YouTuber Wassabi Partners With Teespring’s UNLOCKD For Custom Nike Drop

Alex Wassabi is getting some Nike merch.

The YouTuber is officially the first creator to sell Nike branded products through Teespring’s new UNLOCKD program, which matches major brands like Champion, Puma, and Russell Athletic with influencers for custom merch drops.

Wassabi’s drop, unveiled this week in his latest upload (below), is a single item: a Nike hallmark hoodie printed with “Wassabi” in stylized white and pink fonts. Available in black (which has already sold out), navy, and forest green, the sweatshirt retails for $58. It’s a limited edition item, so is only on sale through Oct. 7.

“I haven’t done any merch this year and this just felt special,” Wassabi, who has 11.5 million subscribers, tells Tubefilter. “I love Nike, and to be able to do something with official Wassabi merch feels like a great representation of the things I’m passionate about: my channel, my fans, and my merch.”

Les Green, who joined Teespring this month as its VP of marketing after spending a decade at Nike, adds that UNLOCKD is part of Teespring “sharpening its focus to be exclusively in service of creators.” (It’s worth noting that Green knows a thing or two about custom merch, too. His most recent role at Nike was as the senior brand director of Nike By You

—the division of the shoe and apparel company where individuals can design their own wares.)

Teespring announced earlier this year it has paid out more than $80 million in profits to creators who primarily use its platform to print their own logos, slogans, and art on popular blank canvas merch items like T-shirts and mugs. But since launching tools last year that allow creators to make bespoke products, the company has seen an increase in demand for custom items. It now anticipates that bespoke products will make up the majority of its sales by 2021.

UNLOCKD, launched late last year, is a core part of that bespoke business. So far, the program has facilitated 34 collaborations; recent drops came from YouTubers Jarvis Johnson and Pestily, as well as music group Halocene.

“By partnering with Alex and allowing him to be the first Teespring creator to customize the iconic Nike hoodie, his fans and community will have an opportunity, albeit limited, to get something very unique, high-quality, and completely authentic to his personality,” Green says. “That’s what makes this program special.”

You can see Wassabi’s drop here.