Without further ado, RSVLTS are beyond thrilled to have teamed up with iconic shredded gum pioneers, Big League Chew®, to bring forth an exciting new collaboration and apparel collection that will debut artwork for eight new original characters in addition to some original packaging designs.
Yes, you read that correctly! Developing some fun new characters in relation to various flavors - as homage to the original packaging - was the vision from the start, which should add some additional context to the new illustrations you'll find on the gear.
The collection will feature traditional KUNUFLEX™ button down, hybrid shorts and there will be a Sunday "Dare Mighty Tees" drop featuring various characters as well (example of just one style below; there will be many).
More information regarding the collection origins, photos of gear, new characters and other details can be found within the following collaboration press release.
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Hoboken, New Jersey (April 28, 2022) - today, the Big League Chew x RSVLTS apparel collection features RSVLTS’ KUNUFLEX™ material, and will showcase the iconic Big League Chew packaging artwork - new and original - fused together in RSVLTS all-over-print style. The design will be featured across traditional button-down shirts, matching hybrid shorts (leisure/swim), and each new character on premium quality t-shirts.
“Last year, around baseball season, we randomly polled our RSVLTS Insiders community and asked what everyone’s favorite Big League Chew flavor was, which yielded a flurry of engagement and chatter,” said Chris Joyce, Director of Wholesale at RSVLTS. “It was a real lightbulb moment, and a week later I am on the phone with Big League Chew inventor, Rob Nelson, and we’re brainstorming ideas and concepts. It’s been an absolute dream project and there’s so much more we can do together too, always with the hope to bring everyone back to those nostalgic little league days.”
In relation to the initial social media Q&A, the vision for the collaboration was to create an entire new cast of characters to match the flavors, all which would be a throwback to those original, vintage, gritty players Big League Chew included on their packaging from the 1980s and 1990s.
“I was thrilled when the RSVLTS team reached out with interest in collaborating with the Big League Chew Brand,” said Rob Nelson, Inventor of Big League Chew. “The team over at RSVLTS not only presents some really creative ideas to bring back those nostalgic memories, but they also showcase what Big League Chew is all about, having bubble gum fun.”
Based on other licensed sports and pop culture projects, RSVLTS knew they had an ace in the bullpen to bring this vision to life. To help create and illustrate the new original characters, RSVLTS called up its sport caricature extraordinaire, Allen Mudgett (a.k.a. Mudge), who is largely known for doing “Big Head” sports caricatures in the mid-1980s for Salem Sportswear.
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Oh yeah, and while we’re not saying these are the official names for the new characters, because they definitely are not the official names, but if the characters did have names, we creatively imagined they’d be the following:
Fritz Hankman (Watermelon), Pants McClenaghan (Cotton Candy), Scruff Winters (Sour Apple), Ronnie Wadswick (Original, RH), Donnie Wadswick (Original, LH), Terry “T-Rod” Rodriguez (Grape), “Sticky” Sam Fingers (Strawberry) and Meat Rodgers (Blue Raspberry).
