Once LeBron James announced he would wear No. 23 with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was time for Adidas to get to work on the new jerseys. The factory in Indianapolis has already began producing them.
Here's a first look:
https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/statuses/493789165373255680
Here's another tidbit from Anthony Schoettle of the Indianapolis Business Journal:
Shortly after 1 p.m., James got the message out on social media (he also tweeted it) that he has chosen to wear No. 23 next season and, within minutes, Adidas officials confirmed they were setting up all 20 printing machines at the company’s Indianapolis licensing unit to crank out James replica jerseys and T-shirts bearing the player’s name and number. …
The presses in Indianapolis were running off James gear by 6 p.m. Normally, this time of year, the Indianapolis Adidas plant would be printing about six different runs, including general NBA merchandise, college football and Major League Soccer items. In addition to those things, local plant officials said items for two international soccer teams—Argentina and Germany—and World Cup soccer items had to be set aside to focus on James shirts and jerseys.
This week marked the first time the entire Indianapolis plant was dedicated to making items of a single player since Brett Favre joined the Minnesota Vikings in 2009.
The hype for James' jersey has been going wild ever since he made his decision to return to Cleveland. At one point, the pre-order alone for his new jersey was getting sold out on the NBA's official online shop as well as the Cavs' own website.
We'll see if Adidas can make enough to meet the current demand. We'll also have to see if James can deliver with his new roster, which can still use some improvements. My Top Sportsbooks is predicting that the Cavs are in pursuit of Ray Allen, who'll be a perfect addition with LBJ.
