Brand Athletics of Tigard, OR, and a division of full service team uniform, apparel and sporting goods dealer LIDS Team Sports, has announced it will operate solely under the LIDS Team Sports name.

LIDS Team Sports is a division of LIDS Sports Group based in Indianapolis, IN, which also includes North American specialty retail chains LIDS, LIDS Locker Room and LIDS Clubhouse.

LIDS Sports Group expanded into the team dealer business in 2009 largely via acquisitions of regional dealers including Brand Athletics in 2010 and its western United States sales territory.

Earlier this year LIDS Team Sports established its main hub for manufacturing and distribution of the team dealer portion of the business to a new facility in Indianapolis. Some manufacturing and distribution still operates out of Tigard.

“We have worked hard over the past year to prepare for this re-branding announcement,” said Matt Geske, a longtime executive within Brand Athletics and current vice president of LIDS Team Sports.  “We wanted to first focus on maintaining the high level of service and support our customers deserve and we are accustomed to delivering, while the changes were occurring in Indianapolis earlier this year. We also wanted to give the West Coast sales force an appropriate amount of time to meet with their customers to discuss tremendous opportunities that come with being aligned with the LIDS brand. All of those pieces are now in place so the time is right to more aggressively establish the LIDS Team Sports brand in the West region of the country.”

The LIDS Team Sports sales force is currently made up of more than 125 sales representatives operating in more than 40 states.

LIDS Team Sports was founded in 2009 and is made up primarily of regional team dealers Anaconda Sports (Lake Katrine, New York), the former Brand Athletics (Tigard, Oregon), and the former Impact Sports (Madison, Wisconsin).  The company also operates the Internet sites www.lidsteamsports.com and www.anacondasports.com.

The LIDS Sports Group, operating within Hat World, Inc., is comprised of the LIDS retail headwear stores, the LIDS Locker Room specialty fan retail chain, the LIDS Clubhouse retail stores, the LIDS Team Sports wholesale team sports business and its Internet businesses, www.lids.com, www.lids.ca, and www.lidsteamsports.com. Hat World, Inc. is a subsidiary of Genesco Inc.