Clothes Fit To Be Destroyed

If one were to enter HBIC Headquarters this afternoon, one would have to excuse the layer of dust that's occupying the house. I spent the majority of the last two days patching, mudding, spackling, and repairing some of the worst handyman "fixes" performed on drywall. After making things right with the putty jobs, sanding was needed to ensure a smooth finish on the walls prior to painting. That sanding resulted in the dust which is quite literally everywhere. What isn't everywhere, though, is the clothing produced by the NHL for the losing finalist in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, so I was thinking today about where does all this clothing go?

If you have one of the shirts to the left, you might be wearing something that was never meant to see the light of day. According to a Chris Johnston report on Sportsnet back in 2015, Reebok and the NHL work extremely hard at ensuring that none of the losing team's "Champions" merchandise makes its way into the sports merchandise world. Yes, you can still get one on those make-your-own-tees sites - full disclosure: the pictured t-shirt is from Tee4Sports - but anything produced by Adidas or Reebok or CCM wouldn't make it into the hockey section at your local sports store.

"At the conclusion of the championship series, the losing team's merchandise is brought back to the NHL office and eventually returned to Reebok to be destroyed. There is also an option to have it sent to developing countries, but it's not common practice because of how small the shipment is."

With Adidas, who now holds the NHL merchandise contract, destroying all the championship gear for the team that falls in the Stanley Cup Final, there's virtually no chance that any of the gear will ever be worn by anyone on the planet unless someone smuggles something away from the NHL Offices or Adidas.

Johnston also points out in his article that "[r]etailers and the teams have the option to order apparel ahead of time so that they can begin selling it immediately after the Stanley Cup is presented", and we usually see teams advertising that they have "champions" gear within 24 hours of winning the Stanley Cup. This seems like a common thing nowadays as people want their gear as soon as possible, so how is that handled?

"Typically they play it pretty close to the vest but it's a competitive advantage for them if they can beat someone else into the market," Brian Jennings, the NHL's executive vice-president of marketing, told Sportsnet. For everything ordered, one would have to believe that the NHL and Adidas would also be able to recall the merchandise and refund the purchase made by the retailers and the losing team. Having worked in a sports store in a previous career, I can honestly say that rules were followed to the letter when one held an agreement to sell NHL gear, so I would assume that there would be a "DO NOT SELL" order on all champions-branded clothing before a specific date and "ONLY IF" that specific team wins the Stanley Cup.

At the end of the day, getting your hands on a t-shirt for the losing team's championship is nearly impossible at this point, but other leagues have partnered with non-profit organizations to distribute their losing team's championship gear in places where clothing is needed.

As per Mental Floss, Good360, based in Alexandria, Virginia, partners with the NFL as they handle excess consumer merchandise and distributes it to those in need overseas. From Mental Floss's article,

"Good360 took over the NFL's excess goods distribution in 2015. For almost two decades prior, an international humanitarian aid group called World Vision collected the unwanted items for MLB and NFL runners-up at its distribution center in Pittsburgh, then shipped them overseas to people living in disaster areas and impoverished nations. After losing Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, Arizona Cardinals gear was sent to children and families in El Salvador. In 2010, after the New Orleans Saints defeated Indianapolis, the Colts gear printed up for Super Bowl XLIV was sent to earthquake-ravaged Haiti."

In short, there's a good chance that false NFL champion clothing can be found in locations around the globe while the NHL chooses to destroy its non-champion "Champions" clothing. I don't fault the NFL for allowing this clothing to be distributed to those in need, but it may result in a lot of questions if that clothing ever found its way back to North America.

In any case, it seems that any clothing for one of the remaining eight NHL teams who fails to win the Stanley Cup will be produced, but won't make it into anyone's hands who may want some sort of collector's item. Personally, making them impossible to obtain helps keep the NHL's history intact when it comes to their retail merchandise, but I'd like to see the NHL's humanitarian efforts do a little more when it comes to helping nations in need.

I'm not one to celebrate a Stanley Cup with a "champions" piece of clothing unless I was involved with the team, but getting my hands on a non-champion "champions" t-shirt is a dream, like the Stanley Cup dream for that team, destroyed.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!