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Marketing and Sponsorship

Tattoo Artist: Cleveland Company Teams Up With Cavs' Smith For Special T-Shirts

Cleveland-based T-shirt company Fresh Brewed Tees has "struck a deal" with Cavaliers G J.R. Smith and one of the tattoo artists who decorated part of his body so the company "could sell a front and back tattooed shirt that matches Smith," according to Marcia Pledger of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. It all "started as a joke, but then social media took over." That is when Fresh Brewed Tees Owner Tony Madalone "thought he'd be crazy not to try to capitalize on the interest." He did not know Smith "until this past weekend." Madalone said, "We did a mock-up of what the shirt would look like as a joke and it went viral." Madalone's Thursday tweet of the mock-up, which featured the tattoos on the front of Smith's body on a shirt, "garnered 6,400 retweets on Twitter, and 7,000 likes on Instagram." Madalone's 7-year-old business "has partnerships with both the Cavs and the Indians" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 6/28). ESPN.com's Darren Rovell noted Madalone called Smith's marketing team at New Generation Management to "see if a deal could be struck." New Generation co-Founder Andrew Hoenig said, "People were talking about how he didn't have his shirt on in Las Vegas, and then he comes off the plane with no shirt and social media explodes. And it continues when he doesn't wear a shirt to the parade, and then Obama calls him out. So there's no argument that J.R.'s shirtless streak isn't a part of this championship story." Madalone: "It's going to do well, but the truth is, we would have been happy to have broken even here." The shirts "are made out of polyester" and cost $34.99 (ESPN.com, 6/27).

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