Eagles fans are dunking on Fanatics for crooked kelly green merch
After dozens of Eagles fans received lopsided kelly green gear from Fanatics, the merchandise juggernaut and official NFL supplier told The Inquirer it paused future shipments.
Northern Liberties resident Shealyn Kilroy spent $80 on two kelly green Jalen Hurts T-shirts from Fanatics, and all she got was one with lopsided iron-ons.
“Did anyone else’s Kelly green Eagles merch come in from the official NFL shop uhhhh crooked?” Kilroy posted on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) last week with photos of her boyfriend posing in his Hurts tee with number 1s that lean toward the right.
Kilroy’s post has been viewed more than 3.2 million times, creating a forum for a Fanatics pile-on as dozens of Eagles fans posted photos of their crooked, kelly green Eagles gear that prompted the brand to reassess the quality of the throwback merch drop.
“It’s all good if you tilt your head, like I had to do with mine,” replied one X user, while the meme account @ArtButMakeItSports compared the skewed decals to a 1943 sketch of a lopsided cross statue from artist Maynard Dixon.
“Don’t worry, it’ll look straight after your tenth tea at the tailgate,” wrote another.
Helmed by former Philadelphia 76ers minority owner Michael Rubin, Fanatics became the exclusive licenser for NFL fan apparel in 2020, and has similar distribution deals with the NBA, MLB, and NHL. The apparel juggernaut has recently come under fire for shoddy jerseys and for failing to offer Super Bowl jerseys for the Eagles and Chiefs in time for the big game in February.
» READ MORE: Michael Rubin is leaving his Sixers ownership role to pursue Fanatics business ventures
“Being a Philadelphia sports fan is just constantly being let down,” said Kilroy.
Kilroy ordered the kelly green tees on July 31, the first day merch in the throwback color was available. Hers got lost in the mail, and her boyfriend received his crooked version in early September.
Kilroy tweeted before reaching a customer service rep, who would only issue a refund and a new shirt after she sent back the lopsided one, per Fanatics’ defective merchandise policy.
“It is completely unacceptable that these items were ever produced and then shipped,” said a statement from a Fanatics spokesperson. “One wrong order or unhappy fan is too many — we take every complaint very seriously.”
Fanatics has been contacting fans who received misaligned Eagles gear, the spokesperson said, and the company paused future shipments to conduct a quality control assessment.
Getting ‘railroaded’ while Michael Rubin ‘sips champagne’
Eagles diehards have grown increasingly frustrated with what they’ve said has become part of the Fanatics experience: spend upward of a hundred dollars for a jersey that mimics what the professionals wear, only to receive something markedly different.
South Philly resident and Eagles lifer Jimmy King spent $110 on a kelly green pullover windbreaker from the online NFL shop on launch day. He was particularly impressed by the design on the back: Eagles scrawled in an old-school font.
“It reminded me of the Starter jackets from back in the day,” King said.
The windbreaker King received, however, had a plain back — and when he went online, King found that the product images for the windbreaker he ordered had been changed to reflect the “downgrade” he now owned.
Fanatics declined to comment on the windbreaker changes.
A customer service rep chalked the discrepancy up to “an issue with our warehouse not reflecting the same on our website” and offered King a refund or 20% off coupon, according to a conversation reviewed by the Inquirer.
“It felt like false advertising,” said King. “Watching Michael Rubin drink champagne with celebrities while they can’t give me a better fix than the coupon code made me feel railroaded.”
Known for his annual star-studded Hampton white parties, Rubin grew Fanatics from a garage operation in the Philly suburbs to the “Amazon of sports,” last valued at more than $31 billion. Fanatics acquired Philly-based vintage sports merchandiser Mitchell & Ness and playing card company Topps in 2022, the latter of which has become part of an antitrust lawsuit.
» READ MORE: Fanatics aims to build the sportsbook of the future, betting on the long game
Stephen Billman, a retired military officer from Easton who now officiates high school football games in Georgia, paid $162 for a custom kelly green jersey for his girlfriend. After receiving one with the wrong name emblazoned on it, Billman said he was told he would have to pay full price for a reorder, since the jersey used for the customization was out of stock.
“The whole experience was garbage,” Billman said.
Fanatics said that Billman’s experience does not align with how the company “handle[s] situations like this” but there is no standard protocol. “We take a variety of measures to make it right,” the spokesperson said.
Straightening things out
After Kilroy’s tweet went viral, Fanatics sent her a new, aligned Jalen Hurts shirt and a midnight green Eagles jersey.
Kilroy’s boyfriend is still planning to wear what she dubbed “The Leaning Tower of Hurts,” even though it’s led to some debate about his back.
“My boyfriend is not crooked! People: please stop telling him he has scoliosis,” Kilroy said.
For their part, the Fanatics spokesperson said the company has ordered 100,000 additional units of kelly green gear, though some orders have been delayed until the end of October.
» READ MORE: Some Eagles fans might not get their kelly green jerseys until the middle of the season
A Fanatics spokesperson said the Eagles are “on pace” to set the record for most team jerseys sold in a year: “Even with the unprecedented demand, we continue to load new kelly green merchandise across our sites every week.”