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| The D'Angelos |
When you think 'souvenir' around Fenway Park, there's only
one family that comes to mind: the D'Angelos. But the family venture (
'47 Brand ) is so much more than just Red Sox pennants and seat cushions. In fact, it's an international sports apparel phenomenon. The family patriacrch—
Arthur D'Angelo—still comes to work every day as he has since 1947 (the genesis of the brand name). In fact, on this
Opening Day, he was sitting in the warm sunshine on Fenway's steps in anticipation of yet another season serving fans—who view him as a Yawkey Way icon. Arthur is helped by his sons Bobby, Mark, David and Steven.
FenwayNation had a chance to talk to
Bobby D'Angelo about the ever-changing nature of his business. His '
47 Brand (officially licenced by, among others, MLB) sells more caps than
anyone else in the world—despite the fact that overall industry cap sales are down
. Except, that is, for cap sales of
'47 Brand—they're
up 10%. Why? Bobby is convinced that the difference is that his company doesn't shy away from challenges in the industry—in fact, they embrace them. This means doing the hard, behind-the-scenes work to understand emerging trends among key segments (e.g., young people, women)—and being willing to adopt new designs and new styles without fear. Said Bobby,
"Things get stale pretty fast in this business, so you have to be willing to accept changes—even if you think they're weird. Weird is OK." It's this kind of flexibility that is keeping '
47 Brand at the top of the market. How can this story get any better? A local family-run enterprise that is state-of-the-art smart and an international success. The D'Angelos represent all of that—and more. You can find out more about the D'Angelo family and some of the new product lines at '
47 Brand HERE.
