Fanatics unveiled its on-ice NHL uniforms on Wednesday, a landmark moment for the company that’s taken on new urgency in the last few months.
Embroiled in the mess that became Nike’s new MLB jerseys, Fanatics appears to have taken deliberate steps to avoid many of the same pitfalls as it designed its first authentic player-worn uniforms. The company visited every NHL locker room at least once this year, solicited feedback from more than 100 players, and is actively using the sport’s biggest names to help debut the product.
There were seven NHL All-Stars quoted in the embargoed press release, with six others specifically mentioned as having tested the jerseys, including Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Connor Bedard and Nikita Kucherov. Nike, by contrast, announced its MLB jerseys in February with a more limited series of player endorsements. NHLPA head Marty Walsh was also quoted praising Fanatics’ process, a stark contrast to the Nike-MLB controversy, where MLBPA head Tony Clark has been among Nike’s biggest critics. The NHL jersey release coincided with a behind-the-scenes video narrated by longtime hockey announcer Mike “Doc” Emrick.
Fanatics notably went conservative at the start of its 10-year agreement with the NHL, opting for subtle changes as opposed to any dramatic redesigns. When it signed on to be the next on-ice jersey provider, Michael Rubin’s company contracted with the same Montreal factory that has made the NHL uniforms for almost 50 years, and it hired a number of executives who had worked on earlier iterations.
One of them is Keith Leach, who’d worked with all three of the prior NHL on-ice partners: CCM, Reebok and Adidas. Leach said in an interview that the Fanatics process stood out for its collaborative approach. He added that observing Nike’s MLB experience “amplified and reinforced the communication” between Fanatics and various NHL stakeholders.
“This is probably the most coordinated effort from the beginning to the end,” Leach, vice president and GM of Fanatics’ NHL business, said in an interview. “With players, equipment managers, the NHLPA, all aligned out of the gate, versus maybe work being done and presented along the way.”
This is an important moment for Fanatics. It makes the MLB uniforms on behalf of Nike, and it drew a lot of criticism earlier this year despite not being involved in the design. “We’re getting the shit kicked out of ourselves every day,” Rubin said in March as the controversy was at its peak.
That online vitriol emboldened another vocal group of detractors, who dislike the company’s omnipresence and don’t hesitate to point out some of its high-profile product missteps. With all that in the background, the NHL uniforms have become a high-leverage moment for the company’s reputation among sports fans.
Fanatics and the NHL announced the 10-year jersey deal in March of last year, and the company was soliciting feedback from players and team personnel “within days,” Leach said. One piece of feedback that stood out: Many around the league complained that the fabric on the elbow and lower sleeve often ripped due to friction burns from the boards. Fanatics chose to reinforce the fabric on the jersey arms to try to increase their durability.
Two teams—the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils—tested the new elbow fabric on the ice last summer, Leach said. Earlier this year, Fanatics went back to every team’s locker room to show them their club’s specific versions. They also showed a redesigned practice jersey.
One major difference between the Nike-MLB redesign and the Fanatics-NHL one: scale of change. Nike fundamentally altered the material, the fit and the tailoring available to athletes. And it took many of the players by surprise. Fanatics has chosen to keep the material, the sizing and the fit basically identical to what players have been wearing for years.
To most fans, the actual changes will be subtle. The shoulder dimples that Adidas added are gone, and after conversations with the NHL (a Fanatics investor), Fanatics added a hologram finish to the league crest on the front collar. The biggest change is likely the fact that fans can now buy the actual authentic on-ice jerseys worn by players, a practice that Reebok abandoned in 2014 and Adidas never attempted. (Since then, fans wanting on-ice jerseys had to buy game-worn ones at team auctions, strip the names/numbers and customize them themselves, a process that could easily cost upwards of $1,000.)
Of course, the logo is also different. Fanatics built its business on fan gear, and while it has made performance product in the past—starting with an earlier version of its NHL partnership—this is by far its biggest foray into that world, traditionally dominated by shoe brands like Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Under Armour.
Leach said the extension into on-field jerseys helps the company market all of its products by giving Fanatics a presence in every aspect of sports, what he called a “360-degree story.”
“You’ll see that from all of our marketing communications and advertising,” Leach said. “We’re telling a true authentic story that connects to the players and coaches from their uniforms through everything they train in, recover in and travel in.”
