Earlier this week J!NX (Jinx) revealed that it has become the official supplier of jerseys for all of Echo Fox’s teams.
The apparel supplier already had a deal in place with Rick Fox’s organisation to create merchandise for fans, but this partnership has now been extended and will see J!NX supply the pro players themselves.
As reported on ESPN, J!NX Co-Founder Sean Gailey said: “We’re helping a team like Echo Fox tell their story on their online site, on their web store. There are a lot of new fans to the sport and we think we can help Echo Fox win more of them.”
One of the points raised at the Esports BAR in Cannes last week was about the forthcoming apparel war in esports, with Newzoo CEO Peter Warman predicting a battle between the likes of Nike, Adidas and Under Armour.
Evidently J!NX will have something to say about this as the company has now signed a deal with a major North American organisation who boast teams in League of Legends, CS:GO, Vainglory, fighting games including Street Fighter V and Smash Bros, Call of Duty, and more. Overall there are 40 players in eight titles.
Moreover Rick Fox stated forthrightly that the reason J!NX was chosen is that it is endemic to esports. He said: “Jerseys are certainly a way to capture a fan’s loyalty. It makes sense that eventually Team Echo Fox fans would be able to get a jersey worn by a rookie like Akaadian just like NBA fans would want to get a jersey of a rookie that they wanted to rep.”
J!NX has been making apparel in gaming generally since 1999 and it recently hired an executive who has prior experience at North Face and Under Armour. Echo Fox jerseys are available both on the team store and on the J!nx marketplace for $59.99 (£48) starting Monday.
Esports Insider says: Gaming jerseys will become more and more readily available and doubtless more commonplace amongst fans as these type of partnerships are established. One frustrating stumbling block is the issues with having them for sale at certain events; with League events for instance it’s Riot over team based gear. This is a hindrance to the overall growth of esports.