Team Insight

OMG Unveils Live Inventory Feed OrderMyGear, which last year entered into a groundbreaking technology partnership with the Sports Inc. buying group, also recently launched its Live Inventory feed built from partner- ships with Under Armour, Adidas, Augusta Sportswear Brands, SanMar and Founder Sport Group. Team dealers who use OrderMyGear for their group online stores now have the abil- ity to see direct inventory feeds from those brands, simplifying their store building process, allowing them to fill stores with healthy-inventory products and proactively replace low-inventory products. OrderMyGear expects the Live Inventory feed to increase the volume of product sold through the platform while reducing the amount of backorder problems that occur in the ordering and ful- fillment process. Also late last year, OrderMyGear promoted Matt Kaplan to senior VP–revenue. In this newly created role, Kaplan oversees the acquisition of new business, manages the success of the more than 2500 OrderMyGear clients, continues to build rela- tionships with industry partners and implements operational effi- ciencies. He now reports directly to CEO Dave Dutch. McCrite Partners With Rebel Rebel Athletic and Eric McCrite Company (EMC) have entered into a partnership and distribu- tion plan that makes EMC the first and exclusive distributor of Rebel Athletic shoes and bags, including the Rebel Dream Bag, through its dealer networks and Amazon. EMC will receive the first containers of Rebel product this month and is exploring specialty run items on future production with Rebel. SanMar Unveils Recycled T SanMar has introduced its District Re-Tee made from 100 percent recycled fabric. The T-shirt is never re-dyed and is made from reclaimed material that may have otherwise ended up in a landfill. The District Re-Tee is composed of 60 per- cent recycled cotton scraps and 40 percent recycled polyester, derived from used items such as plastic bottles. Each T-shirt's color comes from its original cotton scraps and is blended with recycled polyester yarn, so it never has to be re-dyed. This pro- cess makes for a soft, comfortable and high-quality T-shirt. PHIT Act Nabs 100th Co-Sponsor Late last year Congressman Cedric Richmond (D-LA) became the 100th co-sponsor of the Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT) Act. The bill, which allows Americans to use HSAs and FSAs to pay for activity- related expenses, has garnered strong bipartisan support in the House (44D-43R) and Senate (5D- 8R) since it was introduced in March 2019. Congressmen Ron Kind (D-WI) and Mike Kelly (R-PA) serve as the lead sponsors of the PHIT Act in the House and Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) are leading the effort in the Senate. Ellsworth Named At Stahls' Josh Ellsworth has been pro- moted to senior VP–dealer and enterprise sales at GroupeStahl. Ellsworth, who started with Stahls' in 1998, was most recently VP–sales, dealer channel and prior to that he served as the gen- eral manager for Stahls' CAD-CUT Direct. SanMar Names Two VPs SanMar Corporation has promoted Brian Thompson from director of distribution to VP–distribution and Shelley Williams from creative director to VP–marketing. Thompson is a Navy veteran who has worked at SanMar for over 25 years. His extensive tenure at SanMar includes vari- ous roles within the company, from the call center to working on the Inside Sales team to his most recent position as senior director of distribution. Williams joined SanMar in the 2019 after having worked for more than 20 years in creative and marketing roles at compa - nies such as Alaska Airlines and Disney. Girls' Flag A Georgia Varsity Sport The Georgia High School Association is making girls' flag football a sanctioned sport in high schools throughout the state this year. The decision comes following the Atlanta Falcons and The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation's commitment and support of girls' high school flag football over the past two years. According to a report in The Georgia Sun, in response to the low number of girls' sports offered in Georgia in 2018, the Atlanta Falcons and the Blank Foundation approached Gwinnett County Public Schools, the larg- est county in Georgia, to pilot and fully fund a girls' high school flag football program with each of their 19 high schools. As a result, hundreds of girls tried out in the first year, bringing the attention of other schools to the program. In 2020, all Georgia high schools will be able to select girls' flag football as a chosen sport for their schools. n LETTER TO THE EDITOR Curt Mueller Remembered I just finished reading your reflections on the passing of Curt Mueller (November/December 2019 Team Insight) and wanted to comment as well. I've been a buyer here at Big 5 since 1995 and sports medicine was one of the first categories I bought. I came to know Ginger Mueller and her father, Curt, while buying the category and your passage brought back a flood of memories. It's true there will never be another Curt Mueller. He couldn't exist in our # world. I'll never forget visiting the "compound" for a few days before the old NSGA show in Chicago. What a weekend! I'll never forget sitting by the pool early in the morning after a night of debauchery, swilling the hair of the dog with Dennis Weiss (then a DM for Modell's). Out comes Curt from his bedroom stark naked. He jumps on the diving board, dives in the pool, does 25 laps, then climbs out of the pool and heads off on his Harley-Davidson to the office to put in a full day's work (he was clothed by this time). I remember when we used to do a product information expo and Curt showed up in his high school baseball uniform. Pretty amazing how he stayed in shape his entire life. He was something else! Thanks for the article on this true icon of the sports medicine world. It brought back many memories of the old days. Bob Slack Merchandise Buyer Big 5 Corp. END ZONE teaminsightmag.com January/February 2020 ~ Team Insight 49

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