February 12, 2011 - Local shop to produce NFL motorcycle helmets

OFF THE WIRE
les wrote:


Great story!!! Glad to see a local businessman succeed.....Oh wait....his production plants are in CHINA....no need to say more...............

February 13, 2011, 9:48 AM
Jerry and Andy Brogden display some of their motorcycle helmets bearing NFL team logos. The Brogdens have an exclusive, five-year contract to produce the helmets. Todd Berkey
Bernie Hornick bhornick@tribdem.com
The Tribune-Democrat Sat Feb 12, 2011, 11:22 PM EST

JOHNSTOWN — Andy Brogden grew up watching the toll that running the family clothing store, Brogie’s, took on his father.
The stress, the long hours were not for him.
“I didn’t want to be a retailer. You really don’t have a life,” he said Friday.
“I wanted to be a wholesaler.”
Now, after banging on the doors of the National Football League for three years, Brogden stands on the cusp of what could be success beyond his wildest dreams.
The NFL has given Brogden a five-year, exclusive contract to produce motorcycle and kids’ bicycle helmets emblazoned with team logos.
It’s never been done before.
He came up with the idea by “just listening to what customers want” at rallies such as Thunder in the Valley and other gatherings on the East Coast.
Brogden called the league day in and day out – for years. He said he got the runaround, and left voicemails for people who never returned his calls.
Any human being he reached would be the wrong person.
“It took me three years of persistence,” he said. “The NFL just doesn’t answer the phone for everybody.”
But when a products executive finally heard him out – that was in October – she loved his plan, he said.
“Nobody’s ever approached them with the idea before,” Brogden, 36, said. He was flown to New York immediately.
The NFL did not immediately reply to contacts requesting comment about the helmet program.
Head start
Brogie’s already had been producing motorcycle helmets in China as Brogden nudged the business into wholesale.
So the company has a head start as it gears up for its NFL product line.
Brogden recently returned from visiting plants in China, sort of a quality-control check ahead of the production runs.
The NFL wants everything to run smoothly, he said.
“Your Packers yellow better be Packers yellow,” Brogden said. “Your Redskins burgundy better be Redskins burgundy.”
The company will order 45,000 or 50,000 units at a time and have the helmets in stores 60 days after that. So, the merchandise is expected to arrive in stores this spring.
The motorcycle helmets will sell for $65 or $70 apiece.
“I have my father on Cloud 9,” Brogden said.
His dad, store owner Jerry Brogden, 68, said of his son, “I’m very happy for him. He’s a go-getter.
“He can become very wealthy over this, and he can send me a check once a month in Florida.”
Somebody recently told Jerry Brogden that NFL apparel is a $70 billion-a-year business.
“I just want a half a percent of that,” he said, and laughed.
He said the helmets would be available in stores such as his that carry motorcycle apparel, on the official NFL website, in football stadiums and on TV.
The kids’ bicycle helmets could be sold at major retailers such as Toys R Us.
Targeting consumers
“It’s got a huge appeal,” the father said, noting that a record TV audience of 111 million people watched the Steelers play the Packers in the Super Bowl.
And he expects orders, loads of orders, from those who aren’t even bikers.
Businessmen who want a conversation piece in their office, guys who want an extra touch in their “man caves.”
These are primary customers.
Two different styles of motorcycle helmet – half and three-quarters – now are available for order.
But even before the first shipment arrives on U.S. shores, the Brogdens have their eyes on other aspects of the business:
• The father-son team next wants to come out with a full-faced helmet for those who ride “crotch rocket” motorcycles.
Those would sell for $99.
• They’re looking for a distribution center, possibly in Johns-town or in the Midwest.
• And they’ll be getting into NFL-branded accessories, including team saddle bags, reflective plate holders and toolbags.
“I thank God every day that this happened,” Andy Brogden said.