Sporting KC on Thursday afternoon unveiled its in-house-designed Sporting Club Brand fashion line -- a venture that the club hopes will amount to 10% of its merchandise revenue within the next few months. The lifestyle line, which will be sold online and at Sporting Park, is heavily focused toward non-athletic women's wear with launch items such as dolman sleeve tops and tanktops. The men's portion of the line features items like cardigans and Henley shirts. Items will initially range from $30-65, though more expensive apparel could be in the pipeline once the club's fall line is rounded out. SKC VP/Stadium & Brand Revenues John Moncke said by the end of the holiday season, the club hopes the line will have brought in an amount in the six-figure range. The line is completely unaffiliated with league licensee adidas. Moncke said it furthers the club's aspirations to be vertically integrated so that, in a line like this, it controls everything from the design to the marketing to the production to retail. He added that the club will see how initial feedback is before debuting new items in about four to five weeks, but cold-weather classics like sweaters are in the offing. The line has been in the works since SKC rebranded in '11. Moncke: "This is a big deal for the ownership group. It's not often that they ask me to do something, but this is an idea that's been germinating for a while."
