Musketeer Madness

I just want to say that XU needs to upgrade it's available gear for us alumni and fans. We really have some sorry ass stuff available on line compared to other A-10 schools. Why can't this get done? My kids want the good stuff like their friends have from other schools. I'll be going to the Duke game with a crummy looking hat and sweatshirt dreamed up by some "sports marketing genius" from a few years ago and I dare say that the last time I was at the school bookstore five years after I bought both, the same stuff is still on the shelves and in the racks. The traditional look was always better. They should return to that and also make kid's BBall jerseys available as well. I just looked at the Marquette site for example and they have some really good looking tees, BBall jerseyes, sweatshirts and hats. C'mon guys lets get with it!!

Ditto for me on that.

Also, why no longs in sweaters. When I last looked there weren't any longs.

In '97 I blew a couple hundred in the store on gear, in '02 not a thing appealed to me so I got off cheap. Their story was the students buy them so that's what they carry.
Let's boycott the students.

The Crable/Vesi outlet store on East Kemper Road in Sharonville is now open, with pretty nice X stuff. They have limited weekday hours, with expanded times on weekends.

The selection is very weak, and I wish Xavier and Nike could hammer out a better deal. A large brand name would get us so much better apparel and make the online selection superior to most schools. There really is no reason why Xavier should not have a top of the line online selection for fans to choose from, and why there can not be a larger selection online as well. I think inside the bookstore is nice and has a good selection, but I don't understand why most of that can't be purchased online in some way.

The XU bookstore does have new B. J. Raymond jerseys in adult and kid sizes, along with some nice stuff. Pricey, but nice. The web-site however doesn't show everything. Sorry for you out of towners. You'll just need to visit campus and see all the construction and Muskie gear!!!

The selection at Dicks, Dilliards, The Finish Line, et. all is the same EVERY year: A t-shirt and a sweatshirt in blue, white, and possibly gray, printed on the attire is "XAVIER". Usually no logo's etc. Thus their sales of XU merchandise is weak, nothing new comes out...a catch-22...

The bookstore has some better stuff, and as noted, pretty pricey. The most creative NEW XU attire each year is the Xavier Nation T-shirt!

The Nike relationship has/was a bust. All they did was add the swoosh to everything they produced. That was fun for a while.

The entire line of XU attire including uniforms needs to be addressed. Some of the new logos are pretty cool and should be used more. Our current uniforms scream "BORING"..but I will admit I'd rather have boring than UGLY..some past UK uni's come to mind! Yes, Duke is the Anti-Christ, but they do have some great uniforms!

I am not a retail expert by any means, but I don't know why this is so hard... Is it just the size of the fan base compared to the OSU's / UC's of the world that makes our gear so bland?

Some creative student needs to start designing!

During the commercials for the game tonight I was looking over the CSTV on-line store offerings. There is not one item there I would consider buying.
That's sad.

I'm glad to see a post regard this topic. I've never really felt X has truly capitalized on its success in terms of merchandising. When living in Cincinnati I always felt there was a lack of availability of gear and a bigger lack of options. I had no problem driving to campus to pick stuff up but more times than not I left empty-handed.

Back in the late 90s we tried doing some t-shirt sales and other various fundraisers in cooperation with the bookstore. At that time I learned that their internal management actually made the decision of what to stock based on the available catalog of merchandise provided by the supplier.

In short, there could be some of the greatest merchandise in the world available but if the merchandise buyer for the bookstore has no experience doing anything other than selling books, or if they have the "fashion sense" of rosie o'donnell then all they'll sell will be moo-moos and 1970s hand-me-downs (no offense to any of our more senior posters).

I had also heard - unfortunately I have nothing to back this up - that the bookstore contract with the university also stated that they were to be the primary retailer of Xavier merchandise. That would explain why you see such little selection around town and around the country. They have a monopoly.

I don't know if athletics has taken the merchandising under their control but I doubt it. I think operational control of the bookstore falls under auxillary services. I do wish someone with half a brain would take this for action.

Butler signed an exclusive contract with Nike starting in '09 for all sports teams and apparel, no longer just the uniforms for basketball and a few items in the store....so i guess X would probably do that soon with Nike or Adidas