The Declining Quality of Jerseys | Fanatics and the NHL & MLB

Fanatics has been highly criticised for poor quality jerseys from NHL fans for a while. But more recently, MLB players and fans have had similar complaints. Is the quality of sports jerseys declining, and how does this impact fans and teams?
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[@strungoutkid]

Fanatics is like buying a "Blinks182" shirt outside a venue instead of buying one from the merch stand inside.

[@bronzeandsteel3344]

That's such a great simile. Appreciate the "Blinks182" typo, too, lol. Too accurate.

[@colinuk1984]

All the small things 😂

[@noneya936]

Hold up, someone would actually go to a Blink concert?

[@shawklan27]

And charge the same price as the legit one 😂

[@rodneylynn1977]

Fanatics is a less expensive option to a more expensive Adidas hockey jersey. If you want the quality of Adidas buy Adidas

[@fantasticvoyage262]

The uniforms were already ruined last year with disgraceful ads.

[@slapshotjack9806]

Get over yourself

[@fantasticvoyage262]

@@slapshotjack9806 Go tell that to everyone that liked my post.

[@FormerlyNYVulgarian]

Fanatics single-handedly destroyed nostalgia and the hobby of continuing to collect jerseys and memorabilia. Guess all good things come to an end.

[@NikonianSniper]

I bought a Fanatics Nordiques de Québec vintage jersey online - and it was CRAP. The logo was flimsy, the number was creased, and nothing was stitched. I returned it immediately. Instead, I got a CCM version - totally night and day. I am thankful that most of my jerseys are vintage, so they're mostly CCM. My POTVIN jersey from 1993 is still in excellent shape! Victoria, I know they're stupid expensive, but if you could get your hands on an actual Made in Canada Adidas jersey - totally go for it! While the Made in Indonesia NHL Adidas jerseys are excellent, the MiCs are heavier, so ideal for colder climate! Also, I find their construction is much better.

[@spookbusterstirner5865]

Wings fan here. I was lucky enough to stock up on a few Adidas jerseys before the manufacturing switches over to Fanatics. I have no intention of spending any money on NHL jerseys so long as Fanatics is involved in the manufacturing process. The decision to give them this 10 year contract was a slap in the face, and all of us deserve so much better.

[@FanaticsSucks]

Appreciate the mention.

[@gerrylee79]

Fanatics messed up on mine, not once, but twice. Wasn't gonna fall for it on the third time.

[@AnHourOfWolves]

I’m not excited about fanatics jerseys in the NHL next year 😢

[@slapshotjack9806]

I heard they will make consumer jerseys close to what they wear on ice for the incredibly low price of whatever it is

[@AnHourOfWolves]

@@slapshotjack9806 I'm worried that's because they will start giving the players the lower-quality jerseys :(

[@slapshotjack9806]

@@AnHourOfWolves oh no as if we should even care?

[@sbeers88]

Quality continues to decline while prices continue to rise. It won't stop until the consumer says no to low quality shit.

[@ashvanes484]

I have a now 20 year old MLB Majestic authentic jersey, the only one I've bought and it does mean a lot to me. It has stitched logos, stitched custom name and number, and a detailed world series championship patch. It is well made, thicker material, durable, it has washed well and while I don't wear it often, probably 1ce a year... it looks like new. I can't believe how awful the current stuff looks.

[@darolhitman3154]

I got a Yankees Majestic Jersey from 2000 made in USA .Its still fresh af😎 Greets from Germany

[@slapshotjack9806]

Get over yourself

[@ashvanes484]

@@slapshotjack9806 thanks for the pleasant, insightful comment this evening.

[@Tampafan33]

Also fanatics has a literally monopoly now i dont get how this is allowed. Phone companies have been stopped lately from merging,airlines have been stopped, restaurants even, yet here we are where fanatics now owns every sports company clothes wise. How is this allowed??

[@jlm3619]

Have both Adidas and fanatics jerseys, my fanatics jerseys are absolutely in pieces already after only one year. I’m buying up all the Adidas jerseys I can this year before I have to wait 10 more years to get a quality jersey.

[@OldGrimbeard]

NFL fan here. Quick reminder to all of you that just last year the NFL shop had stitched jerseys up for sale at a $160 price point. Late last year however these jerseys were fazed out for heat pressed ones instead and guess what they increased the price by $15. So now if fans want a good quality jersey they’re forced (inclined) to pay $350+.

[@davidhgbp6917]

Fanatics bought out Mitchell & Ness recently. I pray they don't buy '47 Brand

[@ryans3795]

The issue are jerseys are insanely expensive, fanatics may be doing better because they are cheaper. The quality of fanatics probably puts them as way too expensive as well.

[@TheHeston83]

the problem they wont listen despite endless constructive critcism just bought a Adidas Avalanche alternate Jersey because it may got up price due to Fanatics bad quality

[@slapshotjack9806]

So you can see into the future now huh

[@brianlesley4099]

I have Reebok jerseys and hoodies that are 15-20 years old and still look great. I bought a hoodie off fanatics last year and it started falling apart after a few washes

[@TheAxelay]

Fanatics even own Mitchell & Ness which really saddened me. I have more faith in even Starter or Pro Player than lousy Fanatics sigh....

[@Theis_P]

I think it wil go a bit like what has happened to c Castore in the Premier League with a Lot of QC problems and a product lat doesn't live up to the League standards and after 3 years the fanatic deal is off the table

[@NicEeEe843]

Let’s all remember that only one company bid for the rights to manufacture nhl jerseys. Not a single other company competed to out bid fanatics. Presumably the risk is very high and since hockey is such a niche sport nobody else wanted to take the risk otherwise there would be at least one more bid besides fanatics

[@user-hj1jn7gu3t]

The MLB shows the direction of travel, the premium jersey is now barely comparable to the replica. The cost though ..... jeez. My last Adidas is on it's way and then I am done, at least I have at least 1 per NHL team. Fanatics are awful quality, awful service and not cheap to make it worthwhile. I have often bought from them, simply because getting an Adidas with pre-stitched name and number for £140 makes the hassle worthwhile. Nothing is ever simple though, for example having to order Redwings and Oilers in 2 different orders because if I bought them together they attracted a £40 customs charge .... it should not be difficult to buy stuff! Still, their loss.

[@Steve-xf4uv]

I've been collecting NHL jerseys for 20 years. I can tell you the very best is CCM; Adidas is also very good. From there we go down pretty fast in quality. Fanatics has a reputation of selling less than high quality jerseys but cheaper than others. So it depended what you wanted, quality vs. price. Now the NHL has signed 10 years with Fanatics, I am anxious to see what they deliver. They can do it but will they ??

[@leafs98]

Thankfully I don't have any fanatics jerseys. All my jerseys are Reebok, CCM and NBA Authentics.

[@chrisb3976]

The only way for Fanatics to not make game jerseys for the players is the players union from all the leagues go on strike and come back if Fanatics ends their contracts.

[@NicEeEe843]

But no one else bid to manufacture jerseys so who would do it. Not a single other company bid against fanatics so they’d have nobody manufacturing them presumably

[@bobbyj5375]

You say it what ever you want, nike, bike, whatever. Have not bought a jersey for a while, will ask family who have. Young lady, your videos bring up a lot of interesting topics. I find a lot of products in general here in N America have declined in quality, price still goes up anyway. Cool stuff, enjoy your day.

[@salianni16]

I love the Leafs jersey Victoria was wearing in the photo that tagged this video. If only the Leafs can play as well as she looked!

[@tudormiller887]

Hi Victoria. Please do a special vlog of a tour of both the NHL & MLB stores in NYC this year. 😊

[@nikertine]

I really wanted Underarmor to bid on the NHL jersey contract. Would have been fun to see their take on them.

[@fantasticvoyage262]

I knew as soon as they backed out of their MLB deal, there was no chance they would bid on the NHL.

[@Allymm93]

there is a shop in my town that sells real (non fanatics) nhl jerseys for around £40

[@tudormiller887]

Cool. 😊

[@denniss1044]

Well said ,Victoria. I've collected jerseys for years and have all I need, given the downswing in quality. Yes the Reebok hockey jerseys I purchased a few years back were the best, in my opinion. I'll never purchase another MLB jersey again, unless I buy Mitchell and Ness products. Very good quality, but just don't try to order direct from, unless you want to risk a potential nightmare with returns.

[@sixfeetunder2229]

I'm from England been thinking about getting the fanatics sharks jersey all these comments don't think i will bother All my sharks jerseys are Adidas and reebok

[@VictoriaStewart]

I do have one Fanatics jersey and honestly I’ve had 0 problems with it, but I think I got lucky because so many people have had problems 😬 too expensive to not get good quality!

[@sixfeetunder2229]

Yeah I agree expensive especially if it as heat pressed logo on the jersey not a fan of them

[@sixfeetunder2229]

My fanatics jersey arrived I've no complaints it's stitched only heat press is I side the collar just the sharks teeth

[@darthfastball1150]

I wish I could buy older jerseys when they were still made by Majestic, but my team recently changed names (Indians to Guardians) and while I’m glad they made the change, it means I’m stuck with middling quality but up to date, or great quality and racial insensitivity. Maybe I’ll cave once they release a Florial jersey lol.

[@Eternalduelist56]

You could always go with the Greek pronunciation Νίκη (Níki). I have an NHL sweater from Fanatics that's at least 10 years old and three Fanatics branded NBA jerseys. All with zero issues at all

[@fantasticvoyage262]

Fanatics didn't make NHL stuff that long ago.

[@klusey5244]

I bought Fanatics jerseys for my brother and I at Christmas and they've been fantastic so far; no issues with quality or surviving the washer + dryer. Its possible the quality my wesr out eventually but so far it's standing up much better than my Reebok jersey did.

[@Jon_FM]

i have 11 hockey jerseys, one baseball jersey, and 5 football ones. There is definitely a degradation in quality, like you my favourite as far as feel was the reebok ones. But I do like the Prime green jersey a lot and most of my modern ones fit that category. I have one fanatics jersey and for an everyday spill on it while cooking kind of thing it is fine. BUT the football jerseys have become slowly very cheap looking, the baseball lower to mid tier are not great and that was before the heat press appearance. So I am not looking forward to these new ones.

[@dustyb58]

can't really say it was a bad move when fanatics was the only bidder to take over i have 99 jerseys and 10 are fanatics. bought them all on sale and never had a mistake or a peeling number or anything like that so far.

[@coreybrebner517]

My Nashville predators jersey is the fanatics one and I there is nothing wrong with the brand. I bought it blank and took it to a store that put the name and number on the back. But nothing wrong with the jersey and I wear it playing hockey myself

[@BrenTOR]

i just bought a blue jays dhgate jersey lets see how it turns out

[@fantasticvoyage262]

Has it fallen apart yet?

[@BrenTOR]

@@fantasticvoyage262 havent used it yet going to a game in june but it looks great

[@fantasticvoyage262]

@@BrenTOR I hope it works out for you. But I'll stick with the real deal.

[@samori__23]

Great video 😊

[@MiliPAlfaro]

Love this video!

[@checkdown3774]

Imagine if they were made out of recycled materials. 😂 , f mother earth.

[@Allymm93]

great video

[@Tampafan33]

Oh god she’s a Toronto fan😂😂😂 feel sorry for ya. Nah but seriously fanatics is shit and always has been. It’s weird that the owner is acting like it’s a surprise now😂😂😂 it’s the literally “did i do that” meme lol. Btw had to Josh ya on the Toronto fandom. Huge rivals to tampa in sports so dont take it personally haha

[@DTMJR1987]

My ~12 DHgate jerseys are 10x nicer than the 2 Fanatics jerseys rotting in my closet. @ everyone, stop giving Fanatics your hard-earned money. Force them to address the quality or enjoy their inevitable downfall

[@MrAllenwatson]

anything that nets gary and the owners a couple more bucks is what will be used as far as the NHL is concerned

[@NicEeEe843]

The only company that bid to manufacture nhl jerseys was fanatics, nobody else tried to out bid them. What else could the NHL do? I assume if only one single company bids to manufacture your jerseys you don’t really have much choice right? 😂

[@suthious]

they made the letters smaller to fit them into overpriced Topps cards

[@ryanleaf386]

I honestly dont have a problem with fanatics that much as i do buy some of the other merchandise off there site from time to time but I by all my jerseys off of DHgate

[@VGKDean]

Long E at the end of Nike It’s not a word, it’s a second rate company 😂

[@MeteorologistAlsoGoPutin]

Fanatics can make all the jerseys they want. But as for hockey sweaters 😂, they shouldn’t be allowed to look into the windows of whatever manufacturer ought to be making them which should be Adidas, Reebok, or CCM.