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. With The apparently-hot brand that was news to me
Before seeing this Business Week item, I had never heard of “TapouT, the apparel outfit that sets fashion rules for the up-and-coming sport of mixed martial arts (MMA).”
TapouT [is] an unlikely TV hit—the second season begins on cable’s Versus on July 30—but has helped catapult the company into an impressive lifestyle brand leveraging the red-hot interest in MMA.
My reaction to this was: What? Not only have not heard of the brand, or the show, I’ve never even heard of that cable network.
And interest in “mixed martial arts” is “red-hot”? Really?
Well, I guess so. The brand claims to have had sales of $25 million last year, and supposedly will approach $100 million this year. Here’s their online store. The general aesthetic is sort of like a wearable MySpace page.
So was I just totally out of it on this one? Did you already know? Are you a fan?
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Reader Comments
Yeah, I’m familiar with TapouT. It’s along the same lines as Alffliction and Xtreme Couture and all those other fighting related brands, albeit TapouT is a lot cheaper, and looks it. Personally, I think the styling of the brand is beyond atrocious. MMA has seen a huge rise in popularity in the past couple of years. From my experience it’s grown the fastest amongst the moneyed young professional crowd, the kind of people who have no problem spending $400 on a pair of Rock and REpublic or True Religion jeans, or $100-$250 on an Affliction or Christian Audigier t-shirt.
I just came across that same story in Business Week earlier this morning. My reaction was basically the same as yours: What? Who? WHY??? Yeah, I had no idea.
Yeah… kind of like the “I’m a badass but I’m not afraid to spend a lot on my clothes because they still look like shit, so I wont be confused with some queer.” hidden mentality.
I’ve been seeing TapouT on the rise recently, for sure. I’m not a fan of MMA myself, but have been noticing it grow like crazy. The interesting thing to me is the way it’s been crossing demographics – so far, I personally know designers, super-liberal college students and high school dropouts who are all MMA fans.
I was a wrestler and have done judo, and know a lot of wrestlers, judoka, and jiu-jitsu fighters who end up getting into mma after college or the amateur ranks — it’s the closest thing out there to going pro in our sports.
But I only know of the TapouT guys because of the obnoxious way they shove themselves in front of mma fans, the result of which was their show. It’s not great mma — more like pro wrestling with real hits. To me, it’s definitely style over substance; each episode they track some upcoming fighter and paste him with their logo, get the guy 1/2 hour of TV exposure, and the fighter is almost never heard from again.
The TapoutT guys deserve some credit for hustle; they go to every event they can, from Las Vegas to the Quad Cities, and wallpaper the place with their name. They put up house-size banners of the logo. They throw all kinds of product at fighters to get that logo in front of as many people as they can. (Some fighters cover their shorts with logos like they’re a human stock cars. TapouT is a common feature there.)
The TapouT guys are also kind of a joke among fighters. There’s at least one video out on the interwebs made by some pro mma fighters mocking them.
I have seen stats that the coveted 18-35 (?) male demographic now watches more mma than NFL or NBA, and TapouT seems more about riding that wave and promoting themselves than promoting the sport or good training wear.
Tommy Hilfigers with bloodstains.
Yeah, MMA/ultimate fighting has seen a ridiculous rise in popularity over the past few years. I’ve got a few friends who love the stuff and follow it like a lot of people do bassketball and football. My roommate tivo’s the Tapout show, so that made me aware of it initially, but over the past few Magic trade show I’d seen their booth grow and get MUCH more crowded.
Versus is the rebrand (about two years now?) of OLN (Outdoor Life Network). They still do some of that stuff – Tour de France – but now have NHL and other more extreme sports.
Wow, thanks for all this info. Pretty much covers everything — right down to my ignorance of that cable channel (thanks Rick).
I guess MMA is either similar to “ultimate fighting,” or maybe I just thought they were the same thing. Do they have the same fans? Or is there a pecking order — like ultimate fighting is less “refined” (or whatever) than MMA? Top of the heap would be actual martial arts, bottom would be those guys who fight in Washington Square Park and put the results on YouTube?
Anyway, amazingly informative batch of comments. I really missed this one, but now I’m …. pretty interested! (As a consumption subject — probably not as a watcher of the, er, sport).
“ultimate fighting” is the same thing as MMA, but generally only less knowledgeable fans use the term “ultimate fighting.”
i’ve been a fan of MMA since the mid 90s, back in the Pancrase/Shooto days (obscure Japanese leagues), and Tapout has been there since the beginning. they are without a doubt the most credible MMA clothing brand, sponsoring absolutely everybody since the sport was in its infancy. that said, i wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it.
anecdotally, i’ve been amazed at how many women and non-mainstream sports fans are into MMA. for example, my wife is a hair stylist, and about half the girls at her salon are totally into the UFC, yet couldn’t possibly care less about other sports. another interesting thing is that almost all bodybuilders are into MMA even though they’re often not into any other sports.
MMA programming on Versus, Spike, and CBS almost always does extremely well, generally getting the highest ratings in its timeslot for the evening.
there’s a bunch more info at http://mmapayout.com
I’m a huge MMA fan.
Got into it over in Japan where it existed before we had American leagues. Hey there, Finn, I totally got to see a Pancrase bout live in Japan. It was teh awesome.
Boxing is out. MMA is in. Bring on the OCTAGON.
The July 14th issue of DNR did a one page article on this very subject, discussing MMA and the clothing brands associated. Very informative. DNR’s website only offers a brief synopsis. I recommend reading the hard copy if you’re still interested in the subject. Or if desired, I could some it up.
finn: Thanks for that link, and for the clarity. Though I’m curious why you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing Tapout. Too trendy? Aesthetic reasons?
Rebecca: Thanks, and you’re backing up finn’s anecdotal point!
Paul: Thanks for the tip on that, I found the summary (link, if other readers are interested) and I’m going to see if I can get them to send me the article, looks promising.
I dunno if it helps, Rob. But my husband and I won’t buy TapouT because the font screams “I loved Metallica back in the 80’s.” It’s really quite an outdated ascetic.
Hey – I did love Metallica in the 80’s (in fact, I still love Metallica up through “The Black Album”) but I don’t ever see myself wearing TapouT either. But I would definitely wear a quality “Ride The Lightning” T-shirt every now and again. When you get into branding subculture, aesthetics are inextricably linked to sociology – while I have no problems identifying myself as a metalhead, I don’t enjoy MMA (but I do enjoy kung-fu movies – what a quandry!)… the niches may overlap, but as an individual consumer, I don’t fall into that particular shared space…