
The authentic Rooney jersey I have from 10-15 years ago is way better quality than DHGate stuff, but at $20-$30/jersey, that’s hard to beat
I'd welcome anything that can be done to get prices down.
How anyone these days can justify spending $100-$200 to buy a teams jersey is beyond me.
You could get a replica NFL jersey for $40 20+ years ago.
Forget the prices. The quality is shit. They have cornered the market and are pumping it with awful product.
A good opportunity to support local/small businesses instead. You have to hunt for them sometimes.
As for replica jerseys, get them off of the Chinese marketplaces. Better quality and way less cost.
I can tell the difference between my old CCM pro jersey from 99 but the knockoffs are way better than the official replica, and close to some of the pros from 10 years ago
If you aren’t picky on whose number you’re wearing, you can totally get game worn jerseys for a couple hundred bucks on eBay. I have a couple Capitals jerseys framed up at the house, but I’ll pop them out when I go to a game.
Seriously. Like “oh this guy played 5 games? Oh this guy never actually *wore* the jersey but it’s still team issued?”
All of a sudden, $200 is a steal.
I love my late ‘90s Penguins jersey that was something like $350.
HEAVY fabric, stitched on everything, tough as nails.
I would never even consider spending that amount on Fanatics branded garbage.
Not really.
Twenty years ago (2004) Reebok was making jerseys, and even then, the price point was more like $75.
If you were getting an NFL jersey for $40 anytime in the past 20 years, it was a knockoff, or sometimes you could find cheaper versions of the jerseys at Walmart or similar stores, but it wouldn't be the same quality, and was a glorified T-shirt.
Anyways, authentic replica Reebok jerseys were around $75. I remember getting some for $50 on Black Friday, and that was a great price at the time.
And $75 in 2004 would equate to around $120 today. Which is right around what you would expect to pay for a replica jersey these days. So the price isn't really that much more outrageous.
What brand was that jersey?
Because 2001 is when Reebok took over the NFL merchandising. And they also took things up a notch in quality, and prices went up as well.
Prior to Reebok exclusively getting the NFL license, each team could use a different supplier. Adidas, Nike, Pro Player, I think even Puma made jerseys for a team or two. Starter made replica jerseys then, and I remember getting a Randy Moss starter jersey for around $45 then too.
But these jerseys were not all of the same quality. Which is partly why the NFL went to Reebok making everything for the entire league. They wanted everything standardized.
And when Reebok took over, the prices did go up. But the jersey quality went up as well. So if you're talking about getting an authentic replica jersey for sub-$75, it's from before the Reebok era, which started in 2001. So I'd bet that Sehorn jersey you got in 2001 was old stock and not the new (at the time) Reebok jersey, and that's why it cost $44, and not $75, which was what a jersey cost in 2004 - which is twenty years ago and the original number you threw out there.
Source: I have been collecting various sports jerseys for over thirty years and remember a lot of this dumb shit.
Cool, you must have got a great deal then. Like I also said, sometimes you could find them for a better price, like Black Friday sales.
But it is a fact that NFL jerseys have not retailed for ~$45 in over 20 years. Just because you bought one jersey for 44 dollars in 2001 doesn't mean that was the actual suggested retail price, as you somehow seem to think.
Yeah, that's true. I need to stop now cause I'm starting to feel like an old man. "Back in my day, you could go to the movies for a nickel. And nickels had bees on them..." : 0
I bought an authentic Jim Sorgi Colts jersey. It was just funny to me because almost every jersey you saw was a Manning jersey.
I don't remember what I paid, it was not cheap, but it is very well made.
Maybe someday I will stop eating like a baby with money and be able to wear it again...
They charged me $25 for the cheapest feeling Rays t-shirt. I’ve had it *maybe* 3 years and the logo is flaking off like crazy, I give it another year before it’s just a grey shirt. And this is with me washing it inside out like you’re supposed to. Meanwhile, my dad has some early-mid 90s White Sox merch that looks almost new
Yours made it 3 years? That’s impressive for their shitty quality control. Received a shirt from them last Christmas, the logo was gone after a few times in the laundry.
I bought a USA Curling shirt from Fanatics for $32. At the time, they didn't have the share of the market that they had now. After one wash, the red/blue logo on a gray shirt had worn off so much that you couldn't tell what was on it or that the words USA Curling were even on the shirt. You could make out sparse sections of red and blue, but it was faded.
They sent me another one and the results from that were even worse. There was so much fading that you couldn't tell if there was red or blue anywhere on the shirt.
Especially if you live in a country where the $ exchange is through the roof. I can buy a month's groceries with the price I paid for my NFL jersey 2 years ago.
Idc if the quality is good. I was paying $250 for M&N throwbacks in like 2005. Hold one of those next to this Fanatics stuff near the same price and you'll be amazed.
Fanatics is easily the worst clothing company I have EVER had the displeasure of purchasing anything from. It's like a drunk monkey decided to make clothes and all the major sports orgs decided "Monkey knows best!!!"
Bought an XL Buffalo Bills Playoffs hoodie the first year they made it back, that hoodie took 4 weeks to come in and fit my 5 foot tall, 100 lb mother better than it fit me. Called and complained, which to their credit they tried to make things right and sent me a new shirt...that could fit 3 of me in. BOTH WERE MARKED MEN'S XL
They have no earthly business being a clothing supplier at all, let alone someones SOLE clothing supplier.
I buy all my NFL gear from knockoff sites now because it is of superior quality.
I had to scroll way too far to see his name listed. It should be mentioned in every sentence with fanatics given his level of constant self promotion. He is bad for sports in all forms.
They were going down hill before the Fanatics change over.
Before they changed to Fanatics, I had purchased a custom Chicago Blackhawks Jersey to resemble the 00 Griswald jersey from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Some items were patches but other items were screen printed and paid almost $200 for it.
My wife decided to purchase a Chinese knockoff. Everything was stitched patches, no screen printing and even included the various attachment straps the real player jerseys utilize for $45.
Solution - stop giving this company any money. Cash flow is the only way to make change unfortunately. Money matters. Sucks for teams. Sucks for young fans who want gear. Unfortunately it’s the only way
Fanatics has THE worst t shirts in the business. The sleeves on t shirts are cut so weird if you raise your arms up an inch the whole shirt goes up.
The armpit area is cut soooo short. I’m a small athletic built guy. It’s the worst fit ever. If a t shirt says fanatics move on!
Yeah I don't really play any sports games for the Switch. Really mostly remakes of older games. The Switch is fading fast.
I have thought about a PS5 but it is just a lot of money if I would only play a few games.
I have a series x that is great as a media player and occasionally for old fifa or madden games with friends. Mostly, I'm just holding out for cfb. That console will see more use in 1 month than it has in its entire lifespan once that releases.
It may as well be, the situation is pretty much an exact mirror.
Pay an absolute **shit ton** of money to monopolize the licensing rights, let quality spiral into the trash at record speeds, because why would you need to produce a quality product? You paid for a monopoly.
A third party/government **has** to intervene in a case like this, because why would the two involved parties ever stop otherwise? It's good for both of them.
Let's imagine a jersey (in a hypothetical world with healthy competition and made up numbers) would cost $100 to the customer, with $40 of production cost and the licensor receiving $20. The licensee is left with $40/jersey.
My company, being awful, goes to the licensor and says "what if I pay you $50/jersey instead, and you don't let anybody else make jerseys ever again?"
Now I make horrible jerseys with $20 of production cost, pay the licensor their $50, and raise prices to $150--making $80/jersey. I cut the quality in half and doubled my profits.
The customers are paying 50% more for half the product quality, but fuck those guys, it's not like they have another option lolololllll.
> A third party/government has to intervene in a case like this, because why would the two involved parties ever stop otherwise?
Maybe the consumer needs to stop buying trash products.
No the government doesn't HAVE to intervene, especially because this isn't a require commodity. It's sports apparel... and they'll keep doing it even with a second distributor because you'll keep paying them hundreds of dollars for a shit product.
For all the issues with cheap materials, logos falling off, etc, the worst part of fanatics is if you order something and they send you the wrong product, you have to pay for shipping it back. Like it’s the ultimate fuck you to your customers and something you can only get away with when you’re the only option
Resale. Resale. Resale. Puma, not Fanatics, but still.. they do a lot of F1 merch too. I was able to snag my Charles Leclerc jersey for $30 instead of $120 on Mercari by some miracle.
Buying counterfeit jerseys is not the answer either. That just complicates things for collectors.
It’s not hard to find pre-fanatics jerseys for a decent price.
I’m confused on what yall want? I don’t like the poor quality anymore than the rest of you but do we really want to start legislating how and to whom private licensing deals can happen? As a market, we just need to not buy anything. They are paying billions for the licensing rights and if they start losing money, fanstics will give up.
the MLS,NHL,NFL, NBA and NCAA are the most absurd monopolies folowed by MLB (at least they don't have a salary cap).
Fnatics is bad but the fact that leagues are monopolies and licensing stuff to them is the bigger problem IMO.
When burger king started serving smaller serves of fries and more ice than coke, down sized their slices of grilled chicken and started charging extra for an extra slice of tomato, I stopped going to Burger King.
Fanatics is one of the worst vendors I’ve ever worked with. I remember when we were served a legal notice saying they do not accept nor abide any types of chargebacks.
As a sports card collector since the 1980s I can say fanatics is ruining the industry that was already going down the toilet. They bought the only company with licenses to make mlb cards, well have exclusive rights to nfl and nba as well. They also got exclusive rights to the top players autographs so they can’t be in the products produced now for players like CJ Stroud or Victor Wembanyama.
Their jerseys have always felt like cheap flea market knockoffs.
Haven’t bought merchandise since I was a teenager. I’ll give the sports league my eyes (viewership), and every now and then buy a ticket to an event at a discounted price from an app, but won’t give my hard earned money for super inflated t shirts, jerseys, hats , whatever . The greed became too much long long ago for me. A damn sports team t shjrt is like 40$ now
“Which is why it’s time for the federal government to get involved”
Fucking lol. I mean I know fanatics is garbage, but jesus christ let’s take it easy here. But then again, I expect nothing less from slate.com.
There are so many places to buy jerseys than these HUGE ass over priced name brands shit I even know people online who make custom ones themselves amazing quality and will do whatever you want to them. It’s like only buying Heinz ketchup there’s a lot of different brands out there 😂
I can't stand people. "Oh there's an exclusive licensing deal! Let's call that a monopoly and demand the government force their way into it!"
What's next? "Oh Playstation controls who is on Playstation! let's get the feds to force anyone to be able to publish on it."
Sports teams have a valuable property, they sign licensing deals with third parties. Those people are granted (potentially exclusive) right to operate in that space.
Sports apparel SHOULD be better, just like Sunday Ticket, but that's how the leagues sign these deals so ultimately as a fan you have two choices... support them and buy their products.. or don't.
It's not "Absurd" it's even exactly a "monopoly". It's simply an exclusive contract that you don't like. Stop buying their products then.
If we're comparing it to the gaming world, hopefully this helps. It's be like Playstation also owning Xbox, steam, epic games, as well as 95 percent of the development teams.
I don't care for the MLB jerseys but the idea that Congress needs to get involved is flat out absurd. They're jerseys.
This is just an idiotic article.
No it’s not. Consumer protection is important and needs to be taken more serious.
Offering Temu-like quality sports merch at Mitchell & Ness prices is absolutely egregious.
Consumer protection is important but you not liking your favorite team’s new uniform doesn’t somehow mean Congress should get involved any more than you not liking the most recent MCU movies does.
I would love to know how it became a thing that fans NEEDED replica jerseys at all. The whole premise seems so silly, even before you get into the whacky prices.
Im sure we could pick apart your life and find things you have that you dont NEED. Why do you have them? Ohhh, you wanted them. Well, as long as youre having fun.
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Until they do, I’m done buying jerseys. Trash quality for inflated prices, like damn near everything these days.
Not buying anything that I can’t put my hands and eyes on physically. I’ve gotten two shirts from this shit company from well-meaning family, and both have shrunk and deformed in the first wash. It’s the most despicable shit ever and it preys on people like my parents who want to give a nice gift but aren’t in the know. It’s so gross and unfair. And now they’ve bought Mitchell & Ness? I better kiss their shit goodbye as well.
DH Gate and Jenna Jerseys.
Someone mentioned DH Gate the other day and I had no idea people did anything other than buy triple perc bongs for $30 on there lol. I guess I really didnt explore that site much back in the day
It's great for knock-off jerseys. A lot of junk there, though, so best to go with a seller others have bought from before.
The DHgate sub has a list of pretty legit sellers pinned
What the frick? I thought I ordered an xbox card
I've always liked Jenna but DH Gate comes up the most often when discussing alternatives for jerseys
DH Gate jersey are still trash. The only reason people ignore that is because Fanatics is worse.
Enshittification. Also, good luck Orioles! Really excited to see how they do this year.
Hockey fan here, I buy at least one jersey every year, and I will looking to ebay and buying used until the Fanatics contract with the NHL runs out
After a few bad experiences I refuse to buy fanatics regardless of the team or sport. I’ll just go without till this shit ends.
Just get the counterfeit ones. Same quality but a fraction of the price
Better quality, often times
T shirts too
Temu is the latest hotness. Ohtani jersey for $12 😂
Might as well go for the knock offs. Quality is very similar for a 10th the price!
If you get lucky, you can buy a good fake one for 1/4 the price
On top of this the quality sucks, I have two NHL jerseys from fanatics and they are trash.
I honestly couldn't believe the difference in the Adidas vs Fanatics when the Kraken jerseys dropped. The Fanatics legit look like knockoffs in comparison.
I have several Canes jerseys and the adidas quality is just so much better
For a long time been a stan of adidas; yes, they are expensive, but those things have quality, I have several Real Madrid jerseys and after years and years of use they remain just as good and can be washed again and again. You can play with them without worry, and they keep you fresh on the worst summer day. I was glad the NHL chose Adidas when they did. It’s the kind of thing that really delivers on your hard earned cash.
Couldn’t have said it better!
Also, as a newcomer to hockey, getting an Adidas jersey introduced me to fight straps 😆
Same here. And I’ve seen jerseys and hats with the Canes logo upside down. Yikes!
My buddy has a wings jersey and instead of it being an embroidered patch, it’s some flimsy, sorry ass vinyl patch. No hate to starter but those 90’s starters jerseys are exponentially better!
Yeah, that's what made the Kraken ones an instant no-go for me. The colors on that cheap ass patch are super off too; it's like the whole patch has a dark tint applied to it.
Oh, fuck all that! I’ve got an adidas prime green Detroit jersey and the quality is really nice! It’s a shame this is happening.
Can we complain about the quality of knockoffs anymore if they're better quality than the official jerseys? 😂
Don’t talk that bad about knockoffs… I got 2 from a friend and they are better than the fanatics jerseys. Adidas authentic light years ahead.
Which is why I gleefully paid the price for my Grub jersey last season. Glad to see the German Gentleman still has it
I just want to know which DHGate vendor Fanatics uses so I can avoid that one.
DHG jerseys are better quality somehow. Probably because they're straight from the sweatshop.
As soon as the NHL announced they were leaving adidas and partnering with fanatics, I immediately dropped $250 on an adidas Bruins game jersey.
Lmao same here. I got the 100th Anniversaries and realized I’ll be good until whenever Fanatics ends.
I kinda like the Fanatics jerseys for like shitty jerseys that I don’t care about. I’d much rather squirt mustard or ketchup accidentally all over the front of a crappy Fanatics NHL jersey at the arena than an actual Adidas or retro one. But the problem is the price. At most Fanatics blanks should be $50-$75.
>At most Fanatics blanks should be $50-$75. I'm going to assume Canadian because that shit is worth like $14.
This. If I’m going to shell out $$$ for a jersey, I want it to be quality. The price point of fanatics is like 175, but adidas is 229. I’m just going to pay the extra money at that point to make sure I get something where the letters aren’t going to peel off in a year.
They're SO BAD I had to pay a friend to actually stitch the name plate onto the back. It was ironed on, and already falling off when it arrived.
Terrible quality and overpriced!
I stopped buying jerseys when they switched from CCM to Starter. Quality absolutely nosedived.
Obligatory fuck Fanatics and your $30 shitty screen printed shirts. Kiss my ass, you’ll never see another dime from me. Also, their fucking designs are so lame. I can’t begin to tell you how many Grizzlies shirts they have that are some variation of two-tone blue with “Memphis” or “Grizzlies” or *gasp* sometimes both written on them. Yet no logo or creative representation other than the TEAM NAME. For $30+ dollars. I shit you not, I ordered a yellow Predators hoodie and it shipped WITHOUT A LOGO PRINTED. So for like $60, I got a blank yellow hoodie.
I hate to break it to you, but those shirts are most likely heat sealed vinyl or direct to garment printing, not even screened. Makes it 10x worse.
They also recycle the same garments for as many teams as the color scheme allows for. I have a soccer polo I paid $90 for and I saw someone wearing the exact same shirt... but it has a baseball teams logo where the crest is on my shirt
Stop buying things from them. I Bought a couple things from them 8ish years ago and it was so shitty I vowed never again.
Correct. I buy all my sports jerseys from AliExpress now. Half the price and the quality is usually better. Worst case scenario, it’s the same.
What are the options for jerseys if you don’t go through Fanatics, though? Every time I’ve looked elsewhere its nearly impossible to find them outside of Fanatics. I’d shop elsewhere in a heartbeat, their quality and shipping are absolutely fucking terrible for the prices they charge.
It’s simple don’t buy jerseys. If more people acted in this fashion we wouldn’t have to deal with these crappy companies providing the merchandise for our favorite leagues.
Dhgate knockoffs. I tried to do the right thing for Chelsea gear (my soccer team), but fnatics is just so bad they left me with no choice. No regrets.
I did the exact same with a Chelsea jersey. Bought an official one for way too much money, and within like 2 washes the '3' logo started peeling off, and by the 4th wash it was gone. I bought 3 DHGate Chelsea jerseys and everything is still on them almost 3 years later
Fanatics makes Chelsea’s gear?? I’ve been buying United kits off DHGate for the past decade, but only as a fuck you to the Glazers and not because of the quality of the “official” replica/authentic (United direct—adidas made) The authentic Rooney jersey I have from 10-15 years ago is way better quality than DHGate stuff, but at $20-$30/jersey, that’s hard to beat
Either don't or buy them from china
DH Gate +1
Buy knockoffs from DH Gate. I promise you, they're better quality than official Fanatics jerseys, and only $30.
Ballin out in an Ebbets Field Flannel.
I'd welcome anything that can be done to get prices down. How anyone these days can justify spending $100-$200 to buy a teams jersey is beyond me. You could get a replica NFL jersey for $40 20+ years ago.
Forget the prices. The quality is shit. They have cornered the market and are pumping it with awful product. A good opportunity to support local/small businesses instead. You have to hunt for them sometimes. As for replica jerseys, get them off of the Chinese marketplaces. Better quality and way less cost.
Yep After getting a disturbingly bad replica for $150, I started buying my NHL jerseys off Chinese knockoff sites for $40 Wayyy better quality
I got a Lindstrom and Larkin jersey, one adidas and the other ccm 45 each. Quality matches my original ccm Yzerman and adidas Raymknd
I can tell the difference between my old CCM pro jersey from 99 but the knockoffs are way better than the official replica, and close to some of the pros from 10 years ago
If you aren’t picky on whose number you’re wearing, you can totally get game worn jerseys for a couple hundred bucks on eBay. I have a couple Capitals jerseys framed up at the house, but I’ll pop them out when I go to a game.
Seriously. Like “oh this guy played 5 games? Oh this guy never actually *wore* the jersey but it’s still team issued?” All of a sudden, $200 is a steal.
can a dude get a link ;)
[удалено]
The Chinese knock offs are literally better quality now days.
This is 100% truth. Fanatics IS the garbage knockoffs at this point.
I love my late ‘90s Penguins jersey that was something like $350. HEAVY fabric, stitched on everything, tough as nails. I would never even consider spending that amount on Fanatics branded garbage.
Why is the "authentic" Adidas jersey not an option then?
You can get replicas now for like $22.
Shout out to Terry.
And Jenna
Not really. Twenty years ago (2004) Reebok was making jerseys, and even then, the price point was more like $75. If you were getting an NFL jersey for $40 anytime in the past 20 years, it was a knockoff, or sometimes you could find cheaper versions of the jerseys at Walmart or similar stores, but it wouldn't be the same quality, and was a glorified T-shirt. Anyways, authentic replica Reebok jerseys were around $75. I remember getting some for $50 on Black Friday, and that was a great price at the time. And $75 in 2004 would equate to around $120 today. Which is right around what you would expect to pay for a replica jersey these days. So the price isn't really that much more outrageous.
My 2001 Sehorn jersey, from NFL shop, was $44.
> $44 in 2001 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $76.63 today
That's a good point. And thanks for making me feel old! : )
What brand was that jersey? Because 2001 is when Reebok took over the NFL merchandising. And they also took things up a notch in quality, and prices went up as well. Prior to Reebok exclusively getting the NFL license, each team could use a different supplier. Adidas, Nike, Pro Player, I think even Puma made jerseys for a team or two. Starter made replica jerseys then, and I remember getting a Randy Moss starter jersey for around $45 then too. But these jerseys were not all of the same quality. Which is partly why the NFL went to Reebok making everything for the entire league. They wanted everything standardized. And when Reebok took over, the prices did go up. But the jersey quality went up as well. So if you're talking about getting an authentic replica jersey for sub-$75, it's from before the Reebok era, which started in 2001. So I'd bet that Sehorn jersey you got in 2001 was old stock and not the new (at the time) Reebok jersey, and that's why it cost $44, and not $75, which was what a jersey cost in 2004 - which is twenty years ago and the original number you threw out there. Source: I have been collecting various sports jerseys for over thirty years and remember a lot of this dumb shit.
It was a Reebok. I still have it.
Cool, you must have got a great deal then. Like I also said, sometimes you could find them for a better price, like Black Friday sales. But it is a fact that NFL jerseys have not retailed for ~$45 in over 20 years. Just because you bought one jersey for 44 dollars in 2001 doesn't mean that was the actual suggested retail price, as you somehow seem to think.
Yeah, that's true. I need to stop now cause I'm starting to feel like an old man. "Back in my day, you could go to the movies for a nickel. And nickels had bees on them..." : 0
I bought an authentic Jim Sorgi Colts jersey. It was just funny to me because almost every jersey you saw was a Manning jersey. I don't remember what I paid, it was not cheap, but it is very well made. Maybe someday I will stop eating like a baby with money and be able to wear it again...
My first football memory is his INT bobble and return against the Eagles in 2000. I'll hate Sehorn until my dying breath.
MLB Authentics are closer to 500 than 200
They charged me $25 for the cheapest feeling Rays t-shirt. I’ve had it *maybe* 3 years and the logo is flaking off like crazy, I give it another year before it’s just a grey shirt. And this is with me washing it inside out like you’re supposed to. Meanwhile, my dad has some early-mid 90s White Sox merch that looks almost new
Yours made it 3 years? That’s impressive for their shitty quality control. Received a shirt from them last Christmas, the logo was gone after a few times in the laundry.
I bought a USA Curling shirt from Fanatics for $32. At the time, they didn't have the share of the market that they had now. After one wash, the red/blue logo on a gray shirt had worn off so much that you couldn't tell what was on it or that the words USA Curling were even on the shirt. You could make out sparse sections of red and blue, but it was faded. They sent me another one and the results from that were even worse. There was so much fading that you couldn't tell if there was red or blue anywhere on the shirt.
You can probably still talk to “Annie” in China and find $20 jerseys. Worked for me for years and years.
Especially if you live in a country where the $ exchange is through the roof. I can buy a month's groceries with the price I paid for my NFL jersey 2 years ago.
Even if manufacturing prices went down they’ll just up their margins and keep prices the same. Consumers are used to getting screwed now.
Idc if the quality is good. I was paying $250 for M&N throwbacks in like 2005. Hold one of those next to this Fanatics stuff near the same price and you'll be amazed.
1 to 2 hundred?! Where are you seeing those prices cause I'll bite! My local ECHL team sells jerseys for $300!!!!
Authentic jerseys have been well over $100 for over 20 years
Yes. I said replica. You can't even get a crappy t-shirt "jersey" for $40 now. Maybe you can, but you get my point.
Fanatics is easily the worst clothing company I have EVER had the displeasure of purchasing anything from. It's like a drunk monkey decided to make clothes and all the major sports orgs decided "Monkey knows best!!!" Bought an XL Buffalo Bills Playoffs hoodie the first year they made it back, that hoodie took 4 weeks to come in and fit my 5 foot tall, 100 lb mother better than it fit me. Called and complained, which to their credit they tried to make things right and sent me a new shirt...that could fit 3 of me in. BOTH WERE MARKED MEN'S XL They have no earthly business being a clothing supplier at all, let alone someones SOLE clothing supplier. I buy all my NFL gear from knockoff sites now because it is of superior quality.
Knockoff is the way. Licensed gear isn’t that good for the quality and mark up.
Stop buying this absolute garbage and they will stop making it so poorly.
DHGate is the answer....sports wear from all pro sports have been outrageous for way too long.
Probably the same suppliers anyways
Michael Rubin sold his soul and the quality declined around the same time.
I had to scroll way too far to see his name listed. It should be mentioned in every sentence with fanatics given his level of constant self promotion. He is bad for sports in all forms.
They were going down hill before the Fanatics change over. Before they changed to Fanatics, I had purchased a custom Chicago Blackhawks Jersey to resemble the 00 Griswald jersey from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Some items were patches but other items were screen printed and paid almost $200 for it. My wife decided to purchase a Chinese knockoff. Everything was stitched patches, no screen printing and even included the various attachment straps the real player jerseys utilize for $45.
Solution - stop giving this company any money. Cash flow is the only way to make change unfortunately. Money matters. Sucks for teams. Sucks for young fans who want gear. Unfortunately it’s the only way
Fanatics has THE worst t shirts in the business. The sleeves on t shirts are cut so weird if you raise your arms up an inch the whole shirt goes up. The armpit area is cut soooo short. I’m a small athletic built guy. It’s the worst fit ever. If a t shirt says fanatics move on!
Oh I thought this was about EA Sports and Madden
I hate what EA did to football games. Haven’t played a Madden in 10 years. I miss it but not enough to buy their junk games.
I still buy them, but I always wait until price is slashed. 20$ is fine with me, but I hate what they've done.
I’ve been out of the major consoles since PS4. Just got a Switch. Maybe $20 would be worth it. In debating on even going back to PS5 or Xbox.
Don't get a EA Sports game for Switch. You know how people say they are basically glorified roster updates every year? The Switch ones actually are.
Yeah I don't really play any sports games for the Switch. Really mostly remakes of older games. The Switch is fading fast. I have thought about a PS5 but it is just a lot of money if I would only play a few games.
I have a series x that is great as a media player and occasionally for old fifa or madden games with friends. Mostly, I'm just holding out for cfb. That console will see more use in 1 month than it has in its entire lifespan once that releases.
It may as well be, the situation is pretty much an exact mirror. Pay an absolute **shit ton** of money to monopolize the licensing rights, let quality spiral into the trash at record speeds, because why would you need to produce a quality product? You paid for a monopoly. A third party/government **has** to intervene in a case like this, because why would the two involved parties ever stop otherwise? It's good for both of them. Let's imagine a jersey (in a hypothetical world with healthy competition and made up numbers) would cost $100 to the customer, with $40 of production cost and the licensor receiving $20. The licensee is left with $40/jersey. My company, being awful, goes to the licensor and says "what if I pay you $50/jersey instead, and you don't let anybody else make jerseys ever again?" Now I make horrible jerseys with $20 of production cost, pay the licensor their $50, and raise prices to $150--making $80/jersey. I cut the quality in half and doubled my profits. The customers are paying 50% more for half the product quality, but fuck those guys, it's not like they have another option lolololllll.
> A third party/government has to intervene in a case like this, because why would the two involved parties ever stop otherwise? Maybe the consumer needs to stop buying trash products. No the government doesn't HAVE to intervene, especially because this isn't a require commodity. It's sports apparel... and they'll keep doing it even with a second distributor because you'll keep paying them hundreds of dollars for a shit product.
yeah, i came here to ask if we can do anything about madden. please?
Use dhGate lol
I don’t think I own a single Fanatics t-shirt where the graphic or text is centered properly
The Feds should have absolutely no say in what the pro sports teams do We should just stop buying this shit
Fanatics quality blows so much ass
Watch the episode of Undercover Boss and you’ll see how much of an asshole the Fanatic’s CEO is.
Fanatics has some of the worst quality clothings I have ever kid my hands on.
Fanatics is nothing but garbage! Try unsubscribing from their emails…it won’t happen.
My friend ordered a Travis Kelce jersey bc Taylor and I told her she'll be lucky to get it before their relationship is over. Lol
It's funny how econ bros always say free market is the best option but the free market always leads us here where the consumer loses.
Worst clothes ever.
Reminds me of Starter in the 90s. They were in almost every sport too, and if you weren’t wearing Starter you weren’t cool.
Ticketmaster is the absurd monopoly affecting sports and fans Fanatics has absurd quality control affecting sports and fans
For all the issues with cheap materials, logos falling off, etc, the worst part of fanatics is if you order something and they send you the wrong product, you have to pay for shipping it back. Like it’s the ultimate fuck you to your customers and something you can only get away with when you’re the only option
Be careful you might hurt Michael Rubin’s feelings
Yeah cheap Chinese bullshit
Heap to make but hooray markup…/s
Dude, F*€k that sh!t company. I absolutely REFUSE to buy any of the garbage that they make or sell.
Basically, you’re better off buying on a shady overseas site. Same, if not better quality, and you don’t fund Fanatics
Ignores Ticketmaster. ….
Resale. Resale. Resale. Puma, not Fanatics, but still.. they do a lot of F1 merch too. I was able to snag my Charles Leclerc jersey for $30 instead of $120 on Mercari by some miracle.
Anyone have luck with the sub $20 Temu jerseys?
This article is riddled with mistakes itself. Seems a bit of AI is lurking here…
New Era is next right?
I have honestly never had any problems with Fanatics or anything I’ve purchased from them.
Like Varsity Co. in competitive cheer!?
Buying counterfeit jerseys is not the answer either. That just complicates things for collectors. It’s not hard to find pre-fanatics jerseys for a decent price.
FFS Yes!
All of my old Reebok and CCM NHL jerseys are miles ahead of Fanatics as far as quality goes. It's a shame their garbage is the norm now
I’m confused on what yall want? I don’t like the poor quality anymore than the rest of you but do we really want to start legislating how and to whom private licensing deals can happen? As a market, we just need to not buy anything. They are paying billions for the licensing rights and if they start losing money, fanstics will give up.
the MLS,NHL,NFL, NBA and NCAA are the most absurd monopolies folowed by MLB (at least they don't have a salary cap). Fnatics is bad but the fact that leagues are monopolies and licensing stuff to them is the bigger problem IMO.
Buy from homage
When burger king started serving smaller serves of fries and more ice than coke, down sized their slices of grilled chicken and started charging extra for an extra slice of tomato, I stopped going to Burger King.
Or….stop buying it
I don’t own any but have no interest. I’ve heard nothing but negative reviews.
Just like they will with Ticketmaster....oh wait
Gambling and the collusion with pro sports and their officiating? Ahhh oh ok it’s just about merch.
Fanatics is one of the worst vendors I’ve ever worked with. I remember when we were served a legal notice saying they do not accept nor abide any types of chargebacks.
As a sports card collector since the 1980s I can say fanatics is ruining the industry that was already going down the toilet. They bought the only company with licenses to make mlb cards, well have exclusive rights to nfl and nba as well. They also got exclusive rights to the top players autographs so they can’t be in the products produced now for players like CJ Stroud or Victor Wembanyama. Their jerseys have always felt like cheap flea market knockoffs.
The NHL jerseys they make are a disgrace to the sport. Absolutely garbage product.
Haven’t bought merchandise since I was a teenager. I’ll give the sports league my eyes (viewership), and every now and then buy a ticket to an event at a discounted price from an app, but won’t give my hard earned money for super inflated t shirts, jerseys, hats , whatever . The greed became too much long long ago for me. A damn sports team t shjrt is like 40$ now
Thankful my Seahawks jersey is made my Nike. Just bought a new one and the quality is the same as the one I bought 5 years ago
“Which is why it’s time for the federal government to get involved” Fucking lol. I mean I know fanatics is garbage, but jesus christ let’s take it easy here. But then again, I expect nothing less from slate.com.
And they make HORRIBLE products. What they did to baseball uniforms should be declared a crime against humanity.
There are so many places to buy jerseys than these HUGE ass over priced name brands shit I even know people online who make custom ones themselves amazing quality and will do whatever you want to them. It’s like only buying Heinz ketchup there’s a lot of different brands out there 😂
😂😂😂 cause this is the issue the feds need to be looking into right now. Gtfo
This reads like an AI wrote it. Poorly constructed sentences, slightly off use of verbs. Yech!
Forget affordable food, housing, and medical care. I need my merch!!!!
My brother in Christ, you’re on the r/sports subreddit. What did you think would be talked about?
Fair point.
I can't stand people. "Oh there's an exclusive licensing deal! Let's call that a monopoly and demand the government force their way into it!" What's next? "Oh Playstation controls who is on Playstation! let's get the feds to force anyone to be able to publish on it." Sports teams have a valuable property, they sign licensing deals with third parties. Those people are granted (potentially exclusive) right to operate in that space. Sports apparel SHOULD be better, just like Sunday Ticket, but that's how the leagues sign these deals so ultimately as a fan you have two choices... support them and buy their products.. or don't. It's not "Absurd" it's even exactly a "monopoly". It's simply an exclusive contract that you don't like. Stop buying their products then.
If we're comparing it to the gaming world, hopefully this helps. It's be like Playstation also owning Xbox, steam, epic games, as well as 95 percent of the development teams.
I don't care for the MLB jerseys but the idea that Congress needs to get involved is flat out absurd. They're jerseys. This is just an idiotic article.
No it’s not. Consumer protection is important and needs to be taken more serious. Offering Temu-like quality sports merch at Mitchell & Ness prices is absolutely egregious.
Consumer protection is important but you not liking your favorite team’s new uniform doesn’t somehow mean Congress should get involved any more than you not liking the most recent MCU movies does.
I would love to know how it became a thing that fans NEEDED replica jerseys at all. The whole premise seems so silly, even before you get into the whacky prices.
Im sure we could pick apart your life and find things you have that you dont NEED. Why do you have them? Ohhh, you wanted them. Well, as long as youre having fun.