Ever since we started Bumpy Pitch, the one constant that we have ran into is the question of “why?’ Why start a company based upon the lifestyle of soccer. Why don’t we make performance equipment that is sold in soccer stores. Why don’t we make jerseys? And…why do we sell our clothes for the prices that we do. This last question comes into play sometimes more than others, and with the recent release of our hoodies, some people started asking it again.

This is not the first draft of this story I have put together dealing with the issue of cost. We haven’t published or shared any of them because I thought I had some particular direction or point that we wanted to get across. I had planned on sharing things like industry standards, formulas that clothing companies use to set prices and how based upon our cost of goods, we actually charge less for our clothes than what the “industry” deems as normal practices. In the end, it seemed less important to focus on the formulas, cost of goods and industry standards and more on “why” it is we do what we do.

People have often been skeptical about our approach to create premium apparel using soccer as our inspiration. We’ve been told that the average soccer fan would scoff at our viewpoint and not support a soccer inspired apparel brand that had a different outlook on things. We’ve been told that we would alienate consumers, and that if we just charged less that we would be much more successful and much bigger. But the thing is, we have to be true to who we are, what we hope to achieve and to ultimately stay in the lane that we have chosen to ride in. I believe that soccer, and soccer fans, should demand more and have the belief that we deserve better than the bare minimums. Or at the very least, be more supportive when people do more than talk about it, but be about it. Whether that is TV coverage, media support or the clothes that we are able to buy. It may be a new direction, but we should be okay with the price that is associated with premium apparel that supports our sport and pays homage to our passion. Spending $20 – $30 to park our car in a lot to watch a game for 90 minutes is acceptable, $12 for a beer at a stadium that would normally cost $4… but using premium materials, embracing domestic manufacturing and relying on tremendous passion to create the best product that we can wear for years gets knocked?

Part of our mission is that we feel that soccer fans deserve amazing quality products. That’s not an attempt to knock what is currently on the market, but we never wanted to simply re-create what is already out there (which has been suggested to us).  That’s never what we’ve been about in any manner of our lives. In fact, if I take a broader approach… if we wanted to do things and fit in with everyone else, then being an American soccer player and fan would probably have never been our choice of things to become. But it was never a choice for me. I was drawn to the sport, regardless of what other people thought about it and I have always stayed true to that. And that same mentality and outlook carries over into the clothes that we create, our approach with The Original Winger and our entire philosophy of what we do. It might not always be the most accepted approach, but neither has being an American soccer fanatic.

We understand if what we do isn’t for everybody. But we’ll continue to stay in our lane, be who we are and stay true to the vision that we have always had. It may be a bit different, a bit out of the comfort zones for some people and difficult for some to understand. But that sounds awfully familiar to the plight of the American soccer fan.

And finally, we read all the comments and emails that get sent in that are both positive and negative. Some of the support is amazing, and some of the feedback is not so amazing. But we read it all, talk about it and try to digest both the good and the bad. Thanks for the support and know that we’ll keep being honest about who we are, what we do and “why” we choose to do the things that we do.