Buzzworthy | Community The establishment quickly caught on, posting on Instagram the day the album dropped, but unfortunately, many Swift fans also walked out with The Black Dog’s branded pint glasses (perhaps while humming “You Belong With Me”?). Some have posted their purloined pint glasses – as well as pub menus – for sale on eBay. But there’s no “Bad Blood” here – the pub has leaned hard into the Swift spotlight, celebrating the name drop on its social media accounts and, naturally, launching a collection of merchandise (ahem) tailored to the tastes of its new fan base. Items bearing The Black Dog logo include cropped and unisex tees and hoodies in bright white and a few earthy shades, plus totes, caps and a travel mug. It remains to be seen whether the pub will replenish its supply of branded pint glasses or add them to the merch mix. IMAGES: Olympic Shop 3. Olympic Athletes, Fans Celebrate With Branded Apparel And More The Olympics generate a huge merch market, from apparel to collectibles – and not just for spectators. The athletes who made it onto Team USA not only won medals, they also received exclusive apparel and accessories to mark them as official competitors – and plenty of them shared their excitement on social media with the branded gifts they received. The Team USA athlete welcome kits included plenty of apparel, some of which was also sold to the public. Anyone could purchase pieces from Ralph Lauren’s Team USA collection. Proceeds benefited the team, which, unlike most others around the world, is not government-funded. The collection includes preppy staples like jackets, sweaters, rugby shirts and more, including the brand’s first 100% recycled polo shirt. A white cotton sweater featuring the American flag and the Olympic rings was particularly popular. The Team USA Shop (by Fanatics) also offered an assortment of Nike Villagewear – many of the same pieces sported by the athletes during the Games – including tees, hoodies, hats, outerwear and workout wear, as well as a variety of branded hard goods, from stickers, pins and pint glasses to suitcases, leather satchels and (oddly) high-end pet beds. The host city offered its own array of collectible merchandise and apparel, including various iterations of the Paris 2024 mascots – squishy red triangles with blue bug eyes, aka the Phryges, modeled after a type of hat popular during the French Revolution. (After all, it wouldn’t be the Olympics without a weird mascot, right?) IMAGES: RalphLauren.com TeamUSAShop.com PPAI • OCTOBER 2024 • 61
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