Sand-Knit question?

[admin]

Sand-Knit question?

January 22 2005 at 1:28 PM
both-teams-played-hard (Login both-teams-played-hard)
Does anyone know the exact year Sand Knitting Mills moved from Chicago to Berlin, WI ?


http://www.both-teams-played-hard.com



AuthorReply

Anonymous
(Login gwh11)
Re: Sand-Knit question?

January 22 2005, 5:25 PM
The answer is 1953.


both-teams-played-hard
(Login both-teams-played-hard)
Re: Sand-Knit question?

January 22 2005, 7:36 PM
Thanks for the info! I wasn' t asking as a trivia question, I didn't know myself...Do you know more about Sand-Knit and their history?


vikes066
(no login)
Sandknit-Medalist-Ripon/NFL

January 23 2005, 6:09 AM
Sand Knit was bought by Medallist Industries which evolved the uniform division into Medallist-SandKnit which was eventually sold to MacGregor Sporting Goods. Most NFL teams wore Sand Knit until the mid-80's when MacGregor (due to bad management) went belly up. Some of the people who were left without a job decided to form their own uniform company using some of the old Sand Knit work force and bought out of bankruptcy equipment and formed Ripon which is still in business today.

At around the same time the NFL marketing gurus were devising a plan to "sell/license" the on-field rights to the uniforms to multiple companies. Companies like Puma. Logo Athletic, Nike, Wilson, Reebok, Pro Player etc. all had their name on field.

What a lot of people don't know is that the NFL now has to approve the quality, color etc. of all on field uniforms. Ripon and Wilson are the only 2 factories allowed to produce "true" on field jerseys. Don't be fooled by what you see on TV as regards to logos. All on field NFL jerseys are custom made here in the US by either of those factories, based upn the team's equipment managers choice. Ripon and Wilson make the shirts and the marketing company buys it and promotes it/sells it to the team. Nowadays Reebok has all the teams but the team choses whose factory they like better.


The Endzone
(Login TheEndzone)
Re: Sand-Knit question?

January 30 2005, 10:59 PM
Here's a few facts on Sand-Knit's history:

• Sand-Knit was started by John Sand in Chicago, Illinois in 1921. Sand-Knit was a manufacturer of custom athletic uniforms, award sweaters, and jackets.
• Sand-Knit operated in Chicago until 1953 when John Sand relocated the business to Berlin, Wisconsin.
• Acquired by Medalist Industries in 1960
• Operated as a division of Medalist until 1984 when it was sold to MacGregor Sporting Goods, a subsidiary of American Machine and Foundry (AMF), Inc.
• “In 1985, AMF Inc. was purchased in a hostile takeover bid by a Minnesota-based company, Minstar, Inc. Minstar sold off most of its divisions on a worldwide basis”
• In 1990, MacGregor filed bankruptcy and vacated the former Sand-Knit factory at 290 Junction St. in Berlin.
• In 1992, Ripon Athletic acquired the building and all the machinery and equipment at this plant.

Cheers!

Patrick W. Scoggin
Endzone Sports Charities
http://endzone.pscoggin.com/jerseys.htm


both-teams-played-hard
(Login both-teams-played-hard
)Sand Knit

November 14 2005, 5:24 PM
Since this post, there have been many questions about Sand Knit...
Can anyone add anything?

THANKS in advance!

[apujols04]

Somebody please help me....does this picture show authentic sand knit tagging? Please I know someone here knows. If so, what year? normally, these tags say something like "a medalist company" according to mears online. Notice the LARGE instead of a numeral

[both-teams-played-hard]

Sand Knit exclusive tags were made for retail (store bought) jerseys as well as gamers. The "LARGE" size tag most likely was used on a retail item. Of course, there are exceptions. Seeing the entire shirt would help! As the years go by, I am learning that Sand Knit exclusive tags aren't that "exclusive". Is there a nameplate? These tags are from the late 70s and may carry over to the early 80s...

[EndzoneSports]

In response to both-teams-played-hard, if I read your post correctly, it seems to infer that the presence of the "collegiate" sizing (ie. "L", "XL", etc.) most likely makes this a retail items. In all fairness, this may an over generalization. While true that all Sand-Knit retail jerseys did use this method of sizing, versus the alternate “pro” sizing (“42”, “44”, etc.), a good number of NFL teams also chose to use the “collegiate” sizing style as well in certain years. The Broncos for example, who wore Sand-Knit home jerseys in 1973 and ’74 wore “pro” sized jerseys one year and “collegiate” sized jerseys the next.

[both-teams-played-hard]

My disclaimer was: "of course, there are exceptions". I'm not sure what is meant by "collegiate" sizing...I have oodles of College Sand Knit jerseys sized 42, 44, 46,etc. My point was store boughts sometimes have the exclusive tags...

[apujols04]

My disclaimer was: "of course, there are exceptions". I'm not sure what is meant by "collegiate" sizing...I have oodles of College Sand Knit jerseys sized 42, 44, 46,etc. My point was store boughts sometimes have the exclusive tags...

How do you know my jerseys are not the exeptions?

[both-teams-played-hard]

I don't. I'm not an expert, nor claim to be.

[EndzoneSports]

My disclaimer was: "of course, there are exceptions". I'm not sure what is meant by "collegiate" sizing...I have oodles of College Sand Knit jerseys sized 42, 44, 46,etc. My point was store boughts sometimes have the exclusive tags...

I use the terms as I learned them from my father who managed a team sporting goods store for 40+ years, thought this does not necessarily mean that the terms have widespread industry-wide acceptance. "Collegiate sizing" refers to the more generic sizing convention descriptions of "L" for large, usually representing a men's chest size in the range of 42-44 inches or thereabouts; "XL" meaning extra large for 46-48 inches, etc. "Pro sizing" on the other hand is a more accurate sizine whereas the garment is sized to a specific chest size measured in even inch increments (i.e. 42, 44, 46, etc.).

[apujols04]

I use the terms as I learned them from my father who managed a team sporting goods store for 40+ years, thought this does not necessarily mean that the terms have widespread industry-wide acceptance. "Collegiate sizing" refers to the more generic sizing convention descriptions of "L" for large, usually representing a men's chest size in the range of 42-44 inches or thereabouts; "XL" meaning extra large for 46-48 inches, etc. "Pro sizing" on the other hand is a more accurate sizine whereas the garment is sized to a specific chest size measured in even inch increments (i.e. 42, 44, 46, etc.).

Thanks for posting helpful information.