The ultra premium generic domain name Champion.com has been acquired by clothing giant HanesBrands, Inc. for an undisclosed sum from its long time past owners Nationstar Mortgage, LLC.
The domain purchase actually took place about February 2016, when the domain name started redirecting to Hanes.com/champion but the domain name is now the flagship domain name for the clothing brand, Champion.com
Champion.com has been registered since November 02, 1994, so it has taken Hanes some 22 years to get the best domain name for its brand.
Hanes also acquired Champion Europe in April 2016, which owned trademarks in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
In general, most consumers simply assume that a brand the size of Champion would own its EMD (Exact Match Domain) in a .com but this is not the case for every brand, product or service. It IS the best and wisest investment to own it though!
Hanes did the right thing acquiring the domain name and I’m very sure it cost them well into 7 figures do so, something also not often known by the consumer so they can easily find them on the web.
Marketing just got easier for the brand and the domain name simply makes sense to consumers. It is also in-line with competitive brands like Nike (Nike.com), Under Armour (UA.com & UnderArmour.com) and the many more that already own and use EMD .com’s. Better late than never!
Great name that will help them compete with top brands , nice article Jamie.
This is a rare case of a top tier one word .com being sold by one end user to another.
The seller is ChampionMortgage.com, a division of a business called Nationstar Mortgage that uses Nationstarmtg.com. NationstarMortgage.com is interestingly enough owned by their competitor that is also called Nationstar Mortgage.
Hanes was asleep at the wheel for 20 years here. I personally always liked Champion clothing as I see it similar to North Face but much cheaper. But I always assumed it was either Sears or Macys inhouse brand. Branding Champion brand properly as Champion.com will definitely help Hanes position the brand better as a real competitor to the likes of North Face, Nike, Under Armor.
If I recall, Champion Mortgage was a pretty big name back in the day- so it was natural that they had this EMD for marketing purposes. If I recall correctly from the radio ads they also had the exact match 800#- so their direct marketing strategy was sound. Not sure what became of that company in the mortgage fiasco a few years back, but pretty nice to be able to sell the domain for likely 7 figures+.
Even better for Hanes to acquire it for a brand that has been around for almost 100 years. Totally agree with you- better late than never!