Subway Series T-Shirts

[DAVEW0071]

I went to do a service at a Sports Authority on Wednesday morning. They had a table by the register with Mets and Yankees hats saying "2000 NLCS (or ALCS) Pennant winners" or some such. They also were in the process of putting on display crates full of Subway Series T-shirts and sweatshirts. This was less than 12 hours after the Yankees had assured there would be a subway series.

It got me thinking. Obviously, designs are done fairly early, and some production is started on, say, Monday, just before the Mets clinched the NL pennant and it looked real promising for the Yanks.

What's the lead time on stuff like this? It's a small market, since very few shirts (if any) will be marketed outside the Metro NY area. So production can be relatively small. Shipping isn't even a concern.

But here's my real question: What if the Yankees hadn't won? What do they do, just eat this stuff and declare it as a loss? Try to make up the difference by jacking the price a buck on NJDevils or Knicks shirts? Send the lot off to an orphanage in some third world country and write it off on their taxes?

I'm really curious about this. Anyone with experience in this area? I don't mind speculation, but I truly want an answer, so if anyone knows what companies do in these circs, chime in.

[AWB]

My wife worked for a print shop in Arlington, VA, right across the river from DC. In 1996, her shop got the job of printing all the Presidential Inauguration Committee's stationery: envelopes, letterhead, notepads, etc. But they wanted the stuff as soon as the winners were evident. So there was a complete set with "Clinton-Gore" in the logo and one with "Dole-Kemp". Assumedly, the D-K stuff got tossed into the recycle bin.

I jokingly asked her to pull a set of prints from both sets; that the losing side's stuff might become a valuable collectable. But she said no. Damn, why'd I have to marry such an ethical woman!? :D:D

So, to the OP: The t-shirt makers probably made a relatively small batch of them, along with a small batch of prints had the non-NY team won their series, just to get through the inital buying craze the next day.

If these T's are like the ones sold at street vendors in DC, they're probably super-cheap to make, but marked up quite a bit. (There are vendors here that sell T's for 3 for $10, so they gotta be cheap to make.)

[DAVEW0071]

OK, I understand that their production costs are not astronomical, but I don't think that answers my question. T-shirts and sweatshirts are not stationery that can be recycled at virtually no loss.

Also, since Sports Authority is a fairly large concern (and not the only one to sell sports-related clothing) there had to be a few million of these things made, even on a speculative first run.

Mark-up notwithstanding, that's a lot of money to just shoot in the breeze, and a Mets-Mariners series wouldn't have engendered the same frantic merchandising frenzy that a Mets-Yankees series would/did.

The question for me is still: What would have happened to all this subway series apparel if it had fallen through?

[delphica]

This is all second-hand information, but for what it's worth ...

my mom works for a paper printing company housed in the same building as a t-shirt and hat printing company. In the past, this shirt company has done runs of shirts before the game was played ... if the outcome is not as expected, the shirts are THROWN AWAY. Other employees in the area have been invited to take them if they so wish, but the bulk of the shirts are simply discarded. The cost of the shirts is so low, that it is more economical for the company to make them and toss them rather than risk being behind in orders after the home team wins the big game.

They also print all night following a play-off game or whatever, so that by the next morning there is an impressive supply of such shirts.

So in the case of the subway series, I would speculate that the company both printed some shirts before the outcome was known, and, as soon as it was known, went into production overdrive to increase the numbers of shirts.

[DAVEW0071]

Thanks, del. Makes sense to me, anyway, especially if the shirts are dirt cheap to produce. Of course, this doesn't stop them from being sold at $19.95 a pop.