Team Insight

our customers," he says. "e way to combat is to make sure your customers know ordering deadlines. We send them a chart of when they need to make sure everything is ordered by to ensure their in-hands date is met. So, an 'order by' date for singlets, screenprint/embroidered stock items and blank stock/hardgoods. is seems to help a lot and at least helps keep the blame from coming back to you if deadlines aren't hit." Wrestling is a key category for 2 the Tee Outfitters in York, PA, with Pennsylvania consistently ranking as the top state producing the most college wrestlers. Owner Chris Markey notes that wrestling recovered a tad slower from the pandemic than many the other major team sports, but is now seeing healthy sales growth largely thanks to increased girls' participation. "Every high school team pretty much has a girls' team," he says. One challenge with wrestling, according to Markey, is competing with many wrestling brands going direct online. Several brands, such as Rudis and Myhouse, have become major sponsors of star athletes and tournaments to help establish followings with wrestlers. 2 the Tee Outfitters is still oen able to secure sales in singlets and fight shorts because his team is able to supply more embellishment needs, including screenprinting, heat press and heat transfer vinyl, than online sellers. Relationships also still count and some programs trust their local dealer to service their needs. "If they have to call over a problem, at least they can get someone and know somebody's working on it," Markey points out. Markey further notes that beyond the com- paratively short wrestling high school season that runs from mid-November through February or March, wrestling offers a year-long opportunity with many clubs available as many wrestlers solely commit to the sport. "ere are people that do two sports, but when you're a wrestler, it's a different world. When you're a wrestler, you're a wrestler." At Misko Sports, based in Kearney, NB, the addition of girls' wrestling at the high school level has trickled down to create opportunities at the middle school and club level for girls while also feeding an increase in boys' wrestling as well. "e strongest area of growth in wrestling is women's wrestling; the numbers don't lie," says owner Russ Staton. "Our state just this year adopted a second class of girls' wrestling. We now have four classes of boys and two classes of girls. With that we have seen an uptick of purchases, especially on the women's side as schools continue to add it at the high school level which then in turn adds it at the middle school level. I would say 80 percent of our sales are school driven when it comes to wrestling." Colin Pfeiffer, who heads up team sales for Misko Sports, says that customized gear continues to be popular sellers for kids and coaches, across singlets, gear bags or screen- printed apparel. Footwear continues to be a challenge due to pricing. Pfeiffer adds that one of the biggest challenges is online sellers touting less-expensive options. "Trying to get the customer to understand that with price comes quality is always a challenge," he explains. "Usually, a coach will go to one of those companies and buy a product and come back to us very quickly aer a year or two. Some customers we lose entirely because price is always a driving factor." Meanwhile, Medallion Sports, in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, sells headgear and some singlets largely to high schools, but the major wrestling opportunity in selling trophies around tour- naments. Similar to other dealers, the growth is being driven by increased participation in women's wrestling. "ere's heated interest in girls wrestling," points out manager Kevin Licata. "e recent turnout for tryouts at a couple of the local high schools around here was enormous. I just took an awards order the other day for a girls' wrestling tournament and now I'm doing more awards for the girls than I am for the boys." Benny Oliver, a sales rep for MRG Hauff based in Omaha, NE, says his wrestling busi- ness has picked up with the addition of girls' wrestling that also seems to be providing a boost to boys' participation. "I know it doesn't really directly correlate, but I definitely think the addition of women's wrestling is helping growth in general," he says. Oliver likewise cites online sellers among his challenges in selling the wrestling category, pointing out that many of them are spending "massive, massive amounts on marketing" and it's critical for reps to develop relationships. "It's boots on the ground, visiting and meeting coaches," says Oliver. "Most people still like the personal connection." Oliver further agrees that while turnaround times with sublimated products can cause delays, a local dealer is oen better positioned to service accounts when problem arise. "With an online seller, you oen have to wait on hold until you get to get a real person. It's just a phone call to us," he points out. "As the rep, I then have to go to my vendors, so sometimes it's not beautiful. But at least my customer feels like I'm getting a problem solved as quickly and efficiently as possible." Andy Nickerson, owner of Wight's Sporting Goods in Hampden, ME, sees a smaller oppor- tunity in wrestling as many schools in Maine still don't have a program. "Some communities are very vibrant with wrestling, but others don't have much of a program," he points out. "It's hit or miss within different communities. We sell it and we enjoy selling it, but it's not a large category for us just due to the nature of participation in our state." n teaminsightmag.com

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