Knicks Fans vs Nike & Fanatics
53 years.
That’s how long it had been since the New York Knicks won a Championship.
A gallon of gas was 39 cents. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon came out in March. The US had just ended military involvement in Vietnam. The Godfather won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. A horse named Secretariat had just won the Kentucky Derby. And the brand-new, state-of-the-art World Trade Center had just opened in Manhattan.
After being crowned Champs in 1973, days turned to weeks turned to months turned to years. Gone were Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, and Willis Reed - and “maybe next year” became the rallying cry. Bill Cartright, Bernard King, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson, Latrell Spewell, David Lee, Marcus Camby, Amar’e Stoudemire, Raymond Felton, Carmelo Anthony, Jeremy Lin, Kristaps Porzingis, Julius Randle, RJ Barrett - all came and went - through good times and bad - with no trophy or ring to show for it.
That all changed on June 13th, 2026.
The buzzer went off. OG Anunoby flung the ball into the crowd. Jalen Brunson shook the opposing coach’s hand. Karl Anthony-Towns swarmed his teammates. Knicks players stormed the court in frenzy. The media swarmed around them. Parties all around New York erupted with jubilation - and after the immediate chaos, what did fans do next?
They took out their phones and went to the NBA store website to buy merch.
Not just any merch though…Official Championship merch. The ones the players wear.
Nike branded hats for $45.99, t-shirts for $45, and more all flew off the online shelves, selling out at breakneck speed.
The Athletic published an article stating that Fanatics - the company partnered with Nike that handles manufacturing and distribution of apparel - “took in more than 8,000 orders per minute after the Knicks’ 4-1 series win” and that Knicks championship gear had become “the top seller across all sports within the first 24 hours of a title in Fanatics history.”
Fans, some who have awaited their entire lives for this moment, eagerly checked their mailboxes for their very long awaited Championship attire - and when the packages finally started coming in, the results were…not good.
See-through shirts, peeling screenprinting, crooked designs - fans were quick to point out the obvious poor quality of the products they paid top-dollar for.
Sure, you can chalk it up to last minute mass-production, but this isn't even close to the first time Nike and Fanatics have come under fire for poor quality apparel.
It all started in 2018, when Nike and Fanatics teamed up for a 10-year contract regarding NFL products. While Nike handled the on-field performance apparel for players, Fanatics took charge of the manufacturing and distribution of all replicas and fan-facing apparel.
Since then, Fanatics has been on a quest to acquire contracts for manufacturing and distribution of all major sports leagues in the US - in which Nike happens to be the official brand.
From this partnership, fans (and players) have received the 2023 MLB jersey fiasco, the 2024 NHL switchover from Adidas, numerous poor quality products, misspelled last names on the back of jerseys, loose stitching, discoloration, incorrect logos and seemingly endless mishaps. Fanatics’ reputation became very public over social media, constantly going viral for the above.
Which takes us back to the Knicks.
New Yorkers, world-famous for their resilience and ability to adapt, took matters into their own hands.
$45 for a t-shirt that will fall apart after two wears?
As two million swarmed the celebratory parade through the Canyon of Heroes on Thursday June 18th, bootleg Championship merchandise flooded the streets - and fans ate them up. Dealers sold commemorative home-made screenprinted t-shirts like hot-cakes for $20 a pop, laid out on the street for all to see. Made by hand and right in New York City, the deal couldn’t be beat.
Safe to say, local printing businesses did alright that day.
As for Nike and Fanatics, the partnership continues to take heat from consumers - and whether or not they care is unclear.
True, they are international corporations with mass-production. True, they have a stranglehold on the official sports apparel market. But it is also true that fans will always find another way to rep their beloved teams.
Will Nike and Fanatics make a change? Perhaps the only way to force their hand is to make them feel it in their wallets.
