Penguins Merchandise Flies Off Shelves After Stanley Cup Victory

Stanley Cup Champs T-Shirts Among Top Selling Penguins Items

BLUE LINE SPECIAL: Pittsburgh-based retail store Mike Feinberg Company Owner Marcia Hellman said, "Saturday, when we opened the doors, they were flying in; we had championship t-shirts. We couldn't keep them in stock." Hellman said that she has "doubled in her sales of hockey merchandise since the Pens Cup run" (KDKA.com, 6/15). Pittsburgh-area J.C. Penney Sales Manager Traci Kral said that the official Penguins locker room T-shirts were "hot items, as were children's shirts." Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Liz Hayes noted the Steelers' February win in Super Bowl XLIII "prepared local retailers for the crush of customers looking for Pittsburgh Penguins gear on Saturday" (VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH, 6/14).

BEHIND THE GEAR: YAHOO SPORTS' Greg Wyshynski detailed the creation of the '09 Stanley Cup Champions merchandise. When the process began several months ago, "all the NHL and Reebok had was 'the coolest trophy in sports' as a starting point." The development of championship hats and shirts "from concept to the shelves of retail stores [Saturday] morning was challenging and complicated." There are "plenty of mysteries in this process; many of them are solved in taking a look at the step-by-step journey of the 2009 Stanley Cup champions gear from Reebok." After "general conceptualization of the gear is complete, the details start falling into place; as in what it will be built from and how to make it attractive to the eye." Despite the "tug-of-war over marketing and publicity that occurs between the NHL and NHLPA at times," NHL VP/Consumer Products Jim Haskins said that the league "has a 'tacit agreement' with the players that they'll wear the gear after the game." Haskins: "They do benefit from the sale of the goods through the terms of the CBA. They're a part of the business" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/13).

Print This Article