Lids Caps Distributor Says UNT Campus Licensors Are Stingy...

FirefightnRick · February 7, 2014

"Sigh".....not sure I have the strength to explain this for the ______ time?

Relondo's response to Snowy...

Thanks Austin. I appreciate you contacting me. I am the appropriate person. We have been working very hard to increase our product availability all across the region. I will follow up with this business. Just so you know we are not hard to license with. I dont know why a business would say that. We have major manufacturers that produce our product covering all price ranges.
Thanks!
R

What Relondo is referring to and what Snowy was trying to ask are two complete different things.

Snowy asked why a Retailer(store) is telling their customers that UNT licensing makes it difficult to get gear? But Licensing has nothing to do with a retailer selling products to customers because the Licensing fee is already paid for by the "MANUFACTURER". The manufacturer then sells the product to the retailer(store).

When Rolondo replied that they have "Major Manufacturers that produce our product".. he's correct. But there's one major problem with that. Those major manufacturers don't give a crap about producing North Texas gear due to a lack of volume...for several reasons. They would rather produce products for stores requesting items from a top 25 selling school instead. Oh, they will make their product for the retailer when the retailer orders it, but the retailer is gonna pay dearly for it, and that's the bottom line problem for the retailer, and then ultimately, you the customer.

More than likely the retailer Snowy was dealing with and the guy Plumm was dealing with either don't know what they are talking about or would rather blame it on North Texas as to why they can't get gear rather than to admit they simply don't care or can't afford it.

Those Major Manufacturers Relondo mentioned are "Collegiate Licensed Company"(CLC) licensed manufacturers. CLC handles, approves, promotes and enforces the brands of licensed items for schools they are contracted with, and unfortunately, we are one of those schools. Last time I dealt with them Paul Batchelder was CLC's contact for our athletic department. And Relondo must be their contact for URCM, but Im not for certain on that since its been a few years. Anyhow, dealing with CLC is an extreme pain in the ass.

For instance, to get licensed to make CLC approved products, a manufacturer just starting out must first have an active $1 Million product liability insurance policy just to request an application. And then it's anywhere from 8 months to a year to wait for approval. CLC even goes so far as to discourage you from applying with a statement on their application forms describing in great detail as to why you should expect a denial. And they have their reasons for this which I'll explain later.

And here is why a retailer(store) might get it confused and simply say....."Well, we can't get UNT gear because UNT won't release their branding due to......(fill in the blank with an excuse here)".

And I encourage anyone else who is interested to do this as well.....

Pick a collegiate product that is made with another top selling school's logo,..ex: North Carolina, and find the contact for the manufacturer of that product and call that company. When someone answers ask for sales, and be nice but firm, and tell them your the owner of a business/retailer/store. If they ask the name of the business just make one up since your just looking for a product quote at the moment. Tell them you would like to purchase their product with a North Texas Mean Green logo on it. They will either tell you no, or tell you ok, and then will give you your cost per item and then the minimum number of items you must purchase from them to complete the purchase. And this is when you will understand the whole problem.

As before, I'll give you one of my many examples I ran into when trying to supply Mean Green fans with cool, new and unique products. One item was a Mean Green chrome "AutoEmblem", manufactured out of Colorado Springs, CO.

I call and get ahold of the main dude over product sales. I introduced myself and told him that I had a small online North Texas gear store down in Texas. We had a nice quick chat about their product blah blah blah, then I told him what I wanted. He hesitated for a moment(this was because he wasn't sure if they had a license agreement from CLC to produce North Texas AutoEmblems or not, and was having to look it up to make sure), then tells me...."OK, we can do that". He then say's that their product has a nationally set price, that I must sign an agreement to sell it at that price, which at the time was $8.50 each, and that my cost was $5.00 each,.. and that my minimum order was.....and here's the kick to the nads.............3500 units!!!!!!!!!!

I nearly flipped out. I asked why it was going to cost me $17,500 for a product I wouldn't live long enough to sell all of?

He said "Because first, since we have never done a product for North Texas I have to apply for and get approval from CLC". This was only something like $35 dollars, but it involves paperwork and approval time, which was anywhere from 3 days to a couple of weeks back then.

He then said.."Next, since we have never produced a product for North Texas I have to pay a (injection)mold designer to make the 4-piece mold that will more than likely never get used again, and those things are expensive".

At this point I realized I wasn't going to get my AutoEmblem to sell to y'all. He realized I was dissatisfied and then explained that nowadays they stick mostly to two areas of products to maximize their profits. NASCAR and the top 25 merchandising colleges...Texas, North Carolina, Michigan...ex.

And THAT is the biggest deal and what people like Relondo don't seem to understand? Sure, we are in a licensing agreement with approved major manufacturers around the country...(thru CLC).. but they don't do enough product with UNT to bother over.

Soap Box...

It's my opinion that CLC is a crooked group of people who don't give a shit about the smaller schools or the smaller manufacturer, and we saw a great example of this in pitiful shirts they approved of to be made and sold by one of their bigger manufacturers from Kansas back in '03 or '04 in New Orleans.

After giving me final approval to produce a Sun Belt Conference Champion shirt CLC put the squeeze to my nuts and changed their minds on my approval by fabricated a reason why I had to triple my fee, assuring that I wouldn't be able to sell my shirt that AustinTalon had designed for us here on Gmg.com.

Instead they later approved one of their bigger distributors out of Kansas for that game. That Kansas shirt was about as bland as it could be and it became obvious as to why when I asked the rep there at their table in the team hotel about North Texas and he couldnt even tell me what town UNT was in, and later admitted he had no idea who we were. As it turned out, they were also connected with the N.O. Bowl folks who relies heavily on CLC for products.

Remember the great shirt the Exes had made up that year? The Exes had a local do that shjrt and gave it away rather than sell it, and they went fast. Both the Exes shirt and our shirt blew the Kansas-made shirt out of the water, but CLC wasn't concerned about Quality, they just had to fill a small void for the bowl committee and keep their preferred manufacturers in business. This Is when I realized, as I mentioned earlier, why in their application they tell you about expecting a denial. They don't want mom and pop t shirt businesses interfering with their back-scratching they have going on with the bigger

manufacturers. As a result smaller market schools like UNT and their fans suffer the consequences.

Overall this is why I still maintain NT should go private licensing and control it's own products by using local manufacturers who are more than likely familiar with or even connected to UNT, who would be much more highly motivated to do a better job producing a more quality product than what some carpet bagger out of Topeka would put out.

Off soap box.

Rick

Edited February 7, 2014 by FirefightnRick

outoftown · February 7, 2014

"Sigh".....not sure I have the strength to explain this for the ______ time?
Relondo's response to Snowy...
What Relondo is referring to and what Snowy was trying to ask are two complete different things.
Snowy asked why a Retailer(store) is telling their customers that UNT licensing makes it difficult to get gear? But Licensing has nothing to do with a retailer selling products to customers because the Licensing fee is already paid for by the "MANUFACTURER". The manufacturer then sells the product to the retailer(store).
When Rolondo replied that they have "Major Manufacturers that produce our product".. he's correct. But there's one major problem with that. Those major manufacturers don't give a crap about producing North Texas gear due to a lack of volume...for several reasons. They would rather produce products for stores requesting items from a top 25 selling school instead. Oh, they will make their product for the retailer when the retailer orders it, but the retailer is gonna pay dearly for it, and that's the bottom line problem for the retailer, and then ultimately, you the customer.
More than likely the retailer Snowy was dealing with and the guy Plumm was dealing with either don't know what they are talking about or would rather blame it on North Texas as to why they can't get gear rather than to admit they simply don't care or can't afford it.
Those Major Manufacturers Relondo mentioned are "Collegiate Licensed Company"(CLC) licensed manufacturers. CLC handles, approves, promotes and enforces the brands of licensed items for schools they are contracted with, and unfortunately, we are one of those schools. Last time I dealt with them Paul Batchelder was CLC's contact for our athletic department. And Relondo must be their contact for URCM, but Im not for certain on that since its been a few years. Anyhow, dealing with CLC is an extreme pain in the ass.
For instance, to get licensed to make CLC approved products, a manufacturer just starting out must first have an active $1 Million product liability insurance policy just to request an application. And then it's anywhere from 8 months to a year to wait for approval. CLC even goes so far as to discourage you from applying with a statement on their application forms describing in great detail as to why you should expect a denial. And they have their reasons for this which I'll explain later.
And here is why a retailer(store) might get it confused and simply say....."Well, we can't get UNT gear because UNT won't release their branding due to......(fill in the blank with an excuse here)".
And I encourage anyone else who is interested to do this as well.....
Pick a collegiate product that is made with another top selling school's logo,..ex: North Carolina, and find the contact for the manufacturer of that product and call that company. When someone answers ask for sales, and be nice but firm, and tell them your the owner of a business/retailer/store. If they ask the name of the business just make one up since your just looking for a product quote at the moment. Tell them you would like to purchase their product with a North Texas Mean Green logo on it. They will either tell you no, or tell you ok, and then will give you your cost per item and then the minimum number of items you must purchase from them to complete the purchase. And this is when you will understand the whole problem.
As before, I'll give you one of my many examples I ran into when trying to supply Mean Green fans with cool, new and unique products. One item was a Mean Green chrome "AutoEmblem", manufactured out of Colorado Springs, CO.
I call and get ahold of the main dude over product sales. I introduced myself and told him that I had a small online North Texas gear store down in Texas. We had a nice quick chat about their product blah blah blah, then I told him what I wanted. He hesitated for a moment(this was because he wasn't sure if they had a license agreement from CLC to produce North Texas AutoEmblems or not, and was having to look it up to make sure), then tells me...."OK, we can do that". He then say's that their product has a nationally set price, that I must sign an agreement to sell it at that price, which at the time was $8.50 each, and that my cost was $5.00 each,.. and that my minimum order was.....and here's the kick to the nads.............3500 units!!!!!!!!!!
I nearly flipped out. I asked why it was going to cost me $17,500 for a product I wouldn't live long enough to sell all of?
He said "Because first, since we have never done a product for North Texas I have to apply for and get approval from CLC". This was only something like $35 dollars, but it involves paperwork and approval time, which was anywhere from 3 days to a couple of weeks back then.
He then said.."Next, since we have never produced a product for North Texas I have to pay a (injection)mold designer to make the 4-piece mold that will more than likely never get used again, and those things are expensive".
At this point I realized I wasn't going to get my AutoEmblem to sell to y'all. He realized I was dissatisfied and then explained that nowadays they stick mostly to two areas of products to maximize their profits. NASCAR and the top 25 merchandising colleges...Texas, North Carolina, Michigan...ex.
And THAT is the biggest deal and what people like Relondo don't seem to understand? Sure, we are in a licensing agreement with approved major manufacturers around the country...(thru CLC).. but they don't do enough product with UNT to bother over.
Soap Box...
It's my opinion that CLC is a crooked group of people who don't give a shit about the smaller schools or the smaller manufacturer, and we saw a great example of this in pitiful shirts they approved of to be made and sold by one of their bigger manufacturers from Kansas back in '03 or '04 in New Orleans.
After giving me final approval to produce a Sun Belt Conference Champion shirt CLC put the squeeze to my nuts and changed their minds on my approval by fabricated a reason why I had to triple my fee, assuring that I wouldn't be able to sell my shirt that AustinTalon had designed for us here on Gmg.com.
Instead they later approved one of their bigger distributors out of Kansas for that game. That Kansas shirt was about as bland as it could be and it became obvious as to why when I asked the rep there at their table in the team hotel about North Texas and he couldnt even tell me what town UNT was in, and later admitted he had no idea who we were. As it turned out, they were also connected with the N.O. Bowl folks who relies heavily on CLC for products.
Remember the great shirt the Exes had made up that year? The Exes had a local do that shjrt and gave it away rather than sell it, and they went fast. Both the Exes shirt and our shirt blew the Kansas-made shirt out of the water, but CLC wasn't concerned about Quality, they just had to fill a small void for the bowl committee and keep their preferred manufacturers in business. This Is when I realized, as I mentioned earlier, why in their application they tell you about expecting a denial. They don't want mom and pop t shirt businesses interfering with their back-scratching they have going on with the bigger
manufacturers. As a result smaller market schools like UNT and their fans suffer the consequences.
Overall this is why I still maintain NT should go private licensing and control it's own products by using local manufacturers who are more than likely familiar with or even connected to UNT, who would be much more highly motivated to do a better job producing a more quality product than what some carpet bagger out of Topeka would put out.
Off soap box.
Rick

Wow... posts that long are usually not worth it. This is one of the exceptions.

GreenMachine · February 7, 2014

Would.

Wood I? Probably

GreenMachine · February 7, 2014

So in response to Ricks post, we need to end our contract with CLC immediately. Who is responsible for making that happen?

PlummMeanGreen · February 7, 2014

Too long....if you can't handle "too long" why bother unless you just need something to bitch about.

FFR, I spoke to someone in their accounting department who seemed to know what he was talking about but I wasn't there to put a water gun to his head and tell him............."you better not be lying to me" because I am a member of this sports forum some of whom would much rather doubt someone's word rather than believe it. -_- :rolleyes:

Of course, we have some among us who have long been lulled to sleep supporting athletic mediocrity for so damn long never, never, never asking for better (and demonizing those of us who did) that we've now been beep beeped marketing wise by UTSA.and once conference re-alignment comes around again (and it will) even more from our group with finally begin to understand why marketing in all the ways you can is important; also, why season tickets sales and Game Day attendance has been important all the time, too--even decades before UTSA finally stumbled onto the fact that they had a dome stadium available nearby and that even their "UT-Almost" school could add varsity football for their student's "off campus" experience.

And no, I am "NOT" off my soapbox with some of the slackers at UNT now coat-tailing off Dan McCarney & staff's success and speaking of Coach DMac with one of his (understandable) comments at the recruiting party the other evening I say this; and I'll once again say this while others on GMG.com still just think it & won't post it for whatever the reasons (insert chicken cackle sounds); anyhow I will re-iterate this to our UNT HFC (who in all fairness to him should not have to be concerned to keep bringing up the subject):

"Coach, there are reasons and (amazingly) some of those reasons have offices not far from your very office as to why we haven't sold out Apogee Stadium. Coach, please consider pointing your finger at that group because some of them think print media, and saying "Yall Come" from radio broadcasts) is still going to get the job done in season ticket sales and SRO crowds at our alma mater. Yet, Coach, similar to what the church lady said about praying maybe your athletic dept. colleagues should consider what she requested as in: "Lord, do help us put foots to our prayers." :innocent:

A Very Easy Prediction: North Texas athletic officials will be like some in Washington D.C; that is, they'll say 'not a smidgen of anything is wrong with what we've been doing;' they'll also say........ 'just let all this blow over' and by this time next week everyone will forget "what those people on the 'idiot board' have said or requested" Well.... not all of us will shut up until they put foots into getting the job done instead of just printing nice cards to mail out (which was a nice start but for damn sure not the marketing end all) and .................until our "in high demand to be hired away by other schools" (sarcasm in pink letters) support staff start doing something dramatically different than what they've been doing UNT will continue to remain toward the bottom of all C-USA school's football season ticket sales. (So get ready......get ready to not get an answer to your "how many season ticket sales" question come this August). There are times I'd like to be 100% wrong about so many things about our alma mater's athletic program and that annual August question is toward the top of the list and of which I'd love to eat southern fried crow for being wrong about.

Have A Nice Day!

PS: 2013 NCAA Attendance Link Article Below:

Check out what TCU says their increase actually was.....did the "official counters" count the Froggies Big 12 Kansas game at ACS with it being a quite empty stadium of which the half time photo of that which went viral among NCAA school's message boards last Fall? :whistling1:

http://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2013-02-07/ncaa-football-attendance-continues-set-records-conferences-and-scho

Edited February 7, 2014 by PlummMeanGreen

Zeke · February 7, 2014

So are all the schools already mentioned at the top of the thread in a CLC license? Are they privately licensed?

3XL · February 7, 2014

thanks for the topic Plum....great post and insights from you, FFR and others.

we need to step up, turn "another corner" and accept the fact that a large mid-major like NT needs a wider selection. Two marks does not fit all needs and applications.

(i.e.) the spelled out North Texas in a small "scruntched-up" font with diving eagle to one side....looks bad on visor, baseball cap or car emblem.

we need better licensing agreements & a better design/marketing team

FirefightnRick · February 7, 2014

Wow... posts that long are usually not worth it. This is one of the exceptions.

I apologize for that. It's just that people have asked what happened to "GreenStock" and why we see things occur like they do. Sharing those experiences back then are sometimes the only way I can explain it.

The fact that we...(UNT) refuse to address this issue with CLC explains some of the stubbornness going on campus in my opinion. We need our name out there in every way we can get it. RV understood this from the very beginning but it's been a tough hill to climb for several reasons, some that are out of his control.

Rick

UNT Five&Dime · February 7, 2014

204 Days

PlummMeanGreen · February 7, 2014

thanks for the topic Plum....great post and insights from you, FFR and others.

we need to step up, turn "another corner" and accept the fact that a large mid-major like NT needs a wider selection. Two marks does not fit all needs and applications.

(i.e.) the spelled out North Texas in a small "scruntched-up" font with diving eagle to one side....looks bad on visor, baseball cap or car emblem.

we need better licensing agreements & a better design/marketing team

You are most welcome, 3XL.

UNTMike81 · February 7, 2014

RV strikes again!!! I guess I'm pinning this on him because the UNT's AD, if he wanted our apperal branding and I'd assume other branding issues resolve he'd bitch, complain, and use his authority to get branding issues changed.

I live in Houston. When I go to any sport apperal outlet, even the Keyosk's (sp) in every major mall in Houston I never see UNT apperal!!! I alway blame this on retailer and not UNT just because I know how marketing and merchandising works. Never once thought how small minded the employees of our university acctually think!!!! This is crazy. When I'm buying clothes my first thought isn't to go to a university website to purchase items because the profit margin for AD or university.

I FREAKING DON'T BY APPERAL FROM A WEBSITE BECAUSE I NEED TO TRY ON PRODUCT. So, my university that I want to support won't even give me the opportunity, NUTS!!!!

THESE FOLKS IN BRANDING AND PROMOTIONS DEPARTMENT WORK IN A University for GOD's sake, not an ELEMENTRY SCHOOL. BUT WHO CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE!!!

UNTexas · February 7, 2014

The only thing I keep finding are the flat billed hats.
And I, uh...... Yeah. I can't wear that.

No one can. No one should. They are stupid.

PlummMeanGreen · February 8, 2014

RV strikes again!!! I guess I'm pinning this on him because the UNT's AD, if he wanted our apperal branding and I'd assume other branding issues resolve he'd bitch, complain, and use his authority to get branding issues changed.

I live in Houston. When I go to any sport apperal outlet, even the Keyosk's (sp) in every major mall in Houston I never see UNT apperal!!! I alway blame this on retailer and not UNT just because I know how marketing and merchandising works. Never once thought how small minded the employees of our university acctually think!!!! This is crazy. When I'm buying clothes my first thought isn't to go to a university website to purchase items because the profit margin for AD or university.

I FREAKING DON'T BY APPERAL FROM A WEBSITE BECAUSE I NEED TO TRY ON PRODUCT. So, my university that I want to support won't even give me the opportunity, NUTS!!!!

THESE FOLKS IN BRANDING AND PROMOTIONS DEPARTMENT WORK IN A University for GOD's sake, not an ELEMENTRY SCHOOL. BUT WHO CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE!!!

UNTMike81, honestly, this has been an on-going problem long before Rick Villarreal arrived in Denton.

We hope RV will be the one who fixes this specific marketing problem albeit we need to wine and dine a few buyers of all these sporting goods places, too, beginning with all the different outlets here in the North Texas Metroplex.

Does North Texas have a........ "We Gotta' Wine Em', Dine Em', Get Em' Drunk & Convert Them To What We Want To Happen With Our Mean Green Gear In All The Chains That They Are The Respective Buyers" luxury suite to host and entertain these people at Apogee Stadium? Let me repeat that once again...........................uh, just kiddin'.

GMG!

PS: The Russians are putting on an impressive opening ceremony thus far, arent' they?

Edited February 8, 2014 by PlummMeanGreen

FirefightnRick · February 8, 2014

Love's? Also, let it be noted that the Rest Area near the Mile 81 marker on Interstate 30.....has no NT caps. I've already called TxDOT to let 'em know how I feel about it.

LMAO!!!

Rick

UNTMike81 · February 9, 2014

Plumm, I know how long merchandising issue has been going on. My point is any AD or university President for that matter should understand how important marketing your university is. Not to mentioin how effective winning college men's and women's athletic programs are to building brand loyalty. The marketing of UNT brand isn't hendered by not being in a BCS/P5 conference. Based on the volume of students that have attended UNT should and would be the driving force behind how much apperal could be sold in Texas and across the US. Which is a very inexpensive way to market your brand positively. A marketing stratagy where the consumer purchases your product to do the marketing for you!!! Freaking full proof!!!

Mattress Mac spends million to promote Gallery Furniture and paid customers 7 Million dollars in "The Big Game Promotion" and another $600,000.00 two weeks before.

This makes me remember RV and other AD's and coach's complaining about UNT fans attending UNT sporting events and wearing other Big 12 school apperal. Well, if UNT is going to put me in a catch 22 and won't allow it's brand to be properly marketed then NUTs on UNT. You can't hold the fan base hostige then we're discussing a university that I would assume offers a degree in market. In the same breath that same university doesn't properly know how to market itself "out of a paper bag"!!!!

Again, are we discussing a university, or an elementry school. Maybe the folks, can't call them professionals that are responsible for marketing UNT should be working at an elementry school instead of the 3 or 4 largest university in one of the largest states in the nation. I don't know that the root cause of UNT brand marketing issues are, but from the outside looking in I'd say however is responsible for UNT's marketing which includes apperal you can't make be believe they have any more than a GED!!! If they do have a higher level of education then they should just "resign" based on the shamefull job proformance they've put in over no telling how many years. Yes I said it and I mean it!!!!

Ben Gooding · February 9, 2014

This is an issue that needs to be resolved. Citizens of Denton shouldn't be wearing ATM or UT apparel. Denton companies just need to stop ordering that garbage and get green everything in their stores.

meangreener · February 9, 2014

Sports Authority makes me want to rage hard. They have the front three rows of racks with Texas A&M and UT gear. Then in the back corner, they have one single rack of UNT gear.

To exacerbate matters, they had a "This is a TCU Thursday Store" sticker in the window.

They're the worst offender. Literally, F Sports Authority. I'm blaming them for being disrespectful a-holes.

Edited February 9, 2014 by meangreener

UNTFan23 · February 9, 2014

Sports Authority makes me want to rage hard. They have the front three rows of racks with Texas A&M and UT gear. Then in the back corner, they have one single rack of UNT gear.
To exacerbate matters, they had a "This is a TCU Thursday Store" sticker in the window.
They're the worst offender. Literally, F Sports Authority. I'm blaming them for being disrespectful a-holes.

Denton has a Sports Authority?

PlummMeanGreen · February 9, 2014

Sports Authority makes me want to rage hard. They have the front three rows of racks with Texas A&M and UT gear. Then in the back corner, they have one single rack of UNT gear.
To exacerbate matters, they had a "This is a TCU Thursday Store" sticker in the window.
They're the worst offender. Literally, F Sports Authority. I'm blaming them for being disrespectful a-holes.

Of course, meangreener, you are talking about Fort Worth being the city of location with the "This Is A TCU Thursday Store", right?

TCU will not in most our lifetimes be nothing but Fort Worth's team and looking at the attendance of their Big 12 home game versus the Kansas Jayhawks last Fall they may need to work on that. TCU is not a system school (a la our UNT system here in northern Texas) so their tentacles of academic influence can just reach out so far.

We are all getting a bunch of keyboarding practice with this thread, but I doubt something gets done with the present UNT crowd unless new UNT President Smatresk adds this to his list of things he wants to get done at North Texas. Also, I can't see this being a high priority project just yet, though, as I think UNT's Tier 1 quest will be at the top of the his prioriity list (as it should be).

I am enjoying this discussion, though. No name-calling has evolved just yet.

UNT90 · February 9, 2014

URCM. I sound like a broken record complaining about them, but I've been annoyed and frustrated by their warped priorities since I was a student worker.

Sounds like kingdom building to me.

If they are holding merchandising back, get rid of the management team. Plain and simple.

Marty · February 9, 2014

Denton has a Sports Authority?

Sports Authority Denton

1800 S Loop 288, Ste 240

Denton Crossing

Denton, TX 76205

meangreener · February 9, 2014

Of course, meangreener, you are talking about Fort Worth being the city of location with the "This Is A TCU Thursday Store", right?

TCU will not in most our lifetimes be nothing but Fort Worth's team and looking at the attendance of their Big 12 home game versus the Kansas Jayhawks last Fall they may need to work on that. TCU is not a system school (a la our UNT system here in northern Texas) so their tentacles of academic influence can just reach out so far.

We are all getting a bunch of keyboarding practice with this thread, but I doubt something gets done with the present UNT crowd unless new UNT President Smatresk adds this to his list of things he wants to get done at North Texas. Also, I can't see this being a high priority project just yet, though, as I think UNT's Tier 1 quest will be at the top of the his prioriity list (as it should be).

I am enjoying this discussion, though. No name-calling has evolved just yet.

The Denton store has this sticker on their door. Not Fort Worth...the Loop 288 one.

Funnily enough they have no TCU gear.

Still.

meangreanmick · February 9, 2014

"Sigh".....not sure I have the strength to explain this for the ______ time?
Relondo's response to Snowy...What Relondo is referring to and what Snowy was trying to ask are two complete different things.
Snowy asked why a Retailer(store) is telling their customers that UNT licensing makes it difficult to get gear? But Licensing has nothing to do with a retailer selling products to customers because the Licensing fee is already paid for by the "MANUFACTURER". The manufacturer then sells the product to the retailer(store).
When Rolondo replied that they have "Major Manufacturers that produce our product".. he's correct. But there's one major problem with that. Those major manufacturers don't give a crap about producing North Texas gear due to a lack of volume...for several reasons. They would rather produce products for stores requesting items from a top 25 selling school instead. Oh, they will make their product for the retailer when the retailer orders it, but the retailer is gonna pay dearly for it, and that's the bottom line problem for the retailer, and then ultimately, you the customer.
More than likely the retailer Snowy was dealing with and the guy Plumm was dealing with either don't know what they are talking about or would rather blame it on North Texas as to why they can't get gear rather than to admit they simply don't care or can't afford it.
Those Major Manufacturers Relondo mentioned are "Collegiate Licensed Company"(CLC) licensed manufacturers. CLC handles, approves, promotes and enforces the brands of licensed items for schools they are contracted with, and unfortunately, we are one of those schools. Last time I dealt with them Paul Batchelder was CLC's contact for our athletic department. And Relondo must be their contact for URCM, but Im not for certain on that since its been a few years. Anyhow, dealing with CLC is an extreme pain in the ass.
For instance, to get licensed to make CLC approved products, a manufacturer just starting out must first have an active $1 Million product liability insurance policy just to request an application. And then it's anywhere from 8 months to a year to wait for approval. CLC even goes so far as to discourage you from applying with a statement on their application forms describing in great detail as to why you should expect a denial. And they have their reasons for this which I'll explain later.
And here is why a retailer(store) might get it confused and simply say....."Well, we can't get UNT gear because UNT won't release their branding due to......(fill in the blank with an excuse here)".
And I encourage anyone else who is interested to do this as well.....
Pick a collegiate product that is made with another top selling school's logo,..ex: North Carolina, and find the contact for the manufacturer of that product and call that company. When someone answers ask for sales, and be nice but firm, and tell them your the owner of a business/retailer/store. If they ask the name of the business just make one up since your just looking for a product quote at the moment. Tell them you would like to purchase their product with a North Texas Mean Green logo on it. They will either tell you no, or tell you ok, and then will give you your cost per item and then the minimum number of items you must purchase from them to complete the purchase. And this is when you will understand the whole problem.
As before, I'll give you one of my many examples I ran into when trying to supply Mean Green fans with cool, new and unique products. One item was a Mean Green chrome "AutoEmblem", manufactured out of Colorado Springs, CO.
I call and get ahold of the main dude over product sales. I introduced myself and told him that I had a small online North Texas gear store down in Texas. We had a nice quick chat about their product blah blah blah, then I told him what I wanted. He hesitated for a moment(this was because he wasn't sure if they had a license agreement from CLC to produce North Texas AutoEmblems or not, and was having to look it up to make sure), then tells me...."OK, we can do that". He then say's that their product has a nationally set price, that I must sign an agreement to sell it at that price, which at the time was $8.50 each, and that my cost was $5.00 each,.. and that my minimum order was.....and here's the kick to the nads.............3500 units!!!!!!!!!!
I nearly flipped out. I asked why it was going to cost me $17,500 for a product I wouldn't live long enough to sell all of?
He said "Because first, since we have never done a product for North Texas I have to apply for and get approval from CLC". This was only something like $35 dollars, but it involves paperwork and approval time, which was anywhere from 3 days to a couple of weeks back then.
He then said.."Next, since we have never produced a product for North Texas I have to pay a (injection)mold designer to make the 4-piece mold that will more than likely never get used again, and those things are expensive".
At this point I realized I wasn't going to get my AutoEmblem to sell to y'all. He realized I was dissatisfied and then explained that nowadays they stick mostly to two areas of products to maximize their profits. NASCAR and the top 25 merchandising colleges...Texas, North Carolina, Michigan...ex.
And THAT is the biggest deal and what people like Relondo don't seem to understand? Sure, we are in a licensing agreement with approved major manufacturers around the country...(thru CLC).. but they don't do enough product with UNT to bother over.
Soap Box...
It's my opinion that CLC is a crooked group of people who don't give a shit about the smaller schools or the smaller manufacturer, and we saw a great example of this in pitiful shirts they approved of to be made and sold by one of their bigger manufacturers from Kansas back in '03 or '04 in New Orleans.
After giving me final approval to produce a Sun Belt Conference Champion shirt CLC put the squeeze to my nuts and changed their minds on my approval by fabricated a reason why I had to triple my fee, assuring that I wouldn't be able to sell my shirt that AustinTalon had designed for us here on Gmg.com.
Instead they later approved one of their bigger distributors out of Kansas for that game. That Kansas shirt was about as bland as it could be and it became obvious as to why when I asked the rep there at their table in the team hotel about North Texas and he couldnt even tell me what town UNT was in, and later admitted he had no idea who we were. As it turned out, they were also connected with the N.O. Bowl folks who relies heavily on CLC for products.
Remember the great shirt the Exes had made up that year? The Exes had a local do that shjrt and gave it away rather than sell it, and they went fast. Both the Exes shirt and our shirt blew the Kansas-made shirt out of the water, but CLC wasn't concerned about Quality, they just had to fill a small void for the bowl committee and keep their preferred manufacturers in business. This Is when I realized, as I mentioned earlier, why in their application they tell you about expecting a denial. They don't want mom and pop t shirt businesses interfering with their back-scratching they have going on with the bigger
manufacturers. As a result smaller market schools like UNT and their fans suffer the consequences.
Overall this is why I still maintain NT should go private licensing and control it's own products by using local manufacturers who are more than likely familiar with or even connected to UNT, who would be much more highly motivated to do a better job producing a more quality product than what some carpet bagger out of Topeka would put out.
Off soap box.
Rick