TapouT, Silver Star MMA Clothing Companies Sold to Authentic Brands
Two of MMA’s top clothing brands are now on the same team and under new ownership, as TapouT and Silver Star have been acquired by Authentic Brands Group in a push for more-rapid expansion.
“TapouT is more than a company or a brand to me, it is a way of life,” TapouT co-founder Dan “Punkass” Caldwell said in a release. “With the passing of my best friend and co-founder Charles “Mask” Lewis, we’ve been through a lot. Now we are focused on continuing to set the standard as the industry leader, bringing to life Mask’s dream of building a billion dollar empire. Authentic Brands Group understands what TapouT is about and they share our vision. Mask always said to simply ‘believe’ and that one word became our formula for success. We believe in Authentic Brands Group and they believe in us.”
TapouT, which also includes the Hitman Fight Gear brand, did more than $200 million in sales of MMA clothing and MMA gear in 2009.
TapouT’s “Punkass” and Tim “SkySkrape” Katz will stay on as the company’s president and marketing/creative director respectively and will also be joined bySilver Star co-founder Luke Burrett, according to Bloomberg.
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maybe this will bring the price down love these clothing lines but sick of going broke to buy a shirt
One can hope lol. only problem is…if people are buying them, theres no reason to drop the price. and $200 mil in one year? looks like people are buying them haha. but im with ya on that one
I highly doubt prices will go down. Not to be a killjoy or anything.
i did not think so i would buy more shirts if they were less expensive, i mean they are more that concert tees
Yeah tapout gear can be pricy. Most shirts ’round these parts are like 25$-30$ and the sweaters are 65$-70$.
Affliction gear is more expensive though. 70$ for a GSP shirt
Prices almost never go down on niche items when demand is high…
Yeah I don’t see prices going down either. But I am also one of those who thinks the prices are a bit high. I was just in a store the other day and the prices here (Ottawa, Can) were somewhere around $60 just for a t-shirt. And like already stated the Affliction gear was even more. I know the prices are where the are because people are buying them, but I guarantee I would own more mma merchandise if the prices weren’t so high.
Me spending $60 on a shirt that costs lets say $10 to make equals (without shipping costs and the like) around $50 profit. If the same shirt was $30 I would probably own more like 10, so only $20 profit per shirt but 10 shirts equal $200 profit instead of me only buying one because the prices imo are a little much to justify.
Sounds like that was a easy way for the boys of TapouT to make a large amount of money in a really short amount of time and, still be in controll of the companys direction. I think the guys at Authentic Brands heard the $200 million a year thing and wanted a piece of it. I think it was a good move for both companys though.
At least you guys are in America and can probably find the best price. Unfortunately I do not have that option and end up paying full price. Affliction being the worst…. £70 for a t-shirt – ouch!
I hope this doesn’t affect them in anyway though. I was just reading an interview with Punkass the other day in Fighters Only and the plans he has sound pretty good, with films on the history of the sport and brand planned :)
” £70 for a t-shirt” DAMN thats alot of money for a shirt
Waitasec.
70 pounds?!
Like British pounds sterling?
Isn’t that like $140 US?
For an Affliction shirt?!
Maybe I’m off on the conversion, but the only way I drop a buck forty on a shirt is if its signed and straight out of Randy Couture’s gear bag…
;)
dude it stupid the amount of money MMA clothing cost over here in the UK. It’s also very difficult to get hold of stuff when it first comes out. :0(
Is that the same story if you were to buy it online?
York kid
Go on flannelsfashion.co.uk, you can pick up affliction and silver star hoodies for £50 and t-shirts for £25
cheers for the up bro but most the sizes on that site are xxl :0(
I have a question related to the article, what do people think “Mask” would think of the company he helped build being sold off to another company? I may have just opened a can of worms with that question, but I am interested on what people think about it.
I think it’s bad form to use a dead guy’s name and worms in the same sentence.
Sorry no offense meant, I didn’t realize, was at work and didn’t reread what I typed. I have all the respect in the world for those guys.
That was a joke. I wasn’t offended in the least.
if you go to walmart, you’ll find mma elite clothing, and you’ll find some tap out and affliction stuff at marshalls. In most cases, when an up and coming brand goes big, its essentially on its way out of style already (Ex. Tommy Hilfiger in the 90′s, Ed Hardy, Affliction, Ecko, FUBU, etc.) …frankly, i’m not shelling out $60 for a tshirt thats going to be out of style by the 3rd time I wear it. its like paying james toney 500K to fight, hes just asking for more than hes worth, and the same goes for these shiny ass tshirts lol