Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce merch is a gold rush for Philly-area businesses

At Minor Details in Manayunk, you can buy wrapping paper plastered with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s faces alongside a sweatshirt proclaiming it’s the year of the NFL (Taylor’s Version).

Head across Main Street to Taqueria Amor, and there’s a line to eat a Kelsadilla under a framed poster of Taylor Swift cheering at her boyfriend’s Kansas City Chiefs game.

Drive up I-76 and you can order a tomato pie with Swift’s face on it. And in Atlantic City, you can buy a box of limited-edition Travis- and Taylor-themed chocolates from a dessert bar.

The Philadelphia region, much like the rest of the nation, has officially caught a case of Tayvis fever, where small businesses have pivoted from cashing in on the Eagles’ short-lived success to the hype around Swift and her boyfriend Kelce, who is equally known in these parts for being the brother of Jason as well as the Chiefs’ all-star tight-end. And the money has followed.

Swift’s 12 appearances at Chiefs games in between her record-breaking “Eras Tour” stops have generated an equivalent brand value of more than $331 million for the NFL, boosting the league’s viewership among women and girls. Now, businesses big and small are glomming onto every Tayvis merch-slinging opportunity available. Licensing legalities aside, it’s what the people want.

» READ MORE: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship is real — and really great branding

Tayvis, as the couple is known, “came at a time when this country was really in need of a good love story,” said Joanna Ford, the director of social media and public relations at Philly-based marketing firm Aloysius Butler & Clark.

In Atlantic City, Bar32 started selling the “Love Story #87″ chocolate box — an homage to Swift’s crossover hit “Love Story” and Kelce’s jersey number — because few things are “more American” than celebrating the girl on the bleachers finally dating the boy on the football team, said Sarah Callazzo, the marketing director for TennAveAC, the restaurant group behind Bar32.

Sales of the boxes, which contain a mix of chocolate footballs, music notes, bonbons, and “Gold Rush”-inspired bark, are exceeding expectations, according to Callazzo. The chocolates appeal to a wide demographic, she said, netting everyone from bona-fide Swifties to dads looking for a Valentine’s Day gift.

The Tayvis merch industry is fed by people who “love to celebrate love and celebrity culture,” said Stephen Vanyo, a Philly-based entertainment lawyer and agent.

Ford compared America’s parasocial Tayvis obsession to that associated with the British monarchy. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle married in 2018, their wedding gave the British economy a $1.43 billion boost, powered in part by a shadow market of unlicensed wedding collectibles. In Philly, royal obsessives recently clamored for a $400 replica of Princess Diana’s Eagles letterman jacket.

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Yet, Tayvis’ mythology is markedly different from what drives Americans’ fascination with the crown. Fans say Swift and Kelce’s relationship feels accessible, like the neighborhood football star is finally where he belongs, dating the underdog prom queen.

“Instead of having thousands of people watching her, Taylor’s in the stands at a football game. It feels authentic. She looks genuinely happy,” said Taqueria Amor assistant manager Erica Paluszek, who has been a Swiftie since grade school. “They’re an easy relationship to root for.”

The Manayunk Mexican restaurant started planning its Swift takeover at the start of football season, when Tayvis was just a rumor. And the concept, Paluszek said, has drawn hungry Swifties from more than an hour away.

The menu features The Guy on the Chiefs, a tequila cocktail with muddled jalapeños and a bright red rim, and the Pork Al Pastor Kelsadilla, which Paluszek said is named after both Kelce brothers. Amid miniature cutouts of Swift’s concert outfits and a wall plastered with her magazine covers is a corner shrine to beloved Eagle Jason Kelce, who recently delighted Swift with his shirtless antics at his brother’s game.

» READ MORE: Taylor Swift ‘absolutely loved’ Jason Kelce’s shirtless antics at the Bills-Chiefs game

While Bar32 and Taqueria Amor haven’t run into legal trouble for invoking the power of Tayvis to sell chocolate or tacos, Swift has an on-again off-again relationship with allowing small businesses to sell merch that references her.

Swift has 100-plus trademarks ranging from albums titles to her cats’ names, which protects her from counterfeiters while signaling to buyers what is and isn’t legitimate Swift merchandise. The singer also has personality rights over her image, meaning Swift is ultimately the gatekeeper of how her image is used. Both came in handy in 2015, when Swift’s camp sent cease-and-desist letters to hundreds of Etsy stores dedicated to selling Swift merchandise.

That largely hasn’t been the case with her relationship.

“Even though most of this stuff likely is trademark infringement, the artist will choose not go after it because of the public relations value compared to the actual monetary value,” said Vanyo, the entertainment lawyer. Going after small businesses, he said, “doesn’t fit with Taylor’s persona of being benevolent, kind, and wanting women to succeed.”

Mallory Minor is a small business owner who has been threatened with legal action in the Tayvis era. Minor, who owns the Manayunk boutique Minor Details, started selling dupes of the coveted blue Eras Tour crewneck on Etsy in March after she noticed fans getting priced out by resellers.

» READ MORE: Hundreds of Taylor Swift fans filled a Lincoln Financial Field parking lot in hopes of securing Eras Tour merch this summer

They were an immediate success, Minor said: The majority of her more than 5,400 Etsy sales in 2023 came from original screen-printed Swift merch, netting enough profit to open an airy storefront on Manayunk’s Main Street in September.

The center of Minor’s store is dedicated to all things Taylor and Tayvis. There are baseball caps and hoodies printed with phrases like “NFL (Taylor’s Version)” and “Me and Vegas vibe like that” — a nod to this year’s Super Bowl location — plus hand-drawn Tayvis greeting cards and wrapping paper.

“I can live without all of this, personally,” said Minor, gesturing to the display, but added that she’s “so happy Taylor found someone that lets her be herself.”

Minor said Swift’s legal team has dinged her Etsy store a handful of times since the AFC championship, requesting that she remove listings explicitly invoking Swift and the NFL. Those items are still available in her brick-and-mortar and have been selling well, Minor said. (The store owner has not run into similar issues with the NFL, she said.)

Minor, 34, has been listening to Swift’s music since her self-titled debut album came out in 2006. She hopes to open a second location selling merchandise inspired by the singer.

“I’m not a threat [to Swift]. I’m just trying to pay my bills,” said Minor. In fact, she hopes that enough interactions with Swift’s camp could lead to a licensing deal.

“I listen to Taylor Swift for seven hours a day. This is who I am,” Minor said. “I would thank [her] in a heartbeat, too. She changed my life.”

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