A trip to the center of Knicks merch mania

As the 90 degree sun blared in Midtown Manhattan last Friday, a crowd of dozens flooded the entrance of Madison Square Garden snaking out of the venue’s door—not for a concert or a game, but for merch. It was just five hours before game 2 of the NBA finals, and the line to snag an official jersey or a cap at the Knicks’ home arena seemed to be never-ending, despite moving quickly. For many of the people in line, this would be their first piece of Knicks gear. Such is the effect of Knicksmania, an ecstatic response from a city that has not seen its pro basketball team reach the championship since 1999. But for those unwilling to brave the long lines, or spend at least $60 for an official Knicks shirt, an entire ecosystem is taking shape beyond the Garden. Stepping out of the 34th Street station on a subway entrance painted blue and orange, a vendor draped the metal fences commonly used for street closures with $20 Gildan shirts printed with the Knicks logo and “NBA Finals.” [Photo: courtesy of the author] A block over, outside the entrance of MSG, at least four different vendors had small black carts filled with at least 60 shirts each, all around the $20 mark. When asked about how they managed to secure a large number of championship-themed shirts, despite the Knicks reaching the finals less than a week ago, an anonymous vendor put it simply: go online, find a design, and “print that shit on a t-shirt.” The options ranged from bright orange shirts to white and black options, but a common thread among all of them was that they seemed to be AI-generated. On social media, users noticed the phenomenon as well. “I think… A.I. has zapped the power from bootlegs,” a user said on X about the shirts. While many seemed to be collages of stock photos of the Knicks logo with similar typeface, one particular design featured an image of the team resembling the hypersaturated AI style, with a busy background featuring the garden and Batman. “It’s made them more efficient act