Katelyn Auty
Head Copy Editor
Social Media Editor
Associate Sports Editor
In an era where women are increasingly getting into sports, it’s time for merchandise designers to target that demographic better.
Women’s sports merchandise has long been unoriginal. Designers take the same designs they use for men and put them on a v-neck, put glitter on it, make it pink, or make it cursive. There is certainly a demographic of women that enjoy merchandise like that, but that isn’t what a lot of women, especially younger women, enjoy.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Taylor Swift and her contributions to the sport of football. There is no doubt that the Swifties show up for her and her boyfriend Travis Kelce. After Swift started attending his games, Kelce’s jersey sales went up 400%, making him one of the top five selling jerseys in the NFL.
After Swift started attending games in the 2023-24 season, an article from Fox 4 reported “Sunday Night Football viewership reached a new high, with increases in female viewers ages 12-17 (53%), female viewers over 35 (34%), and female viewers ages 18-24 (24%), as compared to the season-to-date average.”
This data only accounts for the NFL. Women have also gotten more representation with the start of the Professional Women’s Hockey League and the growth of the Women’s National Basketball League and the National Women’s Soccer League. Now more than ever, women should be catered to more in the merchandising efforts.
Going back to Swift, consider the Taylor Swift-inspired hat the Kansas City Chiefs released in May 2024. The hat features the Chiefs’ logo surrounded by heart hands (a symbol of Swift’s “Fearless” era), hearts, and a lipstick kiss print. The main attraction of this hat, however, is the friendship bracelet under the Chiefs logo that reads “Super Bowl LVIII Champions.” The friendship bracelet has become synonymous with Swift following her 2022 album “Midnights,” which featured a lyric about making friendship bracelets. This hat was a clear nod to Swift, and her fans showed up. The hat sold out the day it was released, and Swifties flocked to sign up to receive emails about when the hat would be back in stock.
“I’m a born and raised LA sports girlie and if you told me a year ago @taylorswift13 and Travis would have me buying official @Chiefs merch I would think you were lying but wouldn’t you know my little hand heart friendship bracelet chiefs hat arrived the day of the #KelceJam,” shared @preppydarling on X the day after the hat was released.
This is just one example of what happens when merchandise teams pay attention to their female fanbase and what they like. Merchandise doesn’t have to be Taylor Swift-themed for a female fanbase to love it, but if designers would just listen to and pay attention to what their female fanbase wants, sports would feel more inclusive for those fans.
It’s time to move away from the pink v-necks and glitter and rhinestones and actually listen to the female fans and their fashion tastes.