Business of Esports TV: FaZe Clan Clothing Collab

(Livestream 138)

In this segment, we discuss FaZe Clan’s newest merch collab with artist Takashi Murakami.

The Business Of Esports brings you news, debates, and all the information you need to know about the gaming sector, the world’s fastest-growing market. With Paul “The Profit” Dawalibi leading the charge, and a variety of special guests, BoE TV is the only place to find insider information on the esports industry!

Check out the full livestream here:

Paul Dawalibi 36:49
And this was a collaboration between Takashi Murakami and FaZe clan. And William, I don’t know if you know this designer, I know you’re very on sort of Japanese culture. But supposedly he’s very famous for these flower motifs. He’s 59 years old. And it’s the art the whole article, the gist of this article is that he’s 59. And he’s now making mirch for phase targeted at 20 year olds. But this is the design this I guess he’s famous for this aesthetic. Who it’s got, like I said, it’s kind of a fun story. Does anyone think this is really great.

Jimmy Baratta 37:47
I just want to jump in on this not not to say whether or not I like this, this T shirt or whatever. But um, but you know, he’s done some amazing things with Louis Vuitton with Drake’s ovo brand. This is a very well known designer and a really pot that flower emblem is recognizable, I think in the right circles. So just, you know, I think the discussion for us might be more about all these lifestyle brands and the collabs and the activations that we see them doing with emerge plays. You know, phase is very interesting because of things like this with Kappa, with champion that they’ve successfully watched in the past. But, but I would say similar to the Louis Vuitton League of Legends drop,

William Collis 38:29
that,

Jimmy Baratta 38:30
you know, a lot of people are going to recognize if you don’t recognize phase, you’re going to recognize that flower.

Paul Dawalibi 38:35
I mean, Jimmy, I think what bothers me about this, and maybe maybe you guys have a thought on this is that, to me, gaming is driving culture right now. Right? But that the faze emblem is what’s cool, right and people want to wear that. And and I’m not convinced that taking other pieces of pop culture and trying to bring them into gaming is something necessarily that’s going to succeed or be welcomed.

William Collis 39:04
I’m not sure I agree that because isn’t the whole sneaker thing. You know, sneakers right, Paul? I guess I do. isn’t like the whole cool thing about sneakers is when you take an iconic brand like Air Jordans, and then you pair it up with something else are my viewers crazy? Oh, sorry. No, you’re right.

Jimmy Baratta 39:19
Well, Jordan did that this year with Dior they’re reselling for over $20,000 it’s been a very popular thing for over a decade and as a sneaker head. I follow this pretty closely I have also read articles about burnout like are there too many collabs going on right now? Do we all you know kind of with with this release release sequel conversation are there too many new collabs where you have to get that she was not cool anymore. It’s now the collab with this other brand. That’s cool. So you got to buy that one and the next one. So

Paul Dawalibi 39:50
but but Jimmy you’re making the case here and this is I think where I’m struggling that this collab will make will net all of a sudden now because of phase Takashi Murakami will have a hoard of 20 something fans.

Jimmy Baratta 40:07
I think he already is successful in that market. What I see here is Fes doing what they do best, which is much and finding another thing to keep that fresh for their audience and for their existing consumers, fans, users, whatever you want to call them. Yeah, that’s how I that’s what I look at. When I when

William Collis 40:25
I look at that shirt, the thing I think is, that’s great. That shirt looks very different from other shirts I’ve seen, like, and I think in a market that you want to be a high turnover market. The fact that this feels different than other things you’ve seen is probably worth the most because whether or not this particular collab is successful, I don’t think it’s gonna make or break either Takashi Murakami or FaZe clan, right, just like any individual. The question is, you know, but what does make or break you know, at least FaZe clan and accurate is can they aggregate Can they do enough of these things that are truly incremental? So it’s not just consumers cherry pick and say, You know what, there’s 30 collabs. This year, the best is the collab they do with, you know, I don’t know, Rite Aid? I don’t know Coca Cola,

Paul Dawalibi 41:12
I can’t wait for the FaZe clan x Rite Aid.

William Collis 41:16
I mean, I was just saying, like, yeah, like, you know, like, that’s the best one. That’s the one I’m going to buy cuz all the others will be perceived as lesser this year. This is a good vert, you know, so I think the more things you that feel different, the less chance you have a bit over, you know, your consumer base overlapping and cherry picking.

Paul Dawalibi 41:35
What do you guys think of slightly his question here, eSports merge needs to become more accessible for less serious gamers? I think this is the opposite. like is this is like Takashi Murakami, two up in the clouds not accessible enough.

Jimmy Baratta 41:50
I don’t know a less serious gamer than than a face gamer. Honestly, they’re more about content and image and lifestyle than they are about competition, right. But I get what you’re talking about in terms of like, this is a very, as William said, as well, a very unique brand. This is like wearing the Gucci pattern just all over your shirt and then putting a fee, or, you know, a team logo there. So I don’t know what to make of that. Actually, I think Jeff, I mean, I don’t, I don’t

Jeff Cohen 42:18
have that many hot takes about this, you know my style, I’m very when it comes to you,

Paul Dawalibi 42:23
Jeff, just so everyone knows, when I don’t think I really wear this, I

Jeff Cohen 42:27
could not pull this off. I just think in general eSports merge. Typically, in any merge, I would say this about you know, if you’re talking about NFL team merge, it’s usually going to be for hardcore fans or fans, someone trying to show that you are a fan of a team. I’m not sure the strategy of you know, taking someone like my wife, who’s about, you know, I wouldn’t even know she would call herself a gamer, she might play a little bit of mobile games and stuff like that, I don’t think she’s gonna go out and buy eSports mirch I think you want to target go deeper, narrower and deeper. And stuff like this. I think Williams point was a really salient one, about how this is incremental. And I personally might be like, That’s bizarre, and I have no interest. But as long as portions of the faze community and more, whatever the guy’s name is morikami as long as portions of their fan bases and their communities are incrementally interested in that that’s should be the goal with these collabs.

William Collis 43:21
I don’t think there’s anything to be said for like, you know, what’s my like, one of my favorite pieces of merch that I have shameless plug is the business of Esports socks. If you guys don’t have business of Esports socks, they’re amazing, you should get them. But one of the great reasons why the business of Esports socks are good is you can wear them everywhere. You can self identify as somebody who has this affinity, you like that it feels good to identify with stuff you like and propose. But it kind of goes into stealth mode a little bit, right. And I think some of these things like this thing are kind of these stealth mode collaborations to it. I think if you looked at that shirt, you wouldn’t know it was a gaming shirt. And I think that’s actually part of the appeal of these aggressive crossovers is they let you take if you’re a gamer, they let you take gaming into space as you might otherwise not. You know what I mean? Like, I might wear that to like a rooftop cocktail party. I don’t know if I’d wear a jersey there. You know what I mean? True. True.

Paul Dawalibi 44:19
It is different. And I applied. I applaud them for that. It is it is definitely not like most other eSports mirch.

Jimmy Baratta 44:27
Cool, sorry, Paul. I just I want to see more Puma gamer socks, I want to see more razor breathing, you know, man, 95 mask or whatever we’re doing. I want to see less slap mixing logos on a T shirt. And more. I don’t know, innovative kind of different products personally. Not that I don’t think this will be successful. It’s just we’ve seen a lot of this right? Maybe not to this extent or with these brands and names. But it would just be fun to see merge, I think in a new way. Yeah.