Why I Started Replica

After my last football game at Northwest Catholic High School, I had no desire to give my jersey back. At the time, I believed it was the last time I would ever put a jersey on. I had no plans of playing college football. I was done. This is the case for most student-athletes as the majority of high school seniors never put a jersey on again.

I felt like I earned that jersey; the same one my brother wore for two years before me. That grass-stained, ripped, hole-ridden jersey meant something. It was a symbol of the sacrifice, dedication, and determination. It represented the lifelong friendships, lessons learned, tears shed, and blood bled while earning the right to wear that number 7 jersey.

Two years later, on Christmas, my mom surprised me and my brother with our high school jerseys, the same ones we wore on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. He got the green home jersey, I got the white away jersey. To this day, it’s the best gift I’ve ever received.

It didn’t dawn on me until years later; my mom paid hundreds of dollars for each of those jerseys. Then she added the cost of framing them on top of that. A parent should never have to spend hundreds of dollars to provide that moment of elation for their son or daughter. Then again, athletic directors and coaches shouldn’t have to either. It costs athletic departments thousands to replace uniforms year after year. In fact, one coach told me “We seem to have an issue of seniors not returning their jerseys.” It’s become a problem for both schools and their athletes.

I wanted to provide every athlete with an alternative opportunity to keep their jersey. I also wanted that opportunity to be cost-efficient for both the athletes and the athletic department.

That thought was the inception of Replica.

Now, every athlete has the opportunity to hang their jersey on the wall. Every athlete can wake up each morning, look up at their Replica, and be reminded of their time with a team, the lessons learned, and the friendships made. Every athlete can feel the way I did that one Christmas morning.

Sports create opportunities, bring us closer together, and teach us a lot about life. Replica greatly values these three things and ensures each and every athlete has the chance to remember them through our one-of-a-kind product.