Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Victoria Secret Strikes Deal With Some MLB Teams; Somewhere, Jame McCourt Smolders

The Dodgers have Alyssa Milano's TOUCH line and of course the annual Smashbox lipstick stadium giveaway day. But when it comes time for major apparel retailer Victoria's Secret to design a special clothing line with MLB teams, guess which MLB team surprisingly didn't make the cut:

MLB is partnering with Victoria's Secret's PINK brand to take aim at young women during the 2010 season with a new fashion line featuring the logos of 11 clubs, including the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels.

The VS PINK brand caters to college-age women with bras, lingerie and sleepwear. The baseball-themed line of crystallized hats, jerseys, T-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, tanks, shorts and fleeces will roll out in more than 100 Victoria's Secret stores in 11 markets Tuesday. It will also be sold online at VictoriasSecret.com.

The youthful gear will feature sayings such as "I Only Kiss Angels Fans" and "Love Love Love Twins." Prices will range from $19.99 for caps to $58 for fleeces. Some MLB ballplayers will appear alongside Victoria's Secret models as they tout the line in the 11 markets.

Women account for more than 40% of fans at major league games, MLB executive vice president Tim Brosnan says. He's hoping fashion models will wear the gear at the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show. "After we do the 11 teams, there will then be demand for all 30," he says.

The Yankees and Red Sox I understand--after all, about 73% of all MLB media is about them anyway--and the Cardinals and Cubs make sense given parent company Limited Brands' headquarters in Ohio (good luck with Indians and Reds fans, guys) and the fact that this gives them the excuse to add plus-sized items to their portfolio. But the Twins? And the Angels, not only to represent Los Angeles, but all of the west coast? Are you kidding me?

Well it's not like the Dodgers need extra royalty revenues at a time like this, I suppose.

UPDATE (3:40p): Roberto from VSIMH was kind enough to drop a link in the comment thread that says the Dodgers actually did make the cut after all:

The MLB and VS PINK co-branded collection will fashionably feature names and logos of 11 MLB teams including the Angels, Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Mets, Padres, Phillies, Red Sox, Twins, White Sox and Yankees.

Yep, the Padres, that's the third and final west coast team I would have selected. Big fan base, there.

photo: MLB/Victoria's Secret via USAToday.com

7 comments:

Jason said...

I'm torn. On one hand, I'm glad there won't be extra pink and/or bedazzled Dodgers gear flooding the market. On the other hand, there also won't be appearances by Victoria's Secret models.

Roberto Baly said...

Gisele called me earlier today and she informs me that the Dodgers will be represented :)

Casey Lombardo said...

Maybe the Victoria's Secret proposal was accidentally mailed to the alternate universe Dodgers front office, and Peter O'Malley II rejected it as being in poor taste.

Roberto Baly said...

I wasn't kidding...

The Dodgers are in:

http://tinyurl.com/yj59hg8

Josh S. said...

Judging from the pic, they're shirts for ladies with freakishly long torsos.

Mr. Carter said...

Should Alyssa Milano feel the pressure?

Unknown said...

the dodgers did make the cut. see the full list of teams here, on Pink's Twitter Account:

http://twitter.com/VSPINK/status/10636740972