Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin on criticism over MLB jerseys: ‘We did exactly what we were instructed to do’
“Normally when I get beat up, it’s because I actually did something wrong,” Rubin said.
The baseball world is buzzing over the new MLB jerseys, the Nike Vapor Premier, manufactured by Fanatics. Fans and players alike have united to bash the new look, for a lack of customization in the pants, which also might be see-through, to concerns over the look of the name plates.
Fanatics has taken the brunt of the criticism. CEO Michael Rubin spoke about the backlash for the first time publicly at the MIT Sloan Conference on Friday in Boston.
The company has been the primary manufacturer of MLB jerseys since it acquired Majestic in 2017, and continues to produce jerseys from the same facilities in Easton, Pa., that Majestic has used since 2005. But Nike is responsible for the jersey designs Fanatics produces.
» READ MORE: New uniforms have some Phillies pining for the old ones. Others like them: ‘I feel huge in the jerseys.’
“In this particular case, Nike designs everything, hands us a spec and says, ‘Make this,’” Rubin said. “We’ve made everything exactly to the spec, and Nike and baseball are saying ‘Yes, you’ve done everything we’ve asked you to do.’”
The new Vapor Premier jerseys are designed to be more lightweight and breathable for players. Rubin described the new design as “performance-oriented.”
Changing from one jersey design to another will never get universal praise right away, which Rubin said he expected from seeing past reactions to football and basketball jersey changes, but the backlash to the MLB jerseys was swift and fiercer than anticipated from both fans and the MLBPA.
“Part of changing the uniform is people get uncomfortable,” Rubin said. “It takes time. What I would tell you is the biggest thing I’ve probably learned is, if we’re involved in something, we need to make sure that everybody’s on board. … They got certain players on board, but not all players on board. I think if you change something so old, and so established, we need everybody to be on board with it.”
Fanatics is a popular target for sports fans, who lambaste the company over quality control problems, including a botched rollout of kelly green Eagles merchandise.
But in this case, the primary concerns revolve around design choices, which fall under Nike’s purview.
“We’ve been told we’ve done everything exactly right, and we get the [expletive] kicked out of us every day, so that’s not fun,” Rubin said. “Normally when I get beat up, it’s because I actually did something wrong. Here, I’m actually getting beat up and I actually didn’t do something wrong, we did exactly what we were instructed to do.”
Despite the criticism, Rubin said that Nike is an “incredible partner” and that they’re going to stick together and learn from this experience.
In a statement to The Inquirer’s Alex Coffey earlier this week, Nike said:
“We always put the athlete at the center of everything we do. We worked closely with MLB players, teams, and the league to create the most advanced uniforms in the history of MLB which are lighter and more flexible. The quality and the performance of our product is of the utmost importance to us. We will continue to work with MLB, the players, and our manufacturing partner to address player uniforms.”