With the pro baseball season now underway, fashion brands that sponsor teams are betting on a big sports-marketing payoff.
On March 24, the industry reported that global sports giant Adidas signed an official sponsorship with the Doosan Bears earlier this year. Doosan rolled out a full rebrand and new uniforms for the first time in 15 years.
The Bears will take the field in uniforms featuring Adidas’s iconic three stripes down the sides.
Adidas crafted the new kits from performance fabrics and used sublimation-transfer printing so the uniforms are lightweight and won’t compromise players’ performance.
Fashion conglomerate Hyungji Elite (093240) is the main sponsor of the Lotte Giants.
Players on the Giants wear uniforms, apparel and gear from Hyungji’s sports-culture label WillBePlay.
WillBePlay also struck a merchandising deal with the Giants and has revamped the official goods shop, Giants Shop, at Sajik Baseball Stadium.
Hyungji has also signed IP deals with the SSG Landers, Hanwha Eagles and LG Twins to expand into sports merchandising — a move that showed strong results last year.
From July 2023 through June 2024, Hyungji Elite’s sports-merchandising sales hit KRW 21.1 billion (≈ $15.83 million), up 113% from KRW 9.9 billion (≈ $7.43 million) the previous year. Operating profit rose to KRW 2.6 billion (≈ $1.95 million), a 136% increase. Hyungji Elite’s fiscal year ends in June.
Homegrown sports label Pro-Specs is once again the official sponsor of the LG Twins. The brand renewed its apparel-and-gear sponsorship with the Twins earlier this month, extending its partnership with LG Sports — which began in 2021 — through 2026.
Leveraging years of experience sponsoring national teams and pro clubs, Pro-Specs will provide the LG Twins with customized apparel and equipment, in both cash and in-kind support.
The Kia Tigers will wear uniforms from IAB Studio, the fashion brand founded by rapper Beenzino, through 2027. IAB Studio supplies the Tigers’ game uniforms, authentic apparel and sports equipment.
Starting this season and running through 2026, the NC Dinos will wear apparel from Reebok, a global sports brand licensed to KN Korea for sports business.
Under the deal, KN Korea will supply Reebok products to NC, and NC will grant KN Korea exclusive rights for advertising, promotions and producing licensed merchandise.
Streetwear label Sansan Gear has also teamed up with the Samsung Lions to release uniforms, caps, windbreakers, sleeves and bags.
Pro baseball draws 10 million fans — and fashion brands are widening their reach
Fashion labels are leaning into pro baseball because the marketing returns are hard to beat. Last year, the league drew roughly 10 million attendees as baseball’s appeal spread nationwide across all ages.
For fashion brands, the ballpark is a perfect place to expand touchpoints and win over younger shoppers. It’s especially effective for targeting millennials and Gen Z.
An industry insider noted that as attendance climbs, clubs are becoming valuable channels to reach young consumers. They added that short-term collaborations — from individual player deals to co-branded capsule collections — have become increasingly common alongside official team sponsorships.
They also warned that once the regular season kicks off, competition among fashion firms for marketing and promotions will heat up.
