Pro Wrestling Tees

Pro Wrestling Tees is a website and store for professional wrestlers to sell their merchandise and is the largest website of its kind.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The site regularly organizes meet ups for wrestlers and their fans around wrestling events.[8][9][10] The company provides a platform for well-known professional wrestlers to sell their merchandise all over the world.[11]

Pro Wrestling Tees
Type of site
Professional wrestling merchandise
OwnerRyan Barkan
ProductsDesigned shirts
DVDs
Posters
Action figures
URLprowrestlingtees.com
CommercialYes
LaunchedJune 1, 2013

History

The brand was founded in 2013 by Ryan Barkan[12][13] headquartered on the North side of Chicago.[14][15] It first started as a digital print shop in 2008,[16] where Barkan sold custom T-shirts under the company One Hour Tees.[17][18]

In 2010, Barkan received an email by a well-known independent wrestler Colt Cabana to help create a shirt for his friend CM Punk that would say, "I Broke Big Show’s Hand".[19] After that, Ryan received more orders from Colt Cabana and later Colt offered Barkan a deal for promoting One Hour Tees on Colt's podcast, The Art of Wrestling.[20][21] After getting featured on Colt's podcast, the brand bloomed and got the attention of the wrestlers such as The Young Bucks, Joey Ryan, Kevin Steen, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian.

In 2013, Ryan started the website ProWrestlingTees.com which is a marketplace of over 1,200 wrestlers who sell their own merchandise worldwide. In 2014, the company signed partnership deals with New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

In 2017, they signed a deal with Hot Topic to supply them the wrestling clothing and merchandise.[22] In 2019, they become the official merchandise partner for All Elite Wrestling, launching ShopAEW.com.[23]

Business model

Barkan came up with the idea for ProWrestlingTees.com along with Colt Cabana to help wrestlers sell merchandise worldwide.[24] The website was formed as a platform for the professional wrestlers and their families to design and sell their own apparel and other items including DVDs, posters and action figures.[25] The wrestlers own their individual stores on the website and also own all the photos and products that they sell on ProWrestlingTees.com. The profits received from the merchandise directly go to the wrestlers or their families.[26]

Partnerships

The company has direct business with many famous wrestlers including: Chris Jericho, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, The Young Bucks, CM Punk, Shawn Michaels, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, Andre the Giant, Scott Hall, Mick Foley, Steve Austin, Roddy Piper, and many others.[27] Colt Cabana was the first ever professional wrestler to have a store in the company's website.[28][29]

Sales figures

During All In weekend, Pro Wrestling Tees sold half a million dollars in merchandise.[30] In April 2019, Pro Wrestling Tees announced they paid out over $5 million in royalties.[31] On December 3, 2020, Pro Wrestling Tees owner Ryan Barkan stated on his Instagram page that Sting's AEW t-shirt quickly broke the single day record for t-shirt sales.[32][33]

During the Brodie Lee Celebration of Life, Pro Wrestling Tees' Shop AEW store released a t-shirt in memory of Brodie Lee with all proceeds benefiting The Huber Family.[34] In less than two hours, it set a new record for most shirts sold within 24 hours, breaking Sting's previous record.[35] In just under four hours, it became the highest selling t-shirt of 2020, breaking Orange Cassidy's previous record.[36]

See also

References
  1. "How one CM Punk T-shirt launched a wrestling empire". Archived from the original on 2017-11-02.
  2. "ALL IN Road Trip Epilogue: Starrcast, Pro Wrestling Tees". 3 September 2018.
  3. "PRO WRESTLING TEES' 4th OF JULY SALE ENDS IN TWO HOURS, LAST CHANCE FOR 20% OFF YOUR ORDER - PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com.
  4. Andrew Ravens (8 December 2017). "Hulk Hogan Agrees To Deal With Pro Wrestling Tees".
  5. "411MANIA". Details on How Many Shirts Bullet Club Has Sold at Pro Wrestling Tees in the Last Four Months.
  6. "PRO WRESTLING TEES ANNOUNCES FUNKO BUNDLE PRE-ORDER UPDATES - PWInsider.com". pwinsider.com.
  7. "PRO WRESTLING TEES KICKING OFF BIGGEST SALE EVER THIS WEEK - PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com.
  8. "Pro Wrestling Tees cashes in on All In weekend". SI.com.
  9. "Pro Wrestling Tees a 'surreal' success story". canoe.com.
  10. "Kevin Owens Reopens Pro Wrestling Tees Shop After 'Quitting' WWE". TheSportster. 30 August 2018.
  11. OscarShepherd. "The Rise Of WWE And How Pro Wrestling Tees Took The Wrestling Brand Beyond The Skies". Buzzfeed Community. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  12. "How to Make Your Closet More Fashion Friendly". 12 March 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  13. "Support Your Favorite Wrestling Stars with Pro Wrestling Tees - Wattpad". www.wattpad.com. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  14. "How To Get The Best Merchandise in Wrestling". outlit.it. Archived from the original on June 23, 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  15. Shepherd, Oscar. "Pro Wrestling Tees Is Selling Your Favorite Wrestling Merchandise | By Oscar Shepherd". Launchora. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  16. @brookewhistance. "Fashion Trends Likely to Take Over in 2019". www.minds.com. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  17. "Pro Wrestling Tees a 'surreal' success story". canoe.com. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  18. "Pro Wrestling Tees Offers Official Tees of Over 1200 Wrestlers". Dailygram. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  19. "Talk is Jericho Recap w/ Ryan Barkin - Creating Pro Wrestling Tees, Unheard Stories of Young Bucks & Steve Austin, Who's Their Best Seller? More!". Ringside News | Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers. 2018-10-08. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  20. Harris, Keith (2015-09-29). "WWE forces website to stop selling Neidhart tees". Cageside Seats. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  21. Caffrey, News Today-Frank. "Colt Cabana Takes Pro Wrestling Tees to the Limelight". News Today. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  22. Berkman, Seth (2018-03-24). "And in This Corner: A Rival From Japan Takes On the Pro Wrestling Establishment". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  23. "Latest Details Regarding The All Elite Wrestling Launch". PWMania. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  24. "Pro Wrestling Tees Sells Nearly Half A Million Dollars In Merchandise During 'All In' Weekend | Fightful Wrestling". www.fightful.com. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  25. "EL GENERICO RETURNS TO PROWRESTLINGTEES.COM | PWInsider.com". pwinsider.com. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  26. Zimmerman, Bill. "How social media helped fuel indie wrestling's resurgence". The Conversation. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  27. "Latest News in the World of Wrestling". Playbuzz. 2019-03-15. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  28. Harris, Keith (2015-09-29). "WWE forces website to stop selling Neidhart tees". Cageside Seats. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  29. Oestriecher, Blake. "WWE Stars Highlight Pro Wrestling Tees' 20 Best Sellers List". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  30. "Pro Wrestling Tees Sells Nearly Half A Million Dollars In Merchandise During 'All In' Weekend | Fightful Wrestling". www.fightful.com. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  31. OneHourTees (2019-04-23). "Tag your friends and tell em it's a customer appreciation flash sale til midnight @ Prowrestlingtees.com!". @OneHourTees. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  32. "Pro Wrestling Tees on Instagram: "And it hasn't even been 24 HRS yet..."".
  33. Lee, Joseph (December 3, 2020). "Sting's First AEW T-Shirt Breaks Pro Wrestling Tees Record". 411 Mania. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  34. "Brodie Lee - Exalted in Heaven". Shop AEW. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  35. Renner, Ethan (December 31, 2020). "Brodie Lee notes: Record T-shirt sales, AEW TNT Title, more". Figure Four Online. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  36. One Hour Tees [@OneHourTees] (December 30, 2020). "Up until now... @orangecassidy had the highest selling shirt of 2020 on ProWrestlingTees.com. He was just dethroned in just under 4 hrs after the release of this tribute shirt. The highest selling shirt of 2020 will go to Mr. Brodie Lee" (Tweet). Retrieved December 30, 2020 – via Twitter.
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