The Emergence of TapouT

The only shirt of TapouT's that I own was one that was given to me, but it's impossible to ignore their progress and place in MMA. To wit:

Things started to change about five years ago, as TapouT rode the cresting wave of popularity for mixed martial arts spawned largely by UFC competitions on cable TV, and later bolstered by its own reality show. Since 2006, TapouT has been selling its products through a growing roster of national retailers including Tilly's, Hot Topic, Champs, Pacific Sunwear and Dillard's.

Like the fighters it sponsors, TapouT has become a business force to be reckoned with, and major corporate players have taken notice. A pivotal time for the company was last autumn, when it brought aboard Marc Kreiner, a former record industry executive who oversaw disco-era hits by artists including Chic and Evelyn "Champagne" King, to serve as president in charge of daily operations.

Shortly afterward, PEMGroup, a private equity firm that manages $1.5 billion in assets, extended a multimillion-dollar credit line to the company. About the same time, TapouT became a client of CAA Sports, a division of Los Angeles-based Creative Artists Agency, which also represents LeBron James, David Beckham, Oscar de la Hoya and Peyton and Eli Manning.

Last year TapouT acquired Hitman, a Huntington Beach company that also makes clothing and accessories tied to the mixed martial arts lifestyle. Caldwell said the company is looking into other potential acquisitions, and also at other licensing deals.

"But we've turned down a lot of things," he said of licensing offers that have come the company's way as its profile has risen. "We won't attach our name to something that our audience wouldn't use or wear."

Sheer numbers suggest that TapouT is in fertile ground for more years of growth.

According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, a Washington-based trade group, there were 6.9 million U.S. participants in all kinds of martial arts in 2007, compared with 6.2 million in 2000. While the overall U.S. wholesale value of sports equipment and apparel rose 3 percent in 2007 from the prior year, the martial arts category was up 12 percent -- from $280 million in 2006 sales to $314 million last year.

Part of TapouT's success was good timing by being at the front of the wave of popularity. Part of it is their appeal to gaudy label whoring. And another part still is simple use and co-opt of a term central to MMA. Like the UFC, they have positioned themselves as the brand leader with their domain being MMA related clothing. Still, though, it's an impressive ascendancy for them. While I find their professional wrestling get-ups and juvenile antics on the Versus reality show to be regrettable, it's hard to argue TapouT doesn't understand their audience.