Belichick Knows More About Sports Marketing Than Reebok Does

The Globe – Kenny Gamble, Reebok’s vice president of merchandising… explained [that] head coaches have specific guidelines on what NFL-sponsored Reebok apparel they should wear during games – with choices for the preseason, the “first season’’ (warmer weather) and “second season’’ (colder weather). Belichick, however, went off the script around 2002, deciding to wear the gray hoodie that was produced for players – not coaches – from all 32 teams. It was a choice that initially irked some Reebok officials. Not anymore.

The gray hoodie has not only become a Belichick trademark, it’s become a moneymaker. According to Gamble, about 50 percent of all NFL gray hoodie sales have included the Patriots logo. “After a while, our approach was, ‘Let’s not fight it, let’s try to take advantage of it.’ He’s made that piece famous,’’ Gamble said. The story of Belichick and his gray hoodie was circulating around Reebok headquarters once again this spring after a Patriots practice in which Belichick donned a blue throwback Boston Patriots sweatshirt – a garment he wasn’t supposed to have because it was not yet in production. Once Belichick was spotted on local newscasts and photographed by local newspapers and websites, Reebok began experiencing a sudden demand for the sweatshirt that coaches will wear in games celebrating the American Football League’s 50th anniversary. “Unknowingly, and probably the last thing he cares about, he’s kind of been a fashion icon,’’ Gamble chuckled.

Is there any field of endeavor in which Belichick doesn’t exist on a higher intellectual plane than everyone else? Football. Psychology. Lacrosse. Economics. And now fashion. He’s Dumbledore, looking at the world around us and seeing the big picture the rest of us can’t see. Ostensibly, Kenny Gamble and the folks who run Reebok get paid big sums of money to predict what American sports fan want to wear and are interested in buying. Period. And they can’t even do that simple thing as well as Belichick can. And he’s spending 99% of his time building a roster and scheming to dismantle the Wildcat Offense. “Fashion icon”? Really? Gamble is just now figuring out that every guy in America wants to be Belichick and every woman wants to be with him? Where’ve you been, man?  People want the look of a winner, and the greatest winner of our times wears a gray hooded sweatshirt.  It’s that simple.  Which is why Belichick has a bigger effect on fashion in America than his quarterback’s wife does in Paris and Milan. And I’ve got a closet full of gray Patriots hoodies to prove it.

PS – When you’re the biggest fashion mogel and the best coach in America I think that earns you the right to kick back on you boat at Straight Wharf in Nantucket.  Thanks to Conor & KP for the pics…