“March Madness” is not an exaggerated phrase for HanesBrands (asi/59528).

During the men’s and women’s NCAA Division 1 basketball tournaments, the Winston-Salem, NC-based apparel manufacturer will provide more than 500,000 units of apparel branded to participating teams. The logoed merch, including T-shirts and hats, which collectively account for 80% of sales, will be retailed at tournament venues around the United States.

HanesBrands will design, print and ship 500k+ pieces of @MarchMadness apparel – with as little as 48-hour notice – during this year’s NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments. Find out how we’ve done it for the past 20 years: https://t.co/aVC7RPiSB8 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/edEbihCRfW

— Hanesbrands Inc. (@HanesBrands) March 22, 2019

“Developing apparel for the tournament is always a challenge that pushes us to continue innovating and improving our supply chain efficiency,” said John Fryer, HanesBrands president of sports and graphic apparel. “Although our streamlined process makes things look easy, there is a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes work and complex logistics taking place to ensure we are meeting demand to keep the fans happy.”

The rush began on Selection Sunday (March 17), when tournament teams are seeded. HanesBrands’ graphic design, screen-printing and logistics experts started designing and printing apparel to ensure its availability for the week’s play-in games in Dayton, OH, and for all regional games that began March 21. The process was repeated on Selection Monday when the 64 teams for the Division I Women’s national tournament were announced.

“Our 50-plus-member graphic design team gets the ball bouncing by designing some work as teams automatically qualify for the tournaments, then puts on the full-court press as soon as regional seedings are announced on Selection Sunday and Monday,” said Fryer. “Hundreds of different pieces of art are produced during and immediately following the field announcements, and every approved design is delivered in advance of the first-round games.”

The design, printing and shipping process is repeated each round. It culminates in the Final Four where HanesBrands has exclusive rights to sell licensed fanwear at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, along with 15 NCAA sanctioned hotels, and the March Madness Music Festival and Fan Fest. Same goes for HanesBrands at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL, six NCAA sanctioned hotels, and Tourney Town during the women’s tournament.

More than 150 items are available at each stage of the tournaments. Brands include Champion, Alternative Apparel and Comfort Wash.

“The cold temperatures that likely come with a Minneapolis-based Final Four may mean a greater mix of Champion sweatshirts, both hoodies and crews,” HanesBrands said. “New to the mix this year are tournament-specific eco-offerings from Alternative Apparel.”