Is anyone out there an authorized manufacturer for M-Dot or Ironman branded merchandise? Particuliarly clothing and/or visors?
I quickly looked into this on the Ironman website, but it says after the “application” process it typically takes a year before they can go to market with their product. Does anyone know, once this relationship is set up, is that approval process for each and every item within the manufacturer’s line?
I have a lot of really cool ideas for logoed apparel, but am not sure how large scale I would want to take it, considering my full time job. Is there perhaps anyone already authorized that would like to purchase my design ideas?
If there was more than one there would be competition - and then they would not be able to charge their idiotic prices for crappy gear. They need to go back to Sugoi, or pickup Desoto…cant beat a headsweats hat though…
Please. PLEASE! For the love of all that is good and holy, sell your ideas/thoughts to Inside Out Sports… They need them more than you do! Their selection at IMAZ this year was worse than last. Don’t know how they pulled that off, but they did.
ECM - Event Stores Management used to do the majority of IMNA schwag and as I understand it they now only do IMC. They may be interested, but given their departure from several IMNA races, not sure how intersted they would be.
There are a bunch more, but you get the idea. Each company is restricted in terms of what they can/cannot put the logo on. For instance, the Cannondale IM bike is the official M-Dot bike, but theS Slice fork it comes with is not. So, as an example, the bike can have the M-Dot logo, but not the fork.
They are not really partners, they are licensees. WTC or IMNA licenses their name out to all the mentioned companies. In the license, the companies are granted permission to use the M-Dot logo. In return the companies pay WTC or IMNA a royalty for each item produced with that logo on it. The end consumer, ends up paying that royalty for getting to wear the M-Dot.
You know, I never heard of Kuji helmets, so I did a search on them. Took awhile, too. When I found them, they don’t look so hot. I can’t imagine many people are going to wear them, and certainly not because they have the IM logo.
Point is, do you have some cool ideas for something that is actually useful, or just some cool ideas for slapping the M-dot logo on?
If the former, I’d say you don’t need the logo at all. If the latter, my advice would be not to bother with it much.
While many of us think the mdot license deal is stupid, its a brand that has a proven track record of carrying other products . Looks like most of the readers of this post wouldn’t care to go out of their way to purchase mdot products (including myself) but there are many triathletes that associate all they do with the logo, thus, they buy the products. If only WTC licensed tatoo parlors in mdot towns; that would generate some revenue!
its a brand that has a proven track record of carrying other products
I am honestly not sure about that. All of the M-Dot products I can think of that have some success are products that would probably be just as successful on their own. (Though I’m sure I’m not working with a comprehensive list, either.)
Cannondale bikes? I don’t see many people buying them because of the logo.
The old IM wetsuits? Did people buy them because of the brand, or because they’re good wetsuits?
Timex IM watch? I had one until I killed it, and I did not buy it because of the logo- I bought it because it was a cheap, reliable watch that had all the features I wanted. The replacement for it had pretty much the same features, but no logo.
I am sure that there are some people who do go out of their way to make sure every last purchase has the M-Dot logo, but I don’t think it would be enough to carry a brand on it’s own. I think you have to have a decent product that would survive on its own first. I wouldn’t be real optimistic about those Kuji helmets selling like hotcakes, for example.
But I could be all wrong. Who knows?
I guess it would be interesting to hear what the OP has in mind, but maybe that would be revealing trade secrets.
Trade secrets, yes, but since it is more of a visual design, I guess I can answer. First off, I am in the early stages of designing a website for triathlete women (www.trichik.com) The website is currently in the conceptual stages, so thus far I only own the domain. It will be a site for women with respect to training, racing, dating in the sport, pictures, coaching, etc. It will be a fun, sassy site, that also sells my TriChik branded apparel. Cute tee’s, tanks, shorts, etc. Not racewear.
In terms of the m-dot licensee, it would also be for apparel, i.e. tees, tanks, shorts, visors, etc. Unfortunately in the m-dot case it would be carried by the m-dot logo, hoping that women want a shirt after their IM race that is actually cute, well made, and has a good design. Nothing about the designs at IMNA events makes you want to buy anything. Let’s face it, the first time IM racers buy it no matter what it looks like, but for the rest of us, I buy a sticker for my bike box and that’s it. But if a super cute tee was available I’d be all over it.
So basically I have designed a play on the m-dot symbol for each of the IMNA events. Which actually makes me wonder…hmmm…since it is not exactly the m-dot symbol, would I need to have the licensee agreement? Or would my design be similiar enough that it could still be grounds for copyright infringement of some sort?
I’d love to get my designs out there in front of some people to see what they think. My friends and local tri community love them, but there are only so many IM trichiks in Las Vegas, so my market is small.
Well, at least for the Timex Ironman watches, the good folks at Timex will tell you that they have tried every which way to figure out a way to sell their watches without the M-Dot . . . but all their other watches they create - even if they have almost the exact features of one of their M-Dot watches at a cheaper price - don’t sell as well. So I think Timex has just given up and are willing to pay the license fee and keep with a succesfull product.
Oh . . . and funny enough I think it is mostly non-triathletes that make up most of the sales of M-dot products. Triathlon is such a small, niche market that I’d be surprised if we make up more than 10-20% of the sales on any of these items (and way, way less on the timex products).
