Champion’s on the Rise
Thomas Knoke
Champion or Champion U.S.A. is an American manufactured clothing line that has specialized in sportswear since the year it was established, in 1919 by Simon Feinbloom and his two sons Abraham and William in Rochester, New York. Champion is a subsidiary to the major establishment of HanesBrands Inc. Champion was really popular starting in the years of 1980’s and 90’s when they made uniforms for every single basketball team in the NBA along with some NFL teams and some major colleges. One of its most defining moments was when it supplied the 1992 USA basketball “Dream Team” there uniforms during the Barcelona Olympics. In the article “How Champion Became One of the Coolest Brands Around --- Again”, Manny Martinez, Champion’s global brand ambassador stated, "You didn't even have to put it [Champion] on racks back then, stores would crack open a box and just put the box out and the people would buy it out of the box.” But soon after Champion’s peak in the 1990’s it seemed as though they had dropped off the face of the planet. People weren’t flooding stores to buy Champion anymore. Through the years of 1990-2000 demand for Champion products decreased tremendously, meaning supply and revenues would eventually get forced down. But do not fret, because in the mid-2010’s Champion was finding its way back into business and it had to do with its broad range of collaborators. Champions most influential collaborators are streetwear legend clothing lines Supreme and Undefeated. These clothing lines not only brought Champion to become a high-end street/sportswear company but they also put Champion products in the hands of some of the most popular celebrities, for example, Chance the Rapper and Kylie Jenner. This recognition put Champion back on the map, because when the public saw celebrities wearing Champion, demand for their products skyrocketed and so did supply and revenue. In addition, to celebrities putting Champion back in the hands of millions of Americans, they also made it so Champion barely even had to promote their products. When’s the last time you saw a Champion commercial in 2000’s? Let me answer that for you, never. That’s because celebrities did the work for them.
In conclusion, Champion was a national and extremely popular clothing line that dominated sportswear sales for a good chunk of time until they fell dramatically during the span of the years 1990-2000. But not only did Champion make an incredible comeback, but they are on the rise and becoming one of America's favorite brands again.
Works Cited
“Champion.” HYPEBEAST, hypebeast.com/tags/champion.
“Champion (Sportswear).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Oct. 2017,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champion_(sportswear).
Raymer, Miles. “How Champion Became One of the Coolest Brands Around-Again.” Esquire,
Esquire, 23 Mar. 2017,
www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/news/a54070/champion-sweats-comeback/.
I would like to what the reason for Champion's fall in the 90's was due to. It seem odd since as you said in 1992 they supplied the uniforms for the "Dream Team". I would also like to know some number statistics to help the read understand how the demand and revenue was effected and by how much. I liked the topic as it is an ordinary brand to look at and a brand that has been around for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how demand for clothing seems to be influenced by tastes/preferences of the consumers more than any other industry. A fashion can go totally out of style, putting a brand out of business, in under a year, or it can come back into style in an instant just because a few celebrities wear the logo. This is one of the cycles of demand where a company may be able to predict an increase in demand and increase supply in anticipation of this in order to increase revenue.
ReplyDeleteI actually really liked this post, simply because of the pure accuracy of the rise of Champion. As of right now, the logo is becoming iconic (once again) in pop culture, which then seamlessly popularizes it across the nation and world. This increase is popularity and demand will increase Champion's revenue and the company can also increase the prices (slightly) because people will still be willing to pay the price to "match" their favorite celebrity. In addition, the rise in Supreme (etc) lately is definitely such a large increase in profit for Champion itself. The streetwear trend is taking over the world, one sweatshirt at a time, and people are loving it and wanting more and more of this monochromatic style. Your analysis on Champion is spot on because there has been such a rise in the trend(s), causing an increase in revenue, demand, etc.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree the Champion clothing has made a huge comeback recently. Even though the style of the clothes is more basic, people seem to really like the clothing. I do believe that celebrities influenced the recent rise of Champion because when people see top notch celebrities wearing this brand, they become interested and they want it too because they follow the celebrities.
ReplyDeleteI remember being younger with Champions uniforms and clothing wear and I guess I never noticed that they fell off the planet. It was interesting to hear about the loss of this company to Supreme however they made a comeback in a bold way, just celebrities. A way for companies to broadcast their products in commercials because teens watch TV and are influenced by that, but with outside influences, such as Netflix, it is harder to advertise for these products. This company used their teenage mind and decided that teens look at celebrities more than commercials.
ReplyDeleteThis post is very interesting due to the fact that champion has made a comeback in a new kind of category than they succeeded in before. I remember as well wearing champion athletic clothing as a kid, but now you see that champion has made a rise in the street wear industry, teaming up with other street wear companies such as Supreme and Palace. I am super intrigued to see where the future goes when it comes for the company of Champion, as you see they have also lately signed many different artist as you mentioned such as Chance the Rapper.
ReplyDeleteI am also very fascinated by the comeback of champion. I will want to see if this is just a fad or this is legitimate comeback and if Champion is here to stay.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I actually have thought to myself many times how incredible the resurfacing of champion as a popular fashion brand. As a kid i feel like champion was the cheap clothes people got from Walmart and now it's one of the coolest brands on the market. I believe it has been a combination of how scarce their products have become as well as the mentioned famous people beginning to wear their clothes.
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DeleteI agree with your point Mike. I am also ecstatic that Champion is coming back. Like you said, I think the biggest reasons that Champion came back to become so popular, is because it was almost as if they were missed and definitely the celebrities wearing the products regularly. Champion products are becoming less athletic wear and more "Hype-beast wear" which is another reason why I believe it's coming back so fast. I was be incredibly interested to see where Champion goes in the future.
DeleteThis is a good topic and something that is often not looked at a lot. My dad is a champion wearer and this is do the the fact that he was a fan of the dream team and the brand. It is very interesting how the brand is looking for a comeback from the domination of bigger companies like Nike and Adidas by partnering with other companies like Supreme. I am very interested to see where Champion goes and how far they make it up the chain.
ReplyDeleteThis is similar to Adidas coming back into the top purchased shoe company in the USA. Both were popular in the 1990's then people quickly moved to other companies like Nike. Similar to Champion, Adidas is worn by celebrities causing people to buy more Adidas.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example of how a change in consumer tastes will cause a shift in demand, and thereby raise the price. As others have mentioned above, I've noticed that celebrities are very powerful in increasing demand, and can be responsible for causing these brand comebacks. A similar example might be the Puma x Rihanna collection; demand for the collection's shoes is high, and as a result the prices of the shoes are much higher in comparison to other Puma shoes.
ReplyDeleteThis brand shows very well how the demand for a product and the supply of that product will affect the revenue of a company. The surge of popularity that came for Champion due to celebrities, can be attributed to the main factor responsible for the large increase in revenue. Overall, these strong influences in something like entertainment really can break its way into economics and the influences on business and revenue.
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised that Champion has resurfaced as many of the modern fashion fads are based off of older fashion fads, however it is incredible how massive the increase in sales is due to the influences of celebrities
ReplyDeleteI knew Champion has made a huge comeback. My manager at my job is 25, he remembers when it was really unpopular to wear Champion. It is amazing that Champion has become a brand that is stylish. Champion seemed to get very lucky that celebrities helped make the brand make a comeback.
ReplyDeleteI believe the reason for champions comeback is entirely about what you stated in the end of your post, the celebrities that now represent the brand. This topic is extremely similar to a earlier blogpost about the return of adidas, the new faces of the brand have caused brand recognition to skyrocket. Not long ago, when my mom would return home from kohls with champion cloths that would never end up coming off of the hangers in my closet for the next two years, when they were taken to goodwill. With chance the rapper rapper and other artists/celebrities representing the brand, their appeared is "cool" now.
ReplyDeleteI actually have noticed this, with trends old trends coming back. I know that the more vintage look is a very popular trend nowadays and Champion, which was once very popular but then stopping being very popular is now pretty high in demand as of recently. This proves one of the things we learned about factors that contribute to the demand of a good or service which change in tastes and trends, and Champion has become of higher demand now.
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