CELEBRITY
Augusta boutique cashing in on Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce merchandise ahead of Super Bowl
An Augusta boutique is capitalizing off of the hottest relationship in the U.S. right now, selling Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift themed sweaters, hats, friendship bracelets, greeting cards, and even car fresheners ahead of Super Bowl Sunday and Valentine’s Day.
The Swank Company, located on Furys Ferry Road in Augusta, has products featuring the couple’s names, iconic Taylor Swift lyrics from her biggest hits, and items marked with “Taylor’s Version” – playing off her recent re-recorded albums marked with the phrase.
Manager Brianna Newton said the products have been popular with locals in the 16 to 30 age group.
“Obviously the Super Bowl is huge, but especially with Taylor [Swift] being so on trend right now and so many of us being Taylor Swift fans, we just kind of took that into consideration when buying for this time of year and did try to order accessories or clothing that would be more targeted toward NFL fans and Taylor Swift fans as well,” Newton said.
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She said the products have been so popular, they have had to put items back on pre-order.
“We have one sweatshirt that we did order this morning and posted on pre-order,” Newton said. “It’s kind of a three-for-one. It was Taylor Swift and Travis, but also Valentine’s Day inspired. That was the one that really had some popularity, so we decided to reorder it.”
The Washington Post reported Swift’s ongoing Eras Tour has had a substantial economic impact on the country’s economy, with $5.7 billion spent in tickets, merchandise, travel, hotels, food and clothing.
The Swank Company carried general football-themed clothes and accessories prior to the Swift-Kelce relationship, but had not carried specifically NFL-related items until this year – further showing Swift’s economic impact at a local level.
“We would love to order more pieces or more accessories that are targeted to NFL fans,” Newton said. “The Falcons are really the only team that’s close to us and they are not in the Super Bowl [this year], but going forward, we would like to offer online exclusives to target fan bases further away.”
Looking ahead, the boutique is already stocking up for the Masters in April.
“We are very excited about the Masters coming up and we have started buying and stocking the core items that we’ve had in the past,” Newton said. “We have the Augusta tea towels that are great for guest houses or people in Augusta who spruce up for that week of the year. … We are also working on a few custom accessories for the Masters that only we will be carrying, but we haven’t announced those just yet.”