MLB Merch finds an unlikely home
Baseball is more popular in the U.S. than at any point in the last 16 years and it turns out that the US isn’t the only place experiencing explosive growth in baseball fans. There is an unlikely candidate and that is China, well at least in the fashion sense.
“Baseball participation is at nearly 16.7 million in the United States, the highest officially recorded level since SFIA’s survey of more than 120 sports began in 2008.” official sources report. This huge figure is also being replicated abroad, particularly in East Asia.
China has historically been associated with basketball in American sports, but MLB is here to give it a run for its money.
Baseball is popular in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang coastal region of China where several elementary schools have baseball teams. MLB, NPB, and KBO games are all available in China with a sizeable audience with a promising growth trajectory.
The most anticipated matchup of the Asian Games baseball game -- Taiwan vs. South Korea on Oct. 2nd -- has already been sold out since last week. This shows how the sport is growing in popularity and gaining new fans.
Meanwhile, in cities like Suzhou, MLB merch is being sold like high fashion which means there is a demand to sustain such investments. The sight of the constant stream of customers and people walking out with their purchases from these stores speaks volumes about the connection that the Chinese are cultivating with baseball.
A South Korean company called F&F owns the MLB merch rights in East Asia. The South Korean apparel retailer F&F obtained the official MLB license and opened the first MLB store in 1997. The brand currently has 280 stores in South Korea and also operates in multiple markets, including Vietnam, Thailand, and Hong Kong in Asia.