Custom Ink Taps Agency for Major Sports & Entertainment Push

LOS ANGELES, CA – December 18, 2025 – Custom Ink, the online giant in customized apparel, is making a strategic play to embed itself deeper within the sports, entertainment, and university landscapes. The company announced today it has retained Innovative Partnerships Group as its agency of record to build out a formidable sponsorship and partnership division, signaling a significant evolution in its growth strategy.

A Strategic Shift Beyond E-Commerce Dominance

For over two decades, Custom Ink has built a powerful brand and a roughly $400 million annual revenue stream by perfecting the online experience for groups, organizations, and businesses needing custom gear. The company, which has shipped over 125 million T-shirts since its founding, has become the go-to platform for everything from family reunions to corporate events.

In recent years, Custom Ink has aggressively expanded its footprint through strategic acquisitions. The 2021 purchase of Swag.com and the 2022 acquisition of Printfection solidified its leadership in the booming corporate gifting and swag management market, a sector valued at over $100 billion. These moves demonstrated a clear ambition to move beyond one-off orders and into providing ongoing, platform-based merchandise solutions for businesses. Earlier forays, like the acquisition of concert merchandise platform Sidestep, hinted at an interest in the entertainment world.

This new partnership with Innovative Partnerships Group marks the next logical, yet most ambitious, step in that evolution. Instead of solely acquiring companies that serve these verticals, Custom Ink is now positioning itself to become an official partner within them. The goal is to move from a transactional provider to a strategic partner for major leagues, teams, entertainment properties, and universities, leveraging Innovative Partnerships Group's expertise to broker high-level sponsorship deals. The move targets a massive opportunity: the global custom apparel market is valued at over $55 billion and is projected to climb towards $100 billion by 2033, with licensed sports merchandise alone representing a market expected to exceed $52 billion in the same timeframe.

A New Playbook for High-Value Markets

To penetrate these notoriously complex and relationship-driven industries, Custom Ink is relying on Innovative Partnerships Group's specialized expertise. The Los Angeles-based agency is tasked with leading sponsorship strategy, identifying high-impact opportunities, and developing new business models that integrate Custom Ink's products directly into the fan and student experience.

The collaboration is designed to open doors at the highest levels. “Collaborating with Innovative Partnerships Group allows us to elevate our role within the sports, entertainment, and university ecosystem,” said Ryan Massimo, Chief Revenue Officer at Custom Ink, in the official announcement. He highlighted the agency's immediate impact, noting, “We’ve already been impressed by their ability to connect us with C-level decision makers and clearly articulate our value proposition.”

This approach represents a “win-win” scenario that Innovative Partnerships Group plans to architect. For sports and entertainment properties, partnering with Custom Ink offers a streamlined way to deliver high-quality, personalized merchandise that deepens fan engagement and opens new revenue streams. For Custom Ink, these long-term partnerships provide access to massive, passionate audiences and create a powerful new channel for growth.

“In Custom Ink, we see a trusted category leader with enormous potential across sports and entertainment,” stated Jeff Marks, CEO, Innovative Partnerships Group. “We’re excited to help architect win/win strategic partnerships that spotlight Custom Ink’s strengths and open doors to impactful long-term relationships.” The focus is on using sponsorship not just for brand visibility, but as a tool to “create stronger, more meaningful opportunities for sports and entertainment properties to deliver value to their audiences.”

Redefining Fan and Community Engagement

This strategic push is timed perfectly with a seismic shift in consumer expectations. Today’s fans and students demand more than just a generic logo on a t-shirt; they crave personalization, quality, and a sense of connection. The custom sportswear market is booming, driven by a desire for apparel that reflects individual identity while still showing team or school pride. Trends like athleisure, where team-branded gear is stylish enough for everyday wear, further fuel this demand.

The partnership aims to place Custom Ink at the center of this trend. Imagine a university athletic department offering a platform where students can create customized gear for their specific dorm, club, or intramural team, all officially licensed. Or consider a professional sports team launching limited-edition merchandise co-designed by fans for a specific playoff run. These are the types of immersive, community-building experiences the collaboration seeks to enable.

By integrating its user-friendly design tools and robust fulfillment network with the powerful brands of teams and universities, Custom Ink can help these institutions move beyond traditional merchandise sales. It can empower them to foster micro-communities, celebrate unique moments, and give their followers a tangible piece of the action. This deepens loyalty in ways that passive consumption of media cannot, turning fans and alumni into active brand participants.

Navigating a Competitive Field

While the opportunity is significant, the path is not without its challenges. The custom apparel market is intensely competitive, with players ranging from global giants like Vistaprint to specialized print-on-demand services and thousands of local print shops. Custom Ink will need to clearly differentiate its offering, emphasizing its scale, quality control, and the strategic value it brings through the Innovative Partnerships Group partnership.

Furthermore, the world of sponsorship is notoriously difficult to quantify. A key challenge will be developing clear metrics to measure the return on investment for both Custom Ink and its future partners, moving beyond simple brand exposure to track tangible impacts on sales and fan engagement.

This is precisely where an agency like Innovative Partnerships Group proves its worth. By leveraging its proprietary 'Partnership Intelligence™' system and industry experience, the agency can help navigate these complexities, identify the most promising partners, and structure deals that deliver measurable results. The alliance is a calculated move to mitigate the risks of entering these new markets by relying on a partner with a proven playbook for success. By combining Custom Ink’s operational excellence with Innovative Partnerships Group's strategic access, the company is betting it can transform how major organizations think about custom merchandise, turning it from a simple revenue line into a core component of their community engagement strategy.