More Than 50,000 Super Bowl Shirts to Be Produced Overnight

While players celebrate on the field, hundreds of promo products companies spring into overdrive

TREVOSE, Pa., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI) says that more than 50,000 Super Bowl T-shirts will be produced overnight for fans to snap up on the morning following the big game.

That means that while players immediately start celebrating on the field with their hot Super Bowl shirts and gear, hundreds of ASI member companies have already started the presses to make thousands of logoed Super Bowl items for delivery in record time to anxious sports fanatics.

According to Jeff Henderson, VP of ASI member company Pony Xpress Printing, a licensed provider of Super Bowl XLIV apparel, "We start making T-shirts when the game ends and it's all hands on deck with more than 50 staffers working split shifts, and that includes me.  We start delivering shirts overnight to stores, so they are on shelves the next morning.  When things get hectic, it's not uncommon to have a mini traffic jam that requires employees to direct trucks in and out of the warehouse.  They pick up for stores and, of course, everyone wants their tees first."

Henderson also said, "While more fashionable designs are hot this year, the majority of shirts will be the traditional 'locker room tee' you see players putting on right after the game."

ASI research shows that the T-shirt continues to be the top-selling apparel item for the last three years among Super Bowl fans.  In addition to shirts, other products provided by ASI member companies include watches from Fossil, the big #1 foam finger from Spirit Industries, a cooler shaped like a helmet from America Zebra Line, a helmet snack server from LarLu and jackets.  

More than 2,000 jackets are anticipated to be ordered online immediately at the end of the contest.

"We bring in 12-hour nightshift crews to man the embroidery machines and begin the process the minute the final game whistle blows," said Matt Gray, chief operating officer of ASI member Dunbrooke Apparel Corp., a licensed Super Bowl supplier of Reebok jackets to the retail market.  

Shirts, jackets and other wearables are among the top six product categories by sales volume in the ad specialties industry, according to ASI's State of the Industry™ report.  Sales of all promo products were nearly $20 billion in 2008.  Buyers identify such products as the most effective medium among all advertising, next to the Internet, according to an ASI study.  

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest marketing organization serving the promotional products industry, with a membership of 26,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties.  Visit asicentral.com.

    
    Contact:
    Scott Fuhr
    484-680-2431
    [email protected]

SOURCE Advertising Specialty Institute