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How a Hoodie That Says 'Everyone Watches Women's Sports' Sold Out in Minutes, Courtesy of Dawn Staley
Last Thursday, the undefeated University of South Carolina women's basketball team traveled to Baton Rouge to take on the defending national champions Louisiana State University in one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the season. Togethxr co-founder Jessica Robertson was about to turn on the pregame show when her phone started lighting up. Texts kept piling in with screenshots of the live broadcast on ESPN. South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley was giving a pregame interview--while sporting one of Togethxr's signature sweatshirts.
Robertson's friends weren't the only ones taking notice. The faded black hoodie, emblazoned with the message "Everyone Watches Women's Sports" in white block letters on the back, ignited a conversation across social media and on the primetime broadcast, which attracted 1.55 million viewers. The design sold out before the final buzzer sounded.
"I was very surprised and also just sort of incredibly overwhelmed," says Robertson, who also serves as chief content officer of the women's sports-focused media and e-commerce company that is pronounced like "together." It's exciting to count Staley as a fan, she adds, but it's even more meaningful that the legendary coach used her platform to support the mission behind the company. "It does give us a brand lift in terms of visibility, in terms of community growth, in terms of sales, but more important, it is about the message that's on that merchandise."
That mission to elevate women's sports has been the impetus behind Togethxr since Robertson launched the Santa Monica, California-based startup alongside Olympic athletes Sue Bird, Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, and Simone Manuel four years ago. The first-time entrepreneurs landed on Inc.'s Female Founders list last year--an acknowledgment of just how increasingly intertwined the spheres of women's sports and business have become. Like Togethxr's own co-founders, athletes such as Serena Williams and Allyson Felix have expanded their off-the-court (or field) ventures beyond endorsement deals, becoming entrepreneurs and investors in their own right. At the same time, prominent business leaders like Alexis Ohanian, Sheryl Sandberg, and Sheila Johnson have added women's pro teams to their portfolios, sending team valuations skyrocketing to as much as $180 million.
To get to this paradigm shift--where the South Carolina-LSU matchup attracted more viewers than that night's NBA game between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat--Togethxr's co-founders have approached women's sports with an entrepreneurial mindset that sees female athletes not as some charity project but an undervalued asset. And their fans are an underserved market providing massive opportunity for growth.
"Women's sports have always been on the cusp of a huge breakthrough. I think the thing that's really held us back is the lack of investment," Togethxr co-founder Alex Morgan told Inc. in an interview in 2022. "The return on investment is so great."
The investment has been paying off for Togethxr. Robertson says the company cannot keep its inventory of Everyone watches women's sports sweatshirts and t-shirts in stock, and it's not the first time viral demand has outstripped their supply. When Staley first sported one of their t-shirts, like the one pictured above, at a game, inventory sold out within two hours. Even just a week ago, when Morgan posted a video of herself working out in a Togethxr t-shirt to her 10.1 million Instagram followers, the company received a thousand orders in under four hours.
Robertson says the company has learned how to capitalize on these viral moments by "eventizing" them. "Be smart about how you can take that moment and generate potentially more lift for your brand or lift for your business," she explains. For Togethxr, that meant highlighting their Staley moment and all of the reactions across their social media channels--always with a purchase link back to the site--and also being honest with customers about the extra time required to meet excess demand. The site now tells users that sweatshirt preorders will begin to ship the second week in February.
Robertson's other piece of advice to founders: Don't forget to celebrate these wins with your team, because creating a product, especially a mission-driven one, that really resonates with people is no small feat.
"It's about changing the narrative, and that's what we wanted to do with this merchandise line. We are tired of saying no one watches women's sports," says Robertson. "Because frankly, it's not true anymore."
A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta
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How a Hoodie That Says 'Everyone Watches Women's Sports' Sold Out in Minutes, Courtesy of Dawn Staley
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30.01.2024
Workers Are Losing Confidence in Their Employers
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Employers: Parents Need Child Care Benefits Now More Than Ever
Having Trouble Raising Investment in Your Startup? Sofia Coppola Probably Understands How You Feel
The SBA Revamps the Federal Contracting Program for Small, Disadvantaged Businesses
The Best Super Bowl Advertising Strategy Doesn't Require a Celebrity Spokesperson
How a Hoodie That Says 'Everyone Watches Women's Sports' Sold Out in Minutes, Courtesy of Dawn Staley
Last Thursday, the undefeated University of South Carolina women's basketball team traveled to Baton Rouge to take on the defending national champions Louisiana State University in one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the season. Togethxr co-founder Jessica Robertson was about to turn on the pregame show when her phone started lighting up. Texts kept piling in with screenshots of the live broadcast on ESPN. South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley was giving a pregame interview--while sporting one of Togethxr's signature sweatshirts.
Robertson's friends weren't the only ones taking notice. The faded black hoodie, emblazoned with the message "Everyone Watches Women's........
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