Badger Sport, of Statesville, NC, announced the purchase of Pro-Line Athletic, Fort Worth, TX. Terms were not disclosed. In a statement, Jerry Carr, president and owner of Badger Sport, said, “Pro-Line is a great fit for Badger Sport. It has been our goal to enter the headwear business for some time and the addition of Pro-Line gives us just that. We look forward to growing and expanding Pro-Line in the future.”
Management of Pro-Line is staying on. Also, at the present time and for
the foreseeable future, production of Pro-Line products will remain in
Fort Worth Texas. Lead time on Pro-Line custom caps is 4-6 weeks from
artwork approval and lead time for Pro-Line custom uniforms is 6-8
weeks from artwork approval. A delivery schedule for both Pro-Line
custom caps and uniforms will be updated to all Authorized Pro-Line
Dealers the first Monday of each month.
Pro-Line is the “Official Cap” of several high school baseball coaches associations and a major supplier of on the field caps for colleges and universities across the U.S. Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Tennessee High School Baseball Coaches Associations have each named Pro-Line as the Official Uniform of their respective state coaches association Additionally, Pro-Line also makes field custom uniforms for high schools and several D-1 college baseball teams including Texas Christian University, Virginia Military Institute, Dallas Baptist, and Miami Ohio.
In an interview with SportsOneSource, Michael Ferri , EVP, sales & marketing ,Badger Sportswear , said Badger wasn't looking to make a n acquisition but had been planning on getting into the headwear market when the the opportunity to buy Pro-Line came along.
“When Pro-Liine became available, we jumped on it because we felt they were a perfect fit for Badger Sport. We did our due diligence and the fit was right,” said Ferri..”We are now up and running rather then still being in the planning stages.”
He said the acquisition enables Badger Sport to add more spring business to its portfolio with the addition of headwear as well add a new product category to its line of apparel. Said Ferri, “We can now sell a team pretty much from head to toe.”
Ferri noted that Badger Sport most recently made a transition of the Har-Val brand into the Badger Sports custom brand, and the Pro-Line will urther its strengths on the customer uniform side.
“We can now answer the needs of stock, semi custom, and custom for uniforms,” said Ferri. “Pro-Line's expertise in baseball and relationships with top colleges and high schools will help bring badger to the next level.”
Badger Sport's line consists of performance tops and bottoms, fashion active wear and t-shirts, sweatshirts, jersey's, henley's, mesh tops and bottoms, wind wear, outerwear, and team uniforms for most major sports. It currently manufactures in company owned plants in Statesville, NC and Nicaragua, but also imports finished product from other parts of the world.
Ferri said Badger Sport's business has been “very good” with strong support from its dealer customer and buying groups.
“Our business plan of having inventory and taking liability away from the dealers has helped forge these relationships,” said Ferri. “Along with the ability to fill holes in inventory in our domestic plant. we are still a manufacturing company and not just a marketing company. This gives us the ability to be more flexible. the downturn in the economy ended up being a kind of perfect storm for badger sport. We were able to fill some needs that others couldn't.”
