Tecmo Bowl Shirt Collaboration: A Long Time Coming
Tecmo Bowl is a classic video game that has been beloved by fans for nearly 35 years. Now, fans have a new way to show their love for the game with a clothing collaboration between Tecmo and apparel company Homage.
The collaboration has been years in the making. Homage first reached out to Tecmo a decade ago to secure a licensing deal, but it wasn’t until recently that a deal was finally reached. The delay was due in part to the fact that Tecmo Bowl’s lasting impact was not well-known at Tecmo headquarters in Japan.
Despite the challenges, Homage CEO Ryan Vesler was determined to make the collaboration happen. He knew that Tecmo Bowl was still a popular game, and he wanted to give fans a new way to show their fandom.
Vesler finally got on Tecmo’s radar last year, with the help of Koei Tecmo America senior public relations manager Jon Robinson and KT America general manager Amos Ip. Robinson and Ip helped to convince Tecmo that the collaboration was a good idea, and they helped to ensure that the deal got done.
The first fruits of the collaboration go on sale today, with a Tecmo Bowl shirt. Team and player-specific apparel will be released over the next month. Vesler is hopeful that the outpouring of interest in the game’s licensed products could even spark a reboot.
“The shirts can be a great beacon of the nostalgia and fandom that exists for the game,” he said.
The Tecmo Bowl shirt collaboration is a victory for fans of the game. It shows that there is still a strong demand for Tecmo Bowl-branded products, and it gives fans a new way to show their love for the game.