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Nostalgia Jerseys, Future Plans

Nostalgia may be in the name of Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co., but the executive team isn’t resting on history.

While the clothing firm, best known for its authentic vintage jerseys, is based in Philadelphia, it has a West Coast outpost in Irvine that includes CEO Kevin Wulff, former head of Asics America Group.

It’s now looking at expansion with a focus on boosting sales to women, trend-driven consumers and international regions like Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

“We’ve got aggressive growth plans,” he said.

The apparel firm has been linked with the NFL since 1933 when it supplied uniforms to the Philadelphia Eagles. It has since grown within the sports licensed retro authentic apparel and headwear sector, working with elite pro leagues. 

After Wulff and private equity firm Juggernaut Capital Partners swooped in to buy the 115-year-old brand for an undisclosed sum in 2016, the company opened its Irvine office. It had to set up new systems for warehousing and distribution.

“We’re really a brand new company, but we inherited a brand,” Wulff said from a showroom in the company’s Irvine office. “So we’ve taken care of all those unsexy operational things and 2020, we really think, is going to be our most exciting year.”

Big Industry

The U.S. sportswear market will grow 5.5% next year to $129.5 billion, according to research firm Statista.

Mitchell & Ness, a privately held business, doesn’t disclose financial information; Crunchbase pegs its annual revenue at about $140 million.

Wulff previously led Japan-based Asics Corp.’s Asics America Group in Irvine, taking it from $680 million in sales to over $1 billion in 2014. He was also CEO at San Diego-based Pony International and clocked time at Nike Inc. and Miller Brewing Co.

“I can’t understate that the key to success wherever I’ve been, whether I was at Nike or Asics or hopefully now at Mitchell & Ness, is great teams,” Wulff said.

“Great teams in this industry are how you win.”

If Wulff sounds more like an athlete or coach talking mid-huddle, that’s because he is.

The CEO played a little bit of everything growing up in Iowa, narrowing his focus to volleyball and basketball as he got older.

“I was never a marquee athlete, but I was an athlete. I competed at whatever level I was playing and our people [at Mitchell & Ness] have that same feeling, so what can we do better?” Wulff said. “Being a great competitor is constantly working on your weaknesses and turning those into strengths.”

Nostalgia’s Appeal

Mitchell & Ness is a business that began as a sporting goods retailer, but became known for its ability—and the license—to recreate authentic vintage jerseys for Major League Baseball, National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Collegiate Athletic Association, and Major League Soccer.

Wulff said that kind of toe-hold comes with the ability to tell stories through apparel, such as why Kobe Bryant wore a particular patch on a uniform or what Larry Bird wore when he won his first NBA title.

“It’s a revered brand within the industry,” he said. “A brand that’s stayed premium since 1904 that has never been tarnished is very hard to find.”

Certainly, there are plenty of fashion brands on the market today that make themselves look old and nostalgic, but not as many of them actually are, Wulff pointed out.

Good examples of that would be Herschel Supply Co., which is said to be shopping for a buyer, and private equity and brand management company Bedrock Manufacturing Co.’s Shinola, maker of upscale leather goods, watches and bicycles.

Storied History

Mitchell & Ness is now leveraging its storied history and weaving it into new ones with some of streetwear’s buzziest names, including Kith, Clot and BAPE. An authentic Lakers jersey from the BAPE collaboration was recently being resold in online resale marketplace StockX for $850. The original price was $399.

The basketball shorts with Kith, in the Miami colorway that retailed for $225, had a recent StockX asking price of $500.

If hype and resale value is any measure, it would seem there’s plenty of room to run with the more fashion-forward endeavors.

The existing brand has already gotten the business into nearly 2,000 stores, such as Lids, Foot Locker, Footaction and sporting venues, plus a direct-to-consumer channel that boasts an online site and flagships in Philadelphia, London, Los Angeles and the recently opened factory outlet at Citadel Outlets in Commerce.

Wulff said he could see opening one or two more stores in the next 12 months.

To build on the momentum is the Energy division, which was formed two years ago in Irvine to help Mitchell & Ness boost its branded product in the form of high-end collaborations, as well as new designs set to roll out to the U.S. market in March.

The branded business has already gotten teeth in Europe, where it’s now 30% of that region’s sales. Asia, where the branded product has been for only a year, already accounts for about 10% to 12% of sales in that region. In the U.S., branded is about 5%, resulting from the capsule releases, but that’s expected to lift once the new designs hit the States.

A deal struck with directional Los Angeles boutique Fred Segal—a retailer that’s served as a launching pad for emerging brands—will bring a Mitchell & Ness pop-up to Hollywood at its flagship on Sunset and La Cienega boulevards when Major League Soccer season and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game roll through. New product will be released daily across a roughly six-week period at Fred Segal.

Women Too

And then there’s the elusive women’s market that’s currently seen as a boon by many athletic companies, now pumping plenty into female designers, better fits and more fashionable offerings. And so too will Mitchell & Ness with products actually aimed at women, using the right fit models for the right sizing.

“Most companies in the licensed side of the business simply pink it and shrink it,” Wulff said of how women’s has historically been approached. “We feel women’s has been underdeveloped, underpenetrated and is a great opportunity.”

He noted bookings for January through March for the first season of women’s “have already been very, very strong.”

Growing Headcount

Strength and traction across initiatives have helped the companywide headcount to double with Irvine—totaling over 40—growing at a faster clip than what had originally been expected. A move to larger space within the city is now imminent.

“A lot of us who work here, we’re former athletes and we view the sign of a great competitor as always working on your weaknesses and building on those weaknesses to make them strengths,” Wulff said. “That competitive attitude that we have as an employee base we’re always thinking of how we’re going to get better: improvement, improvement, improvement. That’s how we operate.”

So does Wulff think athletes have a leg up in the business world?

“Yeah, we’re partial,” he said smiling. “Even at Nike, there’s an old saying that it wasn’t one athlete, one advertising campaign or one product, but it was a unique way that competitive people could work together to always improve and to do great things.

“We’re not saying you need to be an athlete to work here, but it’s that competitive spirit. It’s the culture.”

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