Over the past few days, MLB players and even the players’ union have complained about the caliber of MLB’s new jerseys from fanatics.
Nobody is happy about it.
Fans and a growing number of its players have been openly critical of the threads. It all started earlier this month when X user Bobby Mullins posted comparative images of a 2023 Seattle Mariners jersey.
“They cut corners and increased prices, citing demand & inflation as causes for the incremental price hikes,” he wrote of Fanatics’ efforts. He later noted that Fanatics had “eliminated the majority of stitching on the jerseys” and instead they had heat-pressed, single-layered patches. “In what appears to be a race to see how bad things can get and how high can we jump prices, this year simply says, hold my beer,” he added.
The pants are not great either:
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A few days later, St. Louis Cardinals reporter Jeff Jones shared an image of a new Miles Mikolas jersey from inside the team’s clubhouse.
“Players are pretty unhappy,” Jones wrote. “Miles Mikolas says they also don’t fit right; pants are no longer as customized, and the fabric is a very different consistency. ‘They look cheap,’ another player said.”
More:
Fanatics has a poor reputation among many sports fans for their poor quality materials and lack of quality control, which led many to believe the issues with the jerseys are solely on them.
Other players went on the record with The Athletic, saying the Fanatics official team jerseys look like replicas, feel “papery” and do not feature iconic colors and logos.
It should be noted that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred clarified to reporters during Grapefruit League media day that the new jerseys are designed by Nike, not Fanatics, via ESPN’s David Schoenfield:
“We always pay attention to what people are saying about any new initiative. As you know in baseball, with any new initiative there’s going to be some negative feedback,” Manfred said. “First and most important, these are Nike jerseys. We entered into this partnership with Nike because of who they are and the kinds of products they produce.”
According to Nike, the high-performance fabric of the new template was made from at least 90% recycled polyester yarns and provides 25% more stretch, and allows the jersey to dry 28% faster with moisture-wicking Dri-Fit ADV technology.
Things are so bad that even fanatics admitted to screwing up a jersey after a customer reached out to them:
Yikes.
