In the wake of Steph Curry’s viral "Nuit, Nuit" hoodie — a reference to his celebratory pose in which he mimed sleeping during Team USA's gold-medal win over France on Saturday — plenty of knock-off apparel surfaced on social media.
The backstory behind the real hoodie — meant only for Curry and the result of weeks of planning with designer Mike Fogg — is a testament to the marketing genius of Curry and his ability to not only live up to the moment on the world’s biggest stage, but also capitalize on the attention by further building his brand.
But with no intention to make the official hoodies available to the public, even as the image of Curry posing with his head resting on his hands like a pillow became one of the most viral images of the Olympics, it was only a matter of time before someone filled the gap.
Enter Fanatics.
A T-shirt titled “Gold Medal Moments Night Night” went live on the Fanatics shop Wednesday, featuring the image of Curry set against a black-and-white background with the text “Nuit Nuit” below.
Priced at $39.99, Fanatics listed the Stadium Essentials shirt as a “Special Event Item,” noting it would ship separately from any other orders, and no later than Sept. 3, over two weeks from the flash-sale, which is set to conclude this evening.
It quickly became the top-seller among all T-shirts on the site.
Fanatics is an official licensing partner of USA basketball, so the company owned the rights to market the photo. Neither Curry nor Fogg have laid claim to the phrase, nor has anyone trademarked it, so it appears to be in the public domain for the taking.
Fanatics also dropped another “Special Event Item” with a shirt featuring another viral picture of Curry shooting a 3-pointer over Victor Wembanyama in the gold-medal game.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.