Fashion and football are forging a new partnership at Giants Stadium.
JA Apparel, maker of the Joseph Abboud line of men’s suits, has devised an unusual marketing strategy that will use a luxury suite at the new, $1.7 billion facility to promote merchandise.
Under the three-year, seven-figure deal, JA Apparel will become the team’s official partner for designer clothing. In addition to “educating” Giant rookies in pre-season training about their suits, the company is targeting the franchise’s formidable database of more than 160,000 fans.
The move deepens JA Apparel’s commitment to using sports in marketing — a strategy that has paid off during the past few years. Fox Sports commentators like Terry Bradshaw and Jimmy Johnson, as well as 30 head coaches in the National Football League wear the Joseph Abboud brand.
“We’ve dressed Tom Coughlin, but we’d love it if some of the other Giants executives were wearing our clothes too,” said JA Apparel CEO Marty Staff.
Sports marketing isn’t unique in men’s tailored clothing. In January, Canali signed Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera as its first celebrity spokesperson.
But JA Apparel has been particularly aggressive in the US market, and hasn’t limited itself to the NFL. Joseph Abboud suits are worn by most coaches in the National Basketball Association, as well as commentators for Major League Baseball.
“The rest of the designers are going into Hollywood trying to dress Tobey Maguire, and the metrosexuals in the Meatpacking District and Beverly Hills,” Staff said. “But our business is in real American cities like Atlanta, Dallas, Pittsburgh.”
The luxury suite will be used to reward top salesmen, entertain retail partners, and launch sales and publicity events.
“We won’t do a fashion show in Bryant Park or Lincoln Center,” Staff said. “But we may well do one on the 50-yard line at Giants Stadium.”