What’s In Your Bag?

Athletes need to carry their stuff around in something and they need to buy bags from somewhere, so why not from team dealers?

The sport bag business is affected by the economy, but it remains a strong category at the team level even if the schools aren’t always the ones footing the bag bill.

It’s a brand new year and a good time to consider what’s in your bag for 2010. If there was a recession survival guide for team dealers, selling accessory items like team bags would definitely be in the front of the book. After all, all athletes lug around their stuff in an athletic bag of some sort. And while some dealers opine that they can’t make a living selling bags, those who do say it helps fill their own money bags.

In these tough economic times, where the only budgets that seem to be growing are in the government, it doesn’t cost anything to suggest a bag to a team ... and you just might sell a few. The only question is whether the school, the player or a booster club is going to pay for them.

Reynolds & Sons in downtown Grand Rapids, MI, is one of the oldest sporting goods stores and back in 1927 its store was stocked with hunting, fishing, and camping gear. A survivor of the Great Depression, it knows a thing or two about running a business in tough times. These days the business is still in the family, but the emphasis is on sports equipment and apparel, retail and team.

“On the team side, we sell the whole range of hard goods, uniforms and accessories, including bags to schools,” says owner Jeff Reynolds. “We’re always in the schools talking to coaches about their needs and right now it’s all about the essentials. For basketball that means balls, nets and score pads. There may be a handful of athletes interested in bags, but not many.”
Reynolds sells a variety of bags, including backpack style and duffel bags, along with sport-specific bags for baseball, softball, football and wrestling.

“The school-issue bags we sell are usually stock Holloway bags that we customize with a logo and team name,” he says. “Because bags are an add-on sale, it’s the last thing they buy and right now, they mostly they run out of money before that.”

Reynolds reports that overall business is pretty consistent with previous years, but that’s not necessarily good news in a time when slashed education budgets have become the standard.

“The automobile business is crippled right now, and until that changes we’re seeing budgets cuts,” he says. “You can definitely make money on bags, but it’s tough when the unemployment rate is over 15 percent, as it is here.”

Business at Roy’s Sport Shop, in Watertown, SD, hasn’t been particularly robust either.
“In this part of the country, we typically don’t see the real low lows, or the high highs for that matter. I guess we’re always in a recession,” jokes owner Gene Bierscheid. “Right now we’re feeling the pinch more at retail. Our state is agricultural and a wet fall hurt crop yields this year and that means people have less money to spend.”

The business has been around since 1970, with Bierscheid taking ownership in 1991. A member of the Sports Inc. buying group, his business is split 60 percent retail with one storefront, and 40 percent team.

“Things have definitely gotten harder since July (2009). Our sales are down for four consecutive months from a year ago, and that’s not good,” says Bierscheid. “Usually if we have a down month it’s followed by a sales uptick.”

Roy’s Sport Shop carries a selection of sports bags in its retail store that sells consistently, including Nike and Under Armour. The downside is that many manufacturers want the store to carry inventory.

“At retail, we only stock what we know will sell quickly. We generally carry medium duffel bags in our store, which are general use bags that appeal to a lot of athletes,” says Bierscheid. “We also stock sport-specific bags for hockey and baseball because we’re strong in those two sports and they sell pretty well for us.”

On the team side, sales are holding steady as team sports continue to get a lot of parental support.

“We handle about 30 schools, mostly high schools. Most of these schools are very small, like 100 kids total,” says Bierscheid. “A big school out here is 300 kids per class.”

The majority of team bag sales are school issue and that generally means stock bags customized with school and logo. Ryno is his go-to bag.

“Ryno has a good product, and the rep calls on me regularly and keeps me updated. Their duffels have a zipper on both ends and a big zipper in the middle for athletics,” says Bierscheid. “We also sell a few higher end Gear Guard bags with the huge wheels because they’re indestructible.”
These custom-made bags are ordered by a few teams every year, and are usually purchased with booster money.

“Team budgets are definitely tighter this year,” says Bierscheid. “It seems like we wait and wait for school board approval on purchase orders, or orders are being pushed back. But in the end, they seem to get what they need. That includes some bags, but not a lot.”

Backpack-type bags for baseball are popular with the kids right now. “They’ve been ordering those for the last three years or so,” says Bierscheid. “The bag makes it easy to carry a bat or two, and it’s compact and easy to get around.”

For hockey, wheeled duffel bags make it easier to lug the large amount of gear needed for the sport, especially the small kids.

“We sell bags to a lot of travel teams with younger kids,” says Bierscheid. “That business is still here, along with hoodies and warm-ups for the kids. A bag helps the younger kids cart all their stuff around and keep it in one place.”
Pittam’s Sports Academy, Sanger, CA, is optimistic that a tsunami of challenges will bring new opportunities in 2010.

“We have been dealing with the perfect storm,” says owner Mike Pittam, who took over the business five years ago. “The first two years were really strong for us but it has gone downhill. The economy has hurt us, a severe drought has hurt us, and the federal government’s decision to cut off water to area farms is killing the area.”

Pittam’s is reinventing the 37-year-old business and moving 40 miles to Hanford, CA, where it will continue to serve its 5000 customers and 350 schools.

“We’re changing our business concept to focus on our team business and the total needs of the athlete,” says Pittam. In addition to team sales, the new Pittam’s Sports Academy will feature a sport-specific training center to help athletes develop speed and quickness, run sports camps, and offer a coaches assistance center to help coaches address fundraising and other needs.

“We also plan to get our spirit pack orders on-line, including bags and other accessories. The coaches will love that,” says Pittam.
Bags are a good part of Pittam’s business.
“We always try to get bags in the sale,” says Pittam. “We like Everest and United bags because we can make a fair margin and get our orders quickly. This is less true with name brands where you need to order further in advance and accept smaller margins.”

Youth football programs dominate Pittam’s bag sales in the fall. “We order large duffel bags from Everest Trading Corp. and screenprint the program name and logo,” he says.

In the spring, it’s baseball and softball bags. “Girls softball is huge here, and the softball backpack is what’s selling. It’s what the kids in travel leagues want,” says Pittam. “The teams fundraise to offset costs, and we put in one big order and get paid by the group.”

He also sells softball bags to nearby Porterville College. “They still prefer the older style Easton bat bag that we embroider with team name and number,” says Pittam. “Their coach buys them for the team every year as consumables, like socks and T-shirts.”

What’s New in Bags?

Four trends continue to dominate the sports bag category. Each can play to the strengths of savvy team dealers on both the retail and team side.

• Sport-specific bags are very popular, particularly for cheerleading, football, basketball, baseball/softball, lacrosse and hockey teams.

• Customization remains strong, mostly with school logos and individual names and numbers. Further customization can include added pockets and fabric colors.

• The basic duffel still rules, for consistent business at retail and for team bags customized with colors and logos.

• Imported bags are here to stay and are always cheaper than domestic. Sport bags are largely in the commodity range – big volumes and low prices – which is the realm of imports. However, limited color selection and high factory minimums are negatives.

One newer trend dealers can look for is the creation of custom bag building programs on vendor Web sites. Similar to the uniform programs, they allow teams to design a bag and see how it looks before ordering.

According to Jim Officer, director of sales at Jensen-Lee Bags, Seattle, WA, teams and coaches and individual customers appreciate the availability of these programs. “More of our dealers are looking for that service and it’s an excellent opportunity for companies like ours who are making custom products,” he says.

Overall, the 2010 bag market is characterized more by product refinements and new support services than new items.

“Changes for 2010 are minor for us in terms of new products,” says Phil Steele, president of The Athletic Bag Co. (Ryno Athletic and Amerisport Divisions), Tyler, TX. “We continue to offer our completely customized product to team dealers and their customers. With that line, the customer chooses the style, fabric, colors, webbing and zippers, lettering and numbering.”

Steele suggests that team dealers remind coaches or ADs about sport bags when they are taking uniform and equipment orders. ”When a team’s colors are Cardinal red and Vegas gold, offer a custom bag to match their uniforms. Custom bags are available in many more colors and, because it’s more difficult to shop them on-line or from a catalog, coaches are more comfortable ordering directly from a dealer.”

The Athletic Bag Co./Ryno also continues to offer imports as part of its line to meet price points and provide added features.

“The fact is that I can import a product with nice features and a better price than I can produce it domestically. However, imports are often limited to four or six basic colors because of factory minimums and issues with potential sell through,” says Steele. “With our domestic production, we offer 20 different colors and literally thousands of color combinations with low minimums and quick turnaround.”

Stryker By Design, Commerce City, CO, is primarily refining its Sfear USA bag designs introduced last year. The niche Sfear bag line plays into the trend for sports-specific bags.

According to president Tina Johnson, dealers can look for updated color schemes and accessory attachments in the Sfear USA bag line-up.
“We’re working on some variations of our basic mono-sling design that are more modular with a standard pod upper section and detachable fanny pack, a more multi-use design bag, and a new tennis bag,” she says. “We’re also adding more metallic and seasonal colors and are designing smaller accessory bags that attach to the main shoulder strap or other locations.”

Johnson notes that most of the company’s sales have been for more traditional team sport colors and recognizes that its high-end line is tougher for dealers to sell to entire teams.

“As we try to establish ourselves as a high-quality logo, we are willing to give new dealers a better deal on initial team orders to show our quality and our willingness to work with them,” she says.

At Jensen-Lee the custom team bag business grew in 2009 as it expanded into new sports.
“We’re always looking for new ways to fit our bags to new sports that show real growth potential,” says Officer. “At the same time, we never want to take our eyes off of our core business, which is the school and team business.”
With that in mind, Jensen-Lee re-introduced its custom Jensen-Lee football and hockey player bags. “Given economic realities, we reduced dealers’ costs by 15 percent on these bags by making few minor changes in our bags without sacrificing quality,” says Officer.

With the growth of lacrosse across the country, Jensen Lee introduced a new lacrosse bag. “We maintained the quality and look of our classic Jensen Lee duffel bags and created a bag that adapts well to high school and upper-level lacrosse,” he says.

At Sportwaves Unlimited, Lafayette, CO, president Herb Riehl is also proud to produce custom bags Made in the USA.

“We make quality, durable bags with the features teams want for the gamut of sports,” says Riehl.
“We can make any bag, in any color combination,
with a small minimum order of six and quick turnaround. We can customize them or the dealer can customize them.”

Sportwaves is introducing three products in 2010
— a garment bag, a hockey bag and a football bag. “All of our new products respond to market needs. The new football bag is a large, rugged bag, with ventilated pockets and wrap around straps at an affordable price,” says Riehl.

Sportswaves currently sells bags directly to travel and competitive teams, leagues, little leagues through its Web site, but it is trying to establish a wholesale team business by reaching out to team dealers.

“We recognize that most of our products are sold exactly in opposition to the relationship that manufacturers try to build with dealers,” says Riehl. “But we believe we offer a great product and personalized service for the team dealers.”
Sportwaves is already selling to a few dealers and believes its products are a good fit for the high school market. For example, its “high school special” is a 12 x 12 x 28 duffel bag priced under $24.

“We understand that orders are coming in later and later, and as long as we have the components on hand when the order comes in, we will help them meet team deadlines,” says Riehl. “Our challenge has been to let the team dealers know that we exist, and what we make for them.”


Rugby Imports Handles everything Rugby ... including bags

Rugby Imports, New Providence, RI, sells “all things rugby” to hundreds of teams around the nation. Bob Hoder turned a passion for rugby into a successful team business while simultaneously promoting the growth of the sport. What began 38 years ago in his basement as a business importing Halbro rugby jerseys from England, quickly grew into a full service rugby dealer.

Today, Rugby Imports employs about 15 people, including five sales reps, three inside and two on the road. Sales are split 50/50 between team and retail, with the latter handled primarily through its Web site (http://www.rugbyimports.com) and a small storefront that stocks rugby basics. An 8000-square-foot facility houses retail, manufacturing, warehouse and office space.

“Everyone that works here is also involved in some facet of the game — playing, coaching, and developing rugby as a popular club and team sport,” says Hoder, who played rugby in college.

He notes that its efforts include hosting the
“Beast of the East,” the largest collegiate rugby tournament in the country, if not the world.

“We have a niche market and we try to cover the gamut from balls and accessories to the uniform parts, including jerseys, shorts and socks, jackets and sweats,” he says. “Bags are not one of our main movers in terms of volume, but about half the teams order them.”

One staple Rugby Imports has carried for at least 20 years is the traditional canvas old style bags by Jensen-Lee. “The Jensen-Lee bag has its own niche within our niche market,” says Hoder. “It’s a rugged canvas bag that lasts forever. It costs about $50 before customization, so it’s not an easy sell but once a team makes the leap, the repeat orders keep on coming. Their new mini rugby purse bags are also popular.”

A simple flash program on Rugby Imports’ Web site lets customers see how their customized bag will look before they order. “Once they figure out what they want, we just send in the names and numbers, Jensen-Lee customizes the bags, and they are drop shipped,” says Hoder.

Rugby Imports also sells a variety of duffel bags, backpacks and sling packs in many brands, styles and color combinations. These can be customized in their shop with logos, names, numbers and sponsors, as well as options like web pockets and zippered sections.

“We have heat press machines in our shop, and use outside shops for silkscreen and embroidery. Delivery is generally three to four weeks,” he says.

The popularity of rugby continues to grow the U.S., in spite of the economy. Male and female teams, typically 20-30 members, are fielded as club sports in colleges and universities. The high schools and youth organizations sprout up around the college towns.

“Rugby at youth level is definitely growing, particularly in Catholic and Jesuit schools,” says Hoder. “Ten years ago, the growth was in women’s college and club teams and that’s reached a mature level. The same phenomena is happening now for high schools and youth.”

Rugby Imports does feel some effects of a tough economy.

“The team business is holding strong but retail sales seem to have dropped off. What was once a $200 order is now $50 or $100,” says Hoder. “What helps the sport keep momentum is that it’s a pretty basic sport to play. All you need are shorts, socks, shoes, and jersey.”

And a bag to put carry them in.

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