{"id":2639,"date":"2016-07-11T17:32:17","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T00:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/championblogger.com\/blog\/?p=2639"},"modified":"2018-06-10T21:09:26","modified_gmt":"2018-06-11T04:09:26","slug":"champion-gold-jerseys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/championblogger.com\/blog\/?p=2639","title":{"rendered":"Champion Gold Jerseys…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Michael
\nFrom 1991-1992 through the 1996-1997 season, Champion held the exclusive uniform license for the NBA. Champion produced the on-court uniforms for all 29 teams, and was the only licensee able to produce replica and authentic jerseys for retail. Starting in the 1997-1998 season, the NBA divided the uniform licenses between Champion, Nike and Starter. While Champion could no longer produce authentic jerseys for the 19 teams now held by Nike or Starter, they\u00a0still had the exclusive license to produce replica jerseys for all 29 teams. Replica jerseys fueled NBA merchandise sales in the mid-90s, in part due to strong draft classes in 1993 (Chris Webber, Anfernee Hardaway, Jamal Mashburn) and 1994 (Glenn Robinson, Jason Kidd, Grant Hill). In addition, the Jordan-led Bulls had dominated merchandise sales in the early 90s, but in the 1994-1995 season were overtaken by the Charlotte Hornets<\/a>, led by Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning. Michael Jordan’s retirement prior to the 1993-1994 season officially marked the end of an era that had featured Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas. There was a new group of up-and-coming superstars, and Champion was in the right place at the right time as fans scooped up jerseys of their new favorite players and teams.<\/p>\n

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\"Champion

Champion Gold Tag<\/p><\/div>\n

During the 1995-1996\u00a0season, NBA licensed apparel sales began a multi-year decline<\/a>. The reason for the decline was four-fold: fashion trends were just starting to move\u00a0away from sports apparel and towards casual clothing from retailers like Gap and Abercrombie, the market was saturated with jerseys from the NBA’s limited pool of marketable superstars and teams (the Bulls and Rockets won every title from 1991 through 1998), the NBA was undergoing a cultural shift with up-and-coming superstars like Allen Iverson and Kevin Garnett who weren’t popular with casual fans, and the bounce the NBA had experienced from Major LeagueBaseball’s strike in 1994 had leveled out\u00a0. During the initial decline, replica jersey sales were still strong and helped negate declines in other NBA licensed apparel. But by the end of the 1996-1997 season, Champion was experiencing a 20% decline in replica jersey sales<\/a>. \u00a0With Nike and Starter now producing on-court apparel for the 1997-1998 season, Champion needed to focus on increasing sales of its replica jerseys. The 1997 NBA draft was lackluster (despite Tim Duncan being the #1 pick), so Champion couldn’t drive sales through rookie jerseys. Jordan was back and the Bulls were putting together another three-peat. The market was already flooded with Bulls jerseys, so Champion couldn’t capitalize on sales generated from the crowning of a new NBA championship team and bandwagon fans.<\/p>\n

Champion’s answer was to release a limited edition line of jerseys under the name “Champion Gold”<\/a>. The\u00a0line was announced in November 1997 and released on February 1, 1998, a week prior to the NBA All-Star game. The limited edition line paid tribute to NBA players who achieved “gold” status by being 1997 All-Star Game starters, Schick Rookie Game MVP, Nestle Slam Dunk Champion,\u00a0league MVP, and NBA Rookie of the Year. The jerseys featured gold fabric with the team logo and players name in the traditional team colors. The collection featured 13 players, and you can see them all in my Special Edition jersey gallery<\/a>:<\/p>\n