# Championship Clothing for Losers - what happens to it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 14, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027 "2002-06-14T13:25:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/1 "2002-06-14T13:25:04Z")
This question came up in my mind again, with the NBA and NHL finals concluding this week (Go RedWings!) – what happens to the hats, shirts etc. that were produced assuming that the **other** team would win? ok - since neither set of finals went to game seven, maybe they didn’t print up items in advance this time, but what about other competitions? For the last few Super Bowls for example, the team that wins whips out the caps & shirts right after the game. Presumably the other team had the same items ready as well - do they just get tossed? How many get made up ahead of time - just enough for the team? I’m surprised none of these items end up on e-Bay as collector’s items - kind of like the “Dewey Wins!” newspaper headline. ---
**Author:** ![EphSooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@EphSooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EphSooner)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/2 "2002-06-14T14:40:46Z")
I have often wondered about this question myself, but I have seen only one such item. A friend of mine is a Chicago Cubs fan (poor sap) who proudly displays a pennant that says “Chicago Cubs World Series 1984.” Of course, because 1984 comes after World War II, the Cubs didn’t go to Series that year, losing to the Padres in the NLCS. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/3 "2002-06-14T15:07:12Z")
The markup on t-shirts is phenomenal. They usually just throw them out. I’ve also heard, anecdotally, that they send the stuff to Africa and other such out-of-the-way places as charity, where they’d rather have clothing than nothing and don’t even know it’s inaccurate. But again, never seen proof of that. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/4 "2002-06-14T19:10:23Z")
Actually, most of the clothing that makes it to the 3rd world is sold there, not given away. The NYTimes ran a piece on it a few months ago. A rather weird business. ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/5 "2002-06-14T19:17:13Z")
Most of it indeed does go to third world countries, where some of it is given to charity & some is sold. I actually think the various pro sports organizations have made it illegal for the losers as winners stuff to be sold, ie; there isn’t allowed to be any Carolina Hurricaines 2002 Stanley Cup Champions merchandise sold in stores or online. I believe this came about because of the situation a few years back when the Browns moved from Cleveland to Baltimore & stores in Charm City were selling Baltimore Browns merchandise, which got all the Cleveland yabos all to bleating and screeching, so Tagliabiue put a stop to it real quick. ---
**Author:** ![femtosecond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/6 "2002-06-14T20:27:21Z")
[What happens to the losers shirts?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=2625) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/7 "2002-06-14T23:13:45Z")
A former girlfriend was in Kenya working for the Peace Corps in 1978. In some pictures she sent to me were young tribe members wearing Seattle SuperSonic 1978 NBA Champions t-shirts. The Sonics lost the '78 NBA finals to the Washington Bullets. They did win the '79 finals though. ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/8 "2002-06-14T23:39:33Z")
They don’t produce much until the team wins the title. They probably make just enough for the team to wear on the court or ice or field. The minute the title is won they do start producing stuff very quickly. They work all night so they have a decent amount for sale the very next day. They hire a bunch of different companies to produce it so they can get a lot produced in a short time. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/9 "2002-06-15T01:45:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by YWalker \* > **They probably make just enough for the team to wear on the court or ice or field.** They make a bit more than that. I went to the NCAA Men’s finals once upon a time. As soon as the game ended, the merchandise booths had all the official “Kentucky NCAA Champions” merchandise for sale, and people were buying them like crazy. They probably sold 5000 shirts in 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/10 "2002-06-15T02:30:57Z")
I have also an seen example where they took the shirts for the losing team and wrote “choked” on their championship t-shirt. Then they tried to sell those shirts to the fans of the rival teams. This happened when the UNC BB team lost the NCAA title game. I guess if a team is a heavy favorite a company could go ahead and produce a lot of shirts ahead of time and take the risk that the shirts will get thrown away. ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/11 "2002-06-15T02:35:36Z")
make that last post “I have also seen an example …” ---
**Author:** ![ratty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@ratty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratty)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/12 "2002-06-15T08:03:01Z")
Going to third-world countries is true. I’ve spent time in Africa, especially in Kenya and Tanzania, and there were actually a lot of people wearing sports apparel featuring losing teams. My favorite, due to hometown fervor, was a little kid I saw wearing a Phillies '93 World Series Champions shirt. (They lost to the Blue Jays.) Maybe the shirts are sold there, but I didn’t see any in the markets. I know someone in the Peace Corps who says they’ve gotten donations of such stuff before. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/13 "2002-06-16T04:20:12Z")
I used to have an item like this and didn’t know it. Once I found a basketball just laying in the street. It was purple and gold and said Lakers on it. On the other side it said something like “Back To Back To Back NBA Champions”. I found it about 10 years ago, so it must have been made just before the Lakers lost the 1989 NBA Championship. I lived in San Diego and didn’t follow the NBA at the time, so I didn’t know about any of that until recently, and the ball itself is long gone. You never know what’s sitting around in some warehouse. The 99 Cent Store here in Burbank has Live Aid t-shirts, and has had them for ages. The front shows the logo and the back says “This Shirt Saves Lives”. I’d get one, but all they have is medium. ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/championship-clothing-for-losers-what-happens-to-it/114027/14 "2002-06-16T06:52:08Z")
After an Alamo bowl game there was a white tent out in front of the stadium with about 7-10 people standing in front of these silk screen press things (I have no idea what you call them- they looked like irons you see at the dry cleaner) cranking out t-shirts with the winner’s name on them. Each person was producing a pile of t-shirts and seemed to be keeping up with demand. I figure if a few people can make that many shirts in a few minutes, then a big factory (or a few factories) can certainly make enough for everyone by the next day, meaning they probably don’t have to make that many before hand. I work for a charitable organization in Texas and have seen a lot of donated athletic related clothing. Half of it is championship stuff produced by unlicenced vendors that got confiscated. We also have a couple of factories that donate to us, but I personally have never seen a “loser” championship shirt.