If you owned the Mean Green spirit store

[SilverEagle]

Did you know that KU has updated their Jayhawk over the years?

Well, the "Scrappy" that Ragpicker is talking about was drawn by a professional. It always looked as finished as the top Jayhawk and was NEVER like the two bottom crayola-like drawings.

I was told that our 50's/60's Scrappy cartoon character was drawn by the legendary cartoonist Bill McClanahan.

[rws69]

Opinions about logos and initials notwithstanding, I would like to see Mean Green Club and Alumni Association apparel. Also would like to see sweaters and buttoned shirts instead of just sweats and tees.

[3XL]

An additional mark for athletic gear would be nice....we're leaving money on the table.

Our letterman's NT is balanced, unique & collegiate. It ties the old with the new. It's never too late to add a traditional college mark, that can stand the test of time. 100 years from now, I would bet that the OU, BU, NC & ND's of the college football world will still be using their interlocked marks.

• shades of green come & go "green, apple green, dark green, darker forest green, mint green, kelly green"
• logos come & go "NT, flying worms, parakeets, daffys, hand drawn eagle, clip-art eagle, sow"
• mascots come & go " see...the evolution of Scrappy"
• fonts evolve and change with the current design trends

...bring back the NT for our second 100 years!

[3XL]

USC is also similar to UNT in name. USC primarily uses three distinct logos in their sports merchandising.

• Trojan Head
• USC
• interlocked SC

wow...another university using multiple logos with zero "brand confusion". USC has a very balanced approach, marketing all three logos about the same...a third, a third and a third.

UNTFan23- Honest Question: Are they California Southern CS or Southern California SC?

just joking...really...I come in peace and know that you do too! I know you are a great guy and support our University better than I do. You have passion for our school & probably even go to some basketball games...ha. I have passion too...only...I get hung up in football uniforms and merchandising. I think we both just want our school to be better...let's say from really good to great!

ok...back to merchandising and more money!

it's time to turn another corner and "expand the brand!"

Good Design is Good Business!

go mean green

3XL

[ragpicker]

Well, the "Scrappy" that Ragpicker is talking about was drawn by a professional. It always looked as finished as the top Jayhawk and was NEVER like the two bottom crayola-like drawings.

I was told that our 50's/60's Scrappy cartoon character was drawn by the legendary cartoonist Bill McClanahan.

I know, but he has remained somewhat similar throughout the years. Our newer Scrappy's are not even shadows of the 50's 60's Scrappy, but have become buffed up cliches. If nothing else that Scrappy LOOKED scrappy, was very popular and seen everywhere. There has not been a Scrappy since as ubiquitous. As for Bill McClanahan, his characters appeared every Friday in the DMN during football season. I don't know if he created that Scrappy or not, but Scrappy would not have appeared often among his characters because we seldom played SWC schools in those days. Thanks for bringing up McClanahan, SilverEagle. I wish all of his characters would return along with every knotted tail, bump on the head and bandage that represented each loss for that particular season. Sometimes after numerous losses some of them would be on crutches and occasionally even buried under a R.I.P. headstone.

[UNTFan23]

UNTFan23- Honest Question: Are they California Southern CS or Southern California SC?

just joking...really...I come in peace and know that you do too! I know you are a great guy and support our University better than I do. You have passion for our school & probably even go to some basketball games...ha. I have passion too...only...I get hung up in football uniforms and merchandising. I think we both just want our school to be better...let's say from really good to great!

ok...back to merchandising and more money!

I am a season ticket holder for FB, MBB, & WBB. Missed very few games over the years for all three sports.

I work in the retail industry and so I know a little about merchandising. While options in apparel are great, too many options does dilute the value of your brand, especially if there is a lack of consistency between the look and feel of the logos. We don't need to mix in the Letterman's Assoc. logo with the other logos the university has worked hard to focus merchandise sales on the new stuff that was developed less than 10 years ago.

I know you like to list off big schools like USC, UNC, OU, to a lesser degree Baylor, etc but North Texas just doesn't have the penetration into local retailers to come close to support yet another logo and the inevitable assortment that would likely go with a second logo option. I'd really be curious to see what the assortment looks like for smaller schools that don't have national followings.

The problem might not really be getting people like Nike and such to make the stuff. It really is getting retailers like Walmart, Academy, Dick's, etc to buy the merchandise for you and I to buy. I'm pretty sure North Texas doesn't have a high turnover rate when it comes to sales so why should retailers invest in North Texas gear that will just sit on the shelf? Worse yet, retailers might have to reduce the prices in order to make room for something that they know will sell better than NT gear, meaning they took a loss (or didn't make the profit on the items they set a target for), and your apparel buyers now are less comfortable taking a risk on NT gear knowing they had to take markdowns. That is perhaps the biggest obstacle in getting any NT gear in most retailers in DFW.

[TheWestie]

I just want some UNT sleep pants like these but green:

with this bad MOFO on 'em

and some of this

[SilverEagle]

I got mine (UNT/ATM) from here: http://www.housedividedflags.com/product_p/unt-green-dye-sub-left.htm

I went to "college flags and banners" and ordered one the very day of my conversation with the TCU person at B&N.

Most of my annoyance is the fact that our shops rarely have what the general public is looking for. And then when TCU called to get cooperation on something that would eventually result in our logo flying out in public inTCU territory their response to the request was to be TYPICALLY obstructionist. They should be called out every time that happens.

I bought three diving Eagle hats (two all green w/white Eagle and one khaki w/green Eagle) from the Wal-Mart in Roanoke. I gave one to FFR who said (before he knew it was purchased at Wal-Mart) it was the best fitting hat he ever owned. I bought NT t-shirts from the Sams in Denton that were some of the best quality I've ever bought (the words NORTH TEXAS were sewn-on, not printed) . The hats cost $9 each and the t-shirts were $13.

So, if you want reasonably priced gear, go somewhere other than our pretty clueless (and on occasion obstructionist) NT-run stores.

Edited February 3, 2014 by SilverEagle

[PlummMeanGreen]

As far as the Academy, Finish Line, Lids and the Sports Authority are concerned (and talking about those outside Denton County).......anyway......we are at the mercy of the buyers who seem to be the ones with the main influence as to what stores get what school's sports gear. It would be easy to wager that those buyers have no idea that we have more than twice the student enrollment of SMU and TCU, combined.

I'd also bet 9 out of 10 of those buyers have no idea that North Texas has 225,000 DFW area alums and an enrollment approaching 40,000. Any takers on that bet?

GMG!

Edited February 3, 2014 by PlummMeanGreen

[ragpicker]

As far as the Academy, Finish Line, Lids and the Sports Authority are concerned (and talking about those outside Denton County).......anyway......we are at the mercy of the buyers who seem to be the ones with the main influence as to what stores get what school's sports gear. It would be easy to wager that those buyers have no idea that we have more than twice the student enrollment of SMU and TCU, combined.

I'd also bet 9 out of 10 of those buyers have no idea that North Texas has 225,000 DFW area alums and an enrollment approaching 40,000. Any takers on that bet?

GMG!

Good point, Plumm. Perhaps one reason those buyers are in the dark about us is the sorry state of major media coverage on our athletic teams in DFW. Recent case in point: Sat. night Channel 8 sports announced about 20 basketball scores and we were not even mentioned. Of course, after the shellacking we took from Tulsa, perhaps Channel 8 was just being merciful. Still...

[TheWestie]

As far as the Academy, Finish Line, Lids and the Sports Authority are concerned (and talking about those outside Denton County).......anyway......we are at the mercy of the buyers who seem to be the ones with the main influence as to what stores get what school's sports gear.

Dude, you should take a peek inside the Sports Authority IN Denton. I can count the number of UNT things in there on both hands with a couple of fingers left over. And the Academy in Highland Village and Lewisville are the same or worse. Even around HODB time, there was still next to nothing at those places.

Edited February 4, 2014 by TheWestie

[FirefightnRick]

The reps for the merchandiser is the one that pushes the product, talks the store manager into gaining shelf space, pushes the product that sells the most,..etc. It's those folks who we need to win over, but our reputation with them is less than stellar.

I had a meeting with the rep from Hat World/Lidz several years back and our constant changing of colors and logos hurt us severely according to him.

Since that time, our logos and colors have been stable. The SOW has been here for a decade or so, so that shouldn't be the problem any more.

Once I pushed for Zephyr and Top Of the World to enter into NT licensing contracts, their reps pushed it onto the shelves as a new, vibrant product solely unique to a special design Zephyr had done. And often times their products were bought up to the point where when I asked retailers if they had any more NT hats in my size I got a "We can't keep NT hats in stock". And it was simple. I approached two of the most popular hat manufacturers by phone, sold their regional head-of-sales on North Texas and talked both men into giving North Texas a chance. The Zephyr guy later told me their X Line design they did for us was the most successful product for that line in our region. And it cost me nothing more than maybe an hour total worth of time on the phone with each.

So overall, it's a lack of effort on NT's behalf as to why more gear isn't out in the metroplex. Don't believe me take a trip to San Antonio and see what they are doing down there. Like Texas State has for several years now, they are blowing our doors off merchandise-wise.

There's no reason for it other than we allow it to be. As soon as our leadership on campus chooses to make the decision to change this, then we will. When that will happen..who knows?

Rick

Edited February 4, 2014 by FirefightnRick

[scrappyman1]

I want mor 3X shirts. I find 2X all the time, but look around and you will see there

are a lot of larger men out there especially some of us that played football around.

You just can't find many shirts in 3X. Every time I ask B and Noble I get the "We get

a lot of calls for 3X but just don't have many.

[Harry]

I want mor 3X shirts. I find 2X all the time, but look around and you will see there

are a lot of larger men out there especially some of us that played football around.

You just can't find many shirts in 3X. Every time I ask B and Noble I get the "We get

a lot of calls for 3X but just don't have many.

You are right I have a friend who has told me the same thing.

[3XL]

If I owned the Mean Green store and could carry anything with any logo...my wish list would be any & all from my last 4 boards with "our" NT.

My top-priority NT items would be the following:

• Car Emblem (simple & easy to read)
• Flag (game day flags for tailgate & homes)
• Outerwear (jackets, polos, fishing shirts)
• Caps (simple & easy to read headgear)

My non-essential but would be cool category:

• Boots (NT would look better than small hard to read North Texas w diving eagle...ie Texas Ranger "T" boots...we are in TX)
• i-phone case (what would have as many exposure/impressions than a phone cover...NT would be simple & easy to read)
• Cups & Koozies (for now I will just have to use my "green light to greatness" koozie)
• mini-helmet with the interlocked NT on my shelf (classic & collegiate)

I think our NT looks as good as the listed NC, ND and better than BU, SC and UH.

I just returned from SEC country and could not help but notice the branded lettered logos on everything from tailgating spirit gear to business casual shirts & slacks. It's big business down there. I would like our business to grow.

Time to turn "another corner" and expand the brand...to be a little bigger we need to brand a little bigger.

good design is good business

3XL

[IrishTexan]

When Hayden Fry, arguably the best football coach NT ever had, went Iowa he changed the entire program from "sox to jocks". On of his first moves was to change the uniforms and branding to closely mirror the Pittsburgh Steelers, the preeminent team in the 70's when he left NTSU for Iowa. What ever happened to the hunter green, when was it replaced with neon green. And the flying worm logo? come on. Let's get ourselves a bad ass eagle on the helmets.

[FirefightnRick]

When Hayden Fry, arguably the best football coach NT ever had, went Iowa he changed the entire program from "sox to jocks". On of his first moves was to change the uniforms and branding to closely mirror the Pittsburgh Steelers, the preeminent team in the 70's when he left NTSU for Iowa. What ever happened to the hunter green, when was it replaced with neon green. And the flying worm logo? come on. Let's get ourselves a bad ass eagle on the helmets.

It's Kelly Green, not Neon,... or it's suppose to be Kelly? Either way, the Kelly green has been the predominant shade of green for the majority of our history prior to Fry changing it to Apple green. Then we went back to Kelly for another decade before changing to Hunter. The Hunter green had a short life span, maybe 10 years? And that's fine by me because when the team starts sweating the uni's turn dark and that shade isn't a good look on TV.

The new Kelly accented with black looks fantastic on TV and gained positive recognition during the bowl games.

Rick

[TheWestie]

If I owned the UNT team store, I'd also open satellite locations in the Dallas Galleria and Hulen Mall.

[SSP]

DON'T want to fish through all the posts so I don't know if this was mentioned yet. I VERY rarely go to the Golden triangle mall (if you don't know about the GT mall- you never lived in Denton) because despite the efforts to make changes, still a bit icky.

BUT- went by the hat store before Christmas and it had only 1 NT hat that was really ugly. Strolled by it today and it had over 15 different styles right in the window. Don't know if the bowl game prompted this change, but it was positive to see.

[gksmith]

It goes to that "polished turd" rant I have made before. You see UT, OU, LSU, Bama, et al ad nausium stull all over the place. A lot of it is crap to be honest. UNT is a little stengy with the licensing. The usual stuff is out there: hats, shirts, pants, et al. But you don't see any wooden footballs with UNT logo on it but I know you can find UT turds like that.