CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Football Club started its second season this month, along with a new partnership with a local retailer.
In collaboration with the team’s new kits, locally owned 704 Shop is selling a collection of merchandise, complementing the new color layout and designs.
However, it’s more than just a team-retailer collaboration, as it represents the first time Charlotte FC has licensed its logo to a local retailer, and sales in the new products will help a local school effort.
One of 704 Shop’s co-owners, Christopher Moxley, says the partnership was a closely held secret for months.
“Obviously, to bring something like this to life, we had to sign an NDA way early in the process, to actually see the colors, which were top, top secret and confidential,” Moxley said, referencing the team’s new kits for 2023.
Moxley, who started the business 10 years ago with two college roommates, says he developed relationships with folks inside Tepper Sports and Entertainment while working on local community boards.
Eventually, those conversations led to licensing opportunities between 704 Shop and one of Major League Soccer’s newest teams.
“Really, we’ve been working on this since June or July, at least, of last year,” Moxley said.
At 704 Shop’s South End storefront, just minutes from Uptown Charlotte and Bank of America Stadium, purple-tinted lighting inundates shoppers, and a wall of merchandise reflecting Charlotte FC’s new look.
704 Shop has a growing history of landing high-profile licensing agreements with North Carolina-based events and companies.
In recent years it has launched collections with Cheerwine, the PGA’s 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow, UNC Charlotte and now Charlotte Football Club.
For Moxley and his college roommates, he says they still sometimes have to pinch themselves.
“We couldn’t be more happy and more ecstatic, and when we see people in our gear, it never gets old,” Moxley said.
All of 704 Shop’s custom items had to get MLS and club approval, a process which took months. Now, 704 Shop’s merchandise is splashed across international web pages like the MLS’ official website and the fan wear mega-site, Fanatics.
“Three of their top sellers yesterday, or over the weekend, were like three of our products. So, you do pinch yourself,” Moxley said.
Moxley says they have more releases planned, and hopes 704 Shop continues to grow with the city and its larger businesses, like Charlotte FC.
“Our passion, I think, for fashion comes from hip-hop. We were musicians first, and so, for anybody that’s really into hip-hop culture understands that fashion and hip hop really [do] — coincide together, they co-exist together,” Moxley added.
But there’s more to profit than just new designs and new colors. Moxley says this collaboration is part of his work with the Charlotte Alliance Foundation to build partnerships between big and small business.
Also, Charlotte FC announced its “lead partner,” Ally Financial, also plans to match $10,000 of the collection’s sales proceeds to the club’s Greater Goals program.
The after-school program provides education on both soccer and financial literacy to Title 1 schools in the region.
“I’m really excited about that. I come from a very underserved community here in Charlotte. And, you know, financial literacy and education are paramount in terms of many of those youths — that’s going to be their way out of these environments,” Moxley said, while standing in front of a mannequin sporting the new collection.
Charlotte Football Club said the decision to partner with 704 Shop was part of “Charlotte FC and Ally’s commitment to supporting Charlotte businesses.”
Moxley said fans can expect more merchandise releases over the 2023 MLS season, but said those too are a closely held secret.
