Discount snowboard apparel

A property as white hot as the Chicago Bulls may send licensed T-shirts flying out of stores around the country, but jackets, slickers and vests decorated with college licenses and other alternatives to professional-league properties can offer a more meaningful business for retailers serving pockets of the country where other forms of sports entertainment are catching fire.

The latest trend for discounters in the college licensed segment is a "whole fashion approach," carrying higher price points and higher-margin apparel items, including polar fleece outerwear, pique knit shirts, nylon warm-up suits and even cotton golf sweater vests.

According to New York-based activewear supplier 20/20, 70% of its business is Ts and sweats, but this fall it will introduce a snowboard jacket, a polyurethane jacket and even a wool and leather jacket designed to hit a $100 price point.

For ShopKo, Venture, Duckwall-ALCO and other mass merchandising chains that serve the Midwest--where college sports reign supreme, especially in the absence of professional teams--licensed collegiatewear is roaring.

"In July, there will be more red and white in our Nebraska stores than you've ever seen," said Skip Chustz, senior vp, gmm, apparel for ShopKo, referring to the colors of the University of Nebraska. Nebraska is "next to God" in the eyes of consumers who live in the North Central region of the United States, merchants and manufacturers say. Nebraska is purchase 80% of the University of Nebraska licensed clothes, with the rest selling mainly in the Wisconsin markets of Green Bay and Madison.

Nebraska, a football powerhouse, is a prime example of a college license that is very important to consumers, said Jack Paul of 20/20, which has license agreements with 450 colleges. Notre Dame is still the biggest of the college properties he has license agreements with, he said. Other schools at the top of the list are Nebraska, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, University of Florida, Alabama and Texas.

For the Collegiate Licensing Company, Atlanta, a licensing agent for 160 schools that represents 2,000 manufacturers from assorted merchandise categories, Michigan is the hottest license. Outstanding teams, good color and graphics and a popularity that extends well beyond the borders of its state are some of the reasons for the team's strong fan following.

For discounter Duckwall-ALCO, college athletics are more meaningful than pro sports to customers in the chain's rural markets. Nebraska and Kansas school properties abound.

But for at least one regional that serves a market congested with both professional and collegiate sports activities, the power of straight collegiate licensing has run its course. Beginning in the fall Bradlees will close shop on its college team concept, opting to fold the category back into the overall healthy category of men's activewear.

Product licensed with properties from University of Connecticut and University of Massachusetts (big colleges in Bradlees' markets) sold well only in the stores located near the schools, an executive at the chain said.

The cross-licensing concept of a Loony Tunes character, for example, with a college property still has legs, the executive said, and apparel bearing "USA" or the five rings of the Olympics is moving well on a chainwide basis.

Other licensed product alternatives to pro sports properties that merchants should be on the lookout for is World Cup 1998 and, soon to be coming to the East Coast, the International Hockey League.

Whereas both minor- and major-league baseball properties have reportedly left a sour taste in the mouths of some retailers, manufacturers and consumers, perhaps alternatives like hockey and soccer may be able to pique interest and spending dollars.

The IHL, which is based on the underlying requirement that seats at its stadiums sell for less than $10, is a 50year-old league with arenas in 20 U.S. cities. It plans to enter the East Coast by the 1997-1998 season.

Wal-Mart has embraced the IHL for the 1996-1997 season and will provide gondolas or some floor space for the merchandise in all its stores, said Steven Roberts, vp of licensing and marketing for San Francisco-based Sony Signatures. His company obtained licensing rights for the property in October.

The IHL merchandise business as a whole rang up $25 million at retail, but Sony hopes to pump that up 25%. Sony, among other tactics, plans to cut its licensee base to 60 from 100 to better support its partners.

Top cities for sales currently are Chicago, Detroit, Orlando, Fla., and Grand Rapids, Mich. Stadiums will soon be arriving in Montreal and Manitoba, Canada. American Eagle, Nutmeg Mills and Logo 7 are a few apparel licensees that have signed onto the program.

The ink is not yet dry on IHL apparel licensee agreements, but Roberts intends to have two mass apparel suppliers and two headwear makers signed before long. Sony Signatures expects World Cup product revenues to hit more than $1 billion worldwide (sales projections for North America were unavailable).

Last is the still largely unsung sport of soccer, which 16 million kids play in formal leagues and which breaks gender and culture barriers, but still is not yet fully recognized in this country for its merchandising power.

Sony Signatures has obtained rights to the World Cup 1998 property and hopes to score big with it as 1998 approaches. With the World Cup already a win in markets dense with Hispanic and Italian enclaves, Sony Signatures hopes to continue to make the property a micromarketing tool where applicable (see niche marketing story on p. 38) and give the license mainstream treatment.

Sony has developed special retail programs with sponsors such as MasterCard and with the stores themselves (including the country's biggest discounters) to create consumer-oriented promotions.