The "best NFL merch" currently is being made by a Minneapolis-based company called Football As Football, "a group of folks that have nothing to do with the league whatsoever," according to James Montgomery of ROLLING STONE. The six-person team of designers "set out to combine their love of football" with soccer. Football as Football "has expanded to include a line of hyper-stylized T-shirts, prints and stationary, which reimagines NFL franchises" as European soccer clubs in the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A. That expansion "has helped raise their profile," as their logos were used during Fox' broadcast of the Oct. 26 Falcons-Lions game in London. But "more importantly," the expanded line "proved that there are NFL fans out there who want something more than just an oversized jersey." The company has "managed to avoid the long (and litigious) arm of the NFL ... mainly because they've refrained from using any trademarked material." But they "know that their business model could change in an instant" because the league "has been watching." Football As Football Designer Garrick Willhite said, "Officially, we haven't heard from them. But we look at analytics and we see different football clubs who have looked at the site, and people at Nike who have looked at the site. We think it would be awesome to work with the NFL on licensing, but we also know they could shut us down tomorrow. We would love for people to wear these shirts to games, but we don't want to get a cease-and-desist letter." Willhite said that he has "been contacted by several universities about designing logos for their soccer teams" (ROLLINGSTONE.com, 11/7).
