Pairing Anime and E-sports

A popular sub-segment within the e-sports licensing sector consists of cross-licensed apparel collections that bring together e-sports teams and anime properties. The audiences for the two types of IP dovetail nicely, and the anime characters help drive interest and purchase intent for the e-sports brands.

This trend has been ongoing since at least 2019 and seems to get stronger and stronger. Some examples from the past six months involve top licensed properties from both anime and e-sports:

• 100 Thieves collaborated with Pokémon for a 16-piece capsule collection, announced in February of this year. The designs feature Pokémon characters hailing from the Kanto region of the Pokémon world; this is the where the original generation of characters are based, with Pikachu, Charizard, Bastoise, Gengar, and Venusaur among them. Products include pullovers, cardigans, corduroy pants, t-shirts, nylon jackets, and a varsity jacket made in partnership with Golden Bear Sportswear. The gaming collective 100 Thieves, based in Los Angeles, has paired with other anime properties, including Jujutsu Kaisen, as well as partners outside of anime, including Gucci.

• Blacklist International, located in the Philippines, tied in with My Hero Academia in December for the BLCK x MHA Collection. It is being produced by Blacklist’s parent company, Tier One Entertainment, which manages e-sports talent and creates themed entertainment as well as operating the team. The merchandise has an “Everyone can be a hero” theme that fits with the ethos of both the team and the anime. A five-piece drop in December included two jerseys, a long-sleeve t-shirt, sweat shorts, and a photocard collection, with another drop planned for 2024.

• Cloud9 of Santa Monica, California, paired with One Piece in December to create a line of merchandise sold in a pop-up shop in Venice, California, and online. The mix-and-match tops and bottoms feature the color scheme, characters, and other icons familiar from the anime series, with design elements including patches, prints, and embroidery. An extensive range of products includes varsity jackets, windbreakers, rugby polos, button down shirts, joggers, totes and waist packs, pirate flags, mousepads and key caps, sticker packs, and a variety of hoodies, long- and short-sleeved t-shirts, and hats.

• Team Vitality, headquartered in Paris, launched a co-branded streetwear collection featuring Jujutsu Kaisen in November. The range includes t-shirts in black, dark gray, and light gray, two hoodies, a lilac bucket hat, and a mouse mat, featuring the logos of both partners along with character images. The team has also offered collaborative merchandise with other anime, including Hunter x Hunter in September 2023 and Naruto in December 2022.

• Team SoloMid, better known as TSM, worked with Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood on a range of apparel that debuted in October. The 12-piece collection included hoodies, t-shirts, fleece, headwear, and a mousepad. Designs, mostly in black and white to reflect TSM’s branding, incorporated symbology, Transmutation circles, and quotes related to the show. L.A.-based TSM has partnered with other anime, including My Hero Academia, in the past.

Products such as these are typically sold on the teams’ e-commerce sites and, when available, their branded retail shops in their home cities.

Anime is a hot commodity in all product categories and for cross-licensing efforts involving many types of brands, from traditional sports leagues and teams to luxury fashion labels. Videogame licensors in general have been key players in creating co-branded merchandise collections combining their IP with anime characters, and e-sports-related IPs have been a particularly active segment within the broader videogame landscape to do so.

In fact, these types of cross-licensing efforts have been a bright spot within e-sports licensing, which has proven challenging for many teams, despite some success stories. Many of the properties listed here rank among the top e-sports programs when it comes to licensing, sometimes becoming lifestyle brands for gamers and fans as much as gaming competitors. Pairing with the top anime properties can help take these initiatives to the next level.