Yomiuri Giants, Nike and Fanatics Announce Long-Term Partnership

Partnership sees the baseball club adopt Nike and Fanatics merchandise model.

License Global

November 23, 2022

Yomiuri Giants jersey.Fanatics

The Yomiuri Giants,

Nike

and

Fanatics

have announced a comprehensive long-term global partnership, adopting an innovative licensed sports merchandise model.

The new exclusive partnership between the three organizations will see Nike become the team’s official uniform supplier. Fanatics will manufacture and distribute on-field uniforms and player performance items as well as additional Nike-branded fan jerseys and apparel that are sold online and at retail locations. Fanatics will also tap its memorabilia division to offer autograph and collectible products for fans to celebrate the team and players.

The Yomiuri Giants will become the first individual club in global sports to adopt the model, already fully operationalized in similar partnerships between Nike and Fanatics with major professional leagues and universities in the U.S.

“It is a great honor and pleasure to partner with Fanatics, the global leader in licensed sports merchandise,” says Tsukasa Imamura, representative director

and president, Yomiuri Giants. “We can imagine the joy on our fans’ faces brought by the innovative business model, which includes manufacturers, logistics, e-commerce and retailers using cutting-edge technology. By combining Fanatics’ fan-centric philosophy of ‘Everything exists for the fans’ with the history and tradition of Yomiuri Giants, celebrating 89 years since the team's founding, we are confident that we can provide one of the best fan experiences in the world. Please look forward to this innovative partnership between Yomiuri Giants, Nike and Fanatics, the first of its kind in the world for an individual club.”

The long-term partnership will see Fanatics exclusively operate the e-commerce and physical retail business for the Giants, with Fanatics launching a new online store at the end of January and refurbishing the retail stores at the Tokyo Dome, ready for the start of the NPB 2023 season.

Fanatics will also become the master licensee for the Yomiuri Giants merchandise portfolio, with the club taking advantage of Fanatics’ vertical commerce manufacturing model. Vertical commerce will enhance both assortment and speed-to-market of team merchandise by using technology, data, on-demand manufacturing and an agile supply chain to create responsive collections of real-time, high-quality merchandise for fans.

“Since we began our journey in Asia five years ago, we focused on creating value for the fans with a strong belief that our global vertical business model would benefit them and work across Asia,” says Masanori Kawana, managing director, Fanatics, East Asia. “Collaborating with the Giants has been an ambition for me personally and I am thrilled to announce this global partnership. This innovative model, which has proven to be successful with some of the biggest U.S. professional leagues and universities, will be a complete gamechanger for the Asian Sports industry and will benefit Yomiuri Giants fans with a larger selection of high-quality merchandise available wherever they are and whenever they want it.”