University of Minnesota rushes to replicate sweatshirt in K-pop star’s music video with 14M views

About a minute into K-pop idol Jin’s music video “Running Wild,” the BTS member runs down an empty city street with a canine companion at his side.

But for Minnesotans or college sports fans watching, it wasn’t the California backdrop or the cute pup that grabbed attention: It was the maroon sweatshirt the boy band member was wearing, a gold block M emblazoned across his chest.

“Um why is Jin wearing a Minnesota Golden Gophers sweatshirt?” X user @n_thestars2nite wrote Oct. 19 after the release of a teaser clip for the video.

While the official video didn’t come out until almost a month later — and has since garnered nearly 14 million views on YouTube alone — the unexpected promo by one of South Korea’s biggest stars prompted the University of Minnesota’s bookstore to rush to create a replica for devoted fans to purchase.

As of Friday, it had presold 470 units.

“It’s kind of crazy, but it’s a good crazy,” said Neil Olness, the bookstore’s director. “It brings some excitement to campus, brings some excitement to the store.”

A student noticed the sweatshirt in the teaser for the music video and brought it to the attention of the bookstore’s buyer, Connie Monnier. Monnier then reached out to Jennifer Hoiska, a Champion sales representative who has worked with the bookstore since 1999.

Hoiska said they couldn’t find an art file for the sweatshirt. Olness wasn’t sure where the exact sweatshirt from the video came from, saying “the prevailing belief right now is it was made sometime in the early 2000s.” Some sleuthing fans posted to social media after finding a sold-out listing for a $98 “Vintage Champion M Applique Crew Neck Sweatshirt” at Urban Outfitters that appears to be a match. The store did not respond to a request for confirmation, nor did Jin’s stylist.

But the bookstore didn’t let the garment’s mysterious origins derail the momentum. It started working with Champion on designing a replica by Nov. 13, before the full music video even made it to YouTube.

Champion went back and forth for a few days with University Relations, the department in charge of licensing the Block M branding, Hoiska said. The university approved the final design Nov. 19, and this stitched-on logo is different from what’s on other university apparel in a few ways.

The sweatshirt uses a larger logo than normal, with the typical Block M being about 11½ inches across, Hoiska said. This one is around 13 inches. It’s also the only Block M outlined in white.

“This is truthfully a very special sweatshirt,” Hoiska said. “... This probably won’t happen again.”

So far, the university has ordered more than 700 of the replica sweatshirts from Champion. Olness said the plan is to scale up its production to meet the demand and then scale down as excitement subsides.

While the bookstore awaits delivery, customers have purchased 470 sweatshirts, now listed on the bookstore’s website for $55, the same price as similar products. Through the store’s holiday sale after Thanksgiving, it sold 126 units at a reduced price.

The challenge of capitalizing on a surprise money-making opportunity before the craze fades isn’t new to a Minnesota entity. In 2017, Dustin from the Netflix hit show “Stranger Things” brought the Science Museum of Minnesota into the limelight by wearing its 1980s-era purple brontosaurus sweatshirt. The museum quickly turned around a reprint, bringing in $400,000 in just a few hours when it launched.

“This is what every marketer dreams of, right?” said Roger Barrett, creative director at the museum. “We got this, really, basically free press that we were able to really take advantage of.”

Beth Perro-Jarvis, a marketing analyst from Ginger Consulting, said this organic, accidental product placement could have a lasting effect. Because the sweatshirt is in various scenes of the video, “it’s just going to get exposure and impressions over and over and over and over again.”

But it will likely be most impactful for current or former students, Perro-Jarvis said.

“It’s just a moment,” Perro-Jarvis said, “a real feel-good moment that makes you proud of your brand, that it has that kind of international exposure.”

So far, customers have placed orders from 35 states and eight different countries, including South Korea, according to the university.

Donelle Maloney of Chisago City said this is not the first time she has thought about buying clothes based on what a member of BTS wears. But this time, she feels like the artist is recognizing the fans and K-pop community in her home state.

“It makes me really proud to be from Minnesota and living here,” Maloney said. “... K-pop is very global, and this kind of puts Minnesota on the map.”

Caleb Fravel is a University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment for the Minnesota Star Tribune.