Spiritware is merchandise with an organization’s logo or colors, expressing solidarity. It can include anything printed with a logo, from T-shirts to shot glasses. The right to manufacture is controlled by the parent organization, and knock-offs can be met with legal threats. Colleges and sports teams benefit from spiritware sales, but ethical concerns have been raised in some regions.
Spiritware is merchandise that has been decorated with the logo and/or colors of an organization such as a sports team or educational institution. The idea is that by purchasing such goods, people are expressing solidarity with the organization, or ‘showing spirit’, in terms of pep rallies. Spiritware is a large industry, and many organizations generate large profits by selling spiritware and licensing the manufacture of their branded items.
Essentially, spiritware can consist of anything that can be printed with a logo or brand colors, from shot glasses to T-shirts. Most organizations that produce spiritware sell a wide variety of branded apparel, from underwear to jackets, along with things like pennants, mousepads, flags, tablecloths, binders, and so on. These items are usually quite cheap to produce, allowing for a markup that will still keep prices reasonable.
The right to manufacture spiritware is controlled by the parent organization, as distinctive logos and colors are generally protected by copyright law. Organizations may choose to contract companies to manufacture spiritware or to license the right to produce certain items to other countries. Knock-offs and other attempts to capitalize on a popular brand can be met with legal threats from zealous organizations that want to protect their image and profits; for example, some universities will not allow glasses of alcohol to be branded with their logos.
College spiritware is often sold on campus, in the bookstore, or in a separate liquor store. Students can purchase spiritware to fit on campus or to send home to their families, while other people purchase such products to express affiliation with the school, whether or not that affiliation is genuine. Colleges with successful sports teams also tend to produce a range of branded sporting goods that people can take to games or show off around town, from giant foam fingers to bumper stickers.
Sports teams also benefit from spiritware sales, the sale of merchandise in stadiums and through authorized dealers. Many sports fans like to show solidarity with their teams by wearing their colors or sporting their mascots and logos, and will sometimes pay a premium for such products, especially on game nights.
In some regions, activists have expressed concern about ethical issues surrounding spiritware, particularly in liberal colleges and universities. Some people would rather see spiritware made with ethical labor sources, rather than cheap garments that may have been made with the use of child labor or other unscrupulous tactics. In response, some companies have come out with lines of ethical liquor, with an accompanying increased price tag.
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