The drop in ultimate sales is driving the creation of a new gaming brand.
October 26, 2020 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with 0 comments
Facing a protracted sales drop in the ultimate market, Spin Ultimate has launched Spin Gaming, a new esports apparel brand.
“It’s a market I have always wanted to get into because it’s interesting, it’s creative, it’s exploding, and there’s a ton of money in it,” said Spin owner Dan Konisky.
Konisky had long considered trying to get involved with esports, an industry whose net worth is now estimated at over $1 billion, but didn’t have time to launch a new brand. “Now we have nothing but time,” he said, as the near complete shutdown of ultimate competition has dropped Spin’s revenues more than 80% since March.
The new apparel line is marketed differently, but the website is very similar and many of the product options are the same. “The gear is very similar to what we already offer,” said Konisky. “So the idea is take this platform of apparel that we already have and adapt it for gaming.” Jerseys, hoodies, polos, hats, and, in 2020, face masks are all popular items in both gaming and ultimate.
Other ultimate apparel companies have also increasingly diversified outside of ultimate. XII Brands’ Savage Apparel Company has been involved in disc golf, Spikeball, quidditch, and other niche sports for years now. VC Ultimate has been more seriously entering the disc golf market in recent months.
Spin hopes to gain from that diversification as well. The Esports industry is many times the size of ultimate’s, so gaining even a tiny percentage of market share could drive significant sales.
Konisky said that Spin has done some occasional college esports team orders in the past because a player on the team also played ultimate and was aware of the brand. Some similar connections have led to interest in new Spin Gaming gear, but the company plans to sponsor esports tournaments, advertise on Twitch, and pursue customers who have never heard of their brand.
It was clear to Konisky that Spin had to try to blaze a new trail. “It’s obvious the company can’t survive just waiting for ultimate to come back, so we had to do something different,” he said.
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