Teespring hits the big leagues with #MyCityMyTeam launch
A start-up commerce platform company Teespring has moved quickly into the big leagues this year and last week announced the launch of #MyTeamMyCity today, a limited-edition collection in collaboration with the National Football League (NFL) featuring officially licensed apparel designed by more than 30 major musical artists.
The collection was created for fans of a specific NFL team who are also fans of that particular music artist. Teespring has partnered with the NFL since August 2015. Since then, Teespring has created, sold, and produced thousands of unique designs that combine officially licensed NFL team logos and marks with locations, family affinities, professions, hobbies and other interests.
"Teespring, together with the NFL are empowering a select group of leading music artists to showcase their love of football in new ways," "#MyTeamMyCity offers NFL fans unique, officially licensed apparel that expresses their support for their favorite music artists, teams, and cities," said Walker Williams, Teespring Co-Founder and CEO.
More than 4m people in the US bought things from Teespring last year, according to Business Insider. It has expanded beyond T-shirts into other kinds of clothes. In late September, Teespring began an expansion into Europe, and in August it struck its evolving licensing deal with the NFL.
The 30 artists who will have limited edition products through Teespring include Dierks Bentley, Eminem, Fall Out Boy, Fergie, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Mraz, KISS, Linkin Park, Mac Miller, One Republic, and many more celebrating their favorite NFL teams.
The NFL deal is particularly significant. In the early days of Teespring, clever sellers flooded the platform with bootleg sports gear, much of which slipped through the cracks. Teespring itself made money on this. But instead of trying to sue Teespring out of existence, the NFL has decided to partner with it.
Amazon seems to have recognized this as well, and it has launched its own Teespring competitor: Merch by Amazon. "Merch by Amazon is an on-demand service that enables you to create, sell, and promote your custom branded T-shirts with no out-of-pocket costs to you," the website reads.
"We want to give all NFL fans – including those who are musicians and entertainers – the opportunity to express their team pride creatively," added Williams. "By collaborating with the NFL and top music artists we're innovating in officially licensed apparel and helping fans engage with their teams and local communities in a new way."