Dallas E-commerce Startup FanPrint Connects Athletes to fanatics
Dallas — Jerseys of professional athletes, the player’s number featured prominently on the again, are a staple in sports activities memorabilia. however a Dallas startup needs to make these shirts more non-public for those who are wearing them.
FanPrint, which was once founded in 2012, uses social media to market sports-themed attire. About eighty % of its shoppers are ladies, and girls are a strategic goal for the startup, says TK Stohlman, FanPrint’s founder and CEO.
“What we have now is a platform,” he says. “We’re a advertising company. We be able to attain enthusiasts thru social media to help brands in finding incremental earnings.”
these brands embody probably the most best identified in sports activities—the nationwide football League players affiliation; the Collegiate Licensing company; and World Wrestling leisure, or WWE. “We have the ability to reach corners of the internet that they may be able to’t get to,” Stohlman says.
FanPrint works like this. the corporate will get right into a licensing arrangement with a league or a person player—former Dallas Cowboys defensive back Darren Woodson is one such player and now in command of industry development for Fanprint—and its Manila, Philippines-based designers start engaged on designs. (handiest the manager team is based totally in Dallas.) FanPrint makes use of social media to market the attire. at present, probably the most extra in style designs features the remaining names of a crew’s gamers organized to resemble its dwelling metropolis’s skyline.
“The celebrities noticed it as a possibility to have an immediate connection to the consumer,” Stohlman says.
FanPrint’s sales ultimate 12 months had been $ 10 million and Stohlman says he expects to hit $ 25 million this 12 months. the corporate takes a proportion of each and every sale and will pay royalty companions between eight % and 15 percent. FanPrint, which was once part of the 2012 Tech Wildcatters class, has raised $ 3.25 million from traders comparable to Woodson.
at first, the corporate had more of a charitable focus. “the theory used to be, we’ll help your individual groundwork,” Stohlman says. “We’ll permit you to force income to it.”
however as licensing companions grew, the corporate saw opportunities to increase. Now, about 50 p.c of FanPrint’s licensing companions use gross sales proceeds for charitable functions, similar to scholarships, Stohlman says.
Rachel Duitch, FanPrint’s vice president of licensing, says focused on girls has been a key strategy for the corporate. “women are traditionally underserved in the sports activities merchandise category,” she says. “Our design concepts talk to women, like taking a way pattern and pairing it with a sports emblem.”
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