In continuing the momentum from last week's Top Selling MSU Products blog, I wanted to shed more of a national light on Nudge's slowly growing apparel empire. In addition to Michigan State and the state of Michigan car decals, cornhole decals, and apparel, we have licenses for 26 other schools across the country. Our footprint stretches are far west as UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University, as far south as Texas State University in San Marcos, TX, and as far east as West Point Military Academy in New York state.
Nudge's geographic footprint is one thing, but enrollment is a metric we track closely to determine whether it makes sense applying for a license with a new university or not. There are a lot of other factors at play; if a school is exceptional at a major sport then it is a lot harder to get our foot in the door; when they are approached with a new license, all they want is "different" products, not necessarily high quality or a loyal audience like we have (thank you to everyone reading this by the way). We've been rejected from a handful of the football powerhouses because that's where all the major printers go, obviously.
So after Michigan State, which schools are Nudge's best sellers? I think you'll be surprised to find out. Or maybe you won't who knows.
#3B: California Berkeley
We only have a decal license with California Berkeley (and recently we heard that they are not accepting apparel applications for 2020 anymore), so they're somewhat of an anomaly on this list. Outside of Michigan State, California Berkeley is far and away our top decal school, so if we do get an apparel license from them in the future, I'd expect them to shoot up this list. The vintage bear is one of the coolest college designs I've seen out there.
#3A: Liberty University
Liberty only recently made the jump to FBS football and is trying to make it as an independent (nearly impossible if you don't have the branding and history of schools like Notre Dame, BYU, and West Point). They have a unique set of logos that lends itself to a great visual appeal on a t-shirt or car decal, and we are hoping to expand on these in the future with hoodies and more t-shirt designs. Maybe if we are graphically inclined, we can make a shirt of Hugh Freeze coaching from his hospital bed (for the non-football geeks out there: early last season, Liberty's head coach was hospitalized but refused to miss a game, so the medical staff re-worked a dental chair in the press box so he could coach from afar. It was wild).
#2: Army West Point
The Black Knights love Nudge, and I love that. Right now we averaging a little over two products a day in sales across all platforms, but none is more popular than the wordmark/mascot combo logo t-shirt. In fact, it was our second best-selling shirt in the first quarter of 2020 and is pacing well so far in Q2 as well. Like Liberty, they play football independently, but are consistently one of the toughest teams to beat in the country. Two years ago they took Kyler Murray's Oklahoma (!) to overtime while America had to watch via Twitch stream, and last year they took Michigan to double-overtime and could have won with a long field goal as regulation expired. Incredible. By the way, we have an incredible set of cold-weather gear coming soon for Army.
#1: Texas State University
Go Bobcats! When I first started working for Nudge, I simply assumed that the schools with the best athletics and biggest enrollment would sell the best, and this list completely bucked that trend. While Texas State is a baseball powerhouse, the basketball team has been solid and the football team has struggled mightily in the last few years but is beginning to turn it around. But Bobcats fans are true fans - they stand by their team through thick and thin (and look great doing it in their Nudge apparel, too)!
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