We’ve done a gaming apparel guide before and that article covers where you can buy shirts that offer shirts with gamer-related prints and a couple of those stores mentioned was the Valve Store and DesignByHumans and both of these store not only carry official merchandise for gaming but also eSports apparel for fans of professional gaming teams. Now if you’ve been following me on social media you’d know I’m a big clothing enthusiast especially gaming tees and related products and I’ve been purchasing a lot of these stuff to rock at gaming events and the typical response aside from the “Hey, nice shirt!” compliment is the question of where’d I purchase them. We’ve already covered the ones for the general gaming genre so for this article I want to drill down further on the eSports clothing.
Now eSports is a big thing and fans of the genre want to show their appreciation and love for the game via a lot of means. Its a heavily-merchandise driven market with teams vying for sponsorship and then churning out products with or for those companies they work with. Gaming peripherals are the most notable example but if you’ve ever been in one these events, you’d really want to show your love for the teams you follow. ESL One Manila just went down and you can check out our recap of day 1 and day 2ย on what went down during those days and all throughout those days I was rocking a Cloud9 tank top and an Evil Geniuses “DOTA Boys” shirt. Its kinda like rocking the jersey of your team but gamer apparels are more creative than that.
So going back, in this article I’ll try and list down every and all online stores that carry official professional gaming team merchandise and a short review of our experience (if any) with their service and the quality of the product.
Meta Threads
Team Secret, CounterLogic Gaming, Naventic, Team Storm
Meta Threads is the official jersey provider for Team Secret and they offer the jerseys for sale so you buy Team Secret jerseys directly from the creators. Meta Threads is a clothing company located in Los Angeles, California and specializes in jerseys and gaming apparel. They’re an offshoot of HK Army, aย ย paintball gear, accessories, and lifestyle apparel. They’re most famous team right now is DOTA2 super team Team Secret led by Puppey aka Clement Ivanov. Puppey was rocking this jersey all throughout ESL One Manila 2016 week and I got to view it up close during our session in the ESL One Manila press conference.
Meta Threads currently sells the Team Secret jerseys as well as other jerseys for $60 each and they also have gaming tees for around $30 each. They offer worldwide shipping and offers various shipping options from USPS to Fedex Priority for international orders. Meta Threads requires 7-10 day for creation of orders and 5-7 days for shipping and we haven’t actually received our orders yet so our review of their product and service is pending as of this moment. As for their online shop, its smooth and seamless and offers discount codes if you wait around too long with your order.
DesignByHumans
Evil Geniuses, Alliance, CounterLogic Gaming, WinterFox
DesignByHumans or DBH is a creative community of shirt designer and has been one of the most central figure in custom tee cultures. DBH’s eSports section carries numerous team shops all printed by DesignByHumans. DBH currently is the home of the official EvilGeniuses clothing line as well as Alliance, amongst others. These products are also sold by other shops but DBH is the official source of these products.
We’ve had numerous experiences with DesignByHumans and they have one of the finest threads in the industry. DBH’s shirts, tank tops and hoodies are very comfortable, stretchable and maintain their vibrance well keeping their prints well in-tact even after numerous washing.
DBH offers global free shipping on orders $75 and above. International customers outside of the US will have various shipping options but the standard free shipping is Fedex mail. We’ve had issues with this method prior and have received our shipment 3 months onwards but customer service was top notch and have dispatched a new order replacement which arrived faster. Still, shipping takes more than 10 days for non-US destinations but the product is definitely worth it.
J!NX
Team Liquid
Jinx is one of our primary go-to shop for gaming apparel and their wide range of merchandise are really impressive. Jinx recently picked up Team Alliance’s official clothing and merch lineup offering their team jerseys, hoodies and other things in their shop.
Jinx fabrics are top-notch and are a close second to DBH in terms of quality but Jinx has more vibrant prints which are highly resilient to fading. Jinx also hosts frequent sales which drop prices to very good amounts. They also offer international shipping which is the quickest in this list from our own experience at just under 10 days via USPS.
ESL Shop
Na’Vi, Fnatic, Pretty much everyone in eSports
The ESL Shop houses the largest library of esports apparel in this list with many jerseys and other products sold in the store. Right now there is an EU Store and an upcoming US store. Prices will vary depending on exchange rate and we highly suggest waiting for the US store if you’re not within the EU.
ESL original clothing fabric quality is great and jerseys are also top notch and with a large selection from all the widely known teams, ESL Shop has it if the other store doesn’t otherwise it doesn’t exist. ESL Shop also carries clothing from the other stores in this list including DBH and C9.
We currently have no experience ordering directly from the EU store and we’ll wait until the US store is open for benchmarking of services.
Cloud9
Cloud9 has their own store which are pretty much they’re own self-branded clothing line. They’re jerseys apparently are made by MetaThreads/HKArmy also but they don’t acknowledge that anywhere nor does MetaThreads/HKArmy show them in their own store but the design are pretty much signature MetaThreads. The Cloud9 store carries jerseys, shirts, caps, and other merchandise.
Judging from the C9 jacket and tank top we have, their fabric of choice is really top-notch: soft with bright colors and feels really comfortable. Good fit also. Prices are really good also but it depends on where you are and how you’re getting them.
Secret Shop PH
Mineski
A special mention to our own homegrown brand, Secret Shop by Mineski is the official clothing provider of Mineski Pro Team. Secret Shop also carries other products including gaming peripherals but the main highlight of the store are the official Mineski gear clothing line including team jerseys and gamer prints. Secret Shop physical stores are available in some Mineski Infinity branches and their online store is open to take orders daily with free shipping within PH.
Fabric quality for most tees is decent and jerseys are of good quality. We’ve yet to have anything from the shop for review but prices are reasonably way more affordable than anyone else in this list.
We’re still hunting down many more esports apparel shops and vendors particularly those for South Korean teams but for the most part, we’ve mentioned the most popular stores in the world. If you’re outside the US and are looking to buy esports apparel and clothing, its best to start with these stores. If you’re still unsure, ESL Shop is easily the way to go as they have the largest collection of official team merchandise here but the lack of a US store may raise prices a bit so its best to wait until the US ESL Shop opens.
Do note that some of these stores have seasonal offers, discount options and free shipping options when you meet certain requirements so we highly recommend reading up on those firsts. As for customer experience, DesignByHumans, J!NX and the Cloud9 store we can personally vouch for as we’ve had numerous transactions with them already with J!NX holding the best in terms of overall customer support and service amongst the rest. DBH ranks high in quality of product.
That’s our list for my top shops for eSports apparel. Show your love by rocking your team’s jerseys or tees!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to help you out. You can also read up on other shops in our gamer apparel buyer’s guide where we list some of the more renowned official gamer clothing shops online.