Chris Elwell
Staff Writer
Baseball Lifestyle 101 started as an Instagram page where baseball fans came to talk about all things baseball. It has since progressed into baseball’s top off-field apparel company. From posting baseball highlights to traveling across the country to grow the brand, CEO Josh Shapiro made it a point of emphasis to stop at nothing to turn the company into a household name.
“The most exciting part of our success has been seeing new faces come into the company and execute on projects that we weren’t able to previously,” said Shapiro. “It has really helped us see the big picture.”
BL101’s Emphasis on Social Media Presence
In addition to becoming the leading off-field baseball apparel brand, BL101 has grown its social media pages to large followings on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok with the mission to be highly interactive with fans. Collaborations with Major League Baseball have gotten the brand to some of the premier destinations around the league, such as Coors Field and Globe Life Field for All-Star Game festivities and spring training locations in both Arizona and Florida, making content with players and other top content creators in the baseball industry.
Photo Courtesy of YouTube/@BaseballLifestyle101
“[It’s been] a matter of making content that’s fun and engaging,” said Shapiro. The role of BL101’s social media accounts has been foundational in marketing new drops and collections, with followers and customers voicing their praise of new products.
Broadening the Employee Network
BL101’s staff of over 100 full-time employees work tirelessly to build the brand into something recognizable on multiple fronts, which is a major contributor to the brand’s ability to continue to grow. Whether marketing the brand or shipping our products, our mission is to help spread the love of the game in any way we can.
With the network of employees expanding constantly, it has helped people to realize their role in the company and build a well-rounded business that is sound in all departments. “It starts with good leadership and strategy from Bill [Rom], and any role that has leadership down to their department to allow everyone to produce the best possible brand,” said Shapiro.
The Emergence of BL101 in Retail Stores
Photo Courtesy of Baseball Lifestyle 101
The level of success that BL101 has seen within the last year has sent the company to new heights and has allowed for certain aspects to thrive and create a need for apparel not just on our website and in our outlets but also to wholesalers across the country, like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Scheels, and Academy Sports, which was “the biggest opportunity we’ve ever had,” said co-owner Bill Rom.
“2024 was our best year ever online, and that opened the door for us to be more aggressive with wholesaler accounts,” said Rom. Wholesaling became a critical aspect of the company’s daily operations, which paved the way for distributing products to over 1,000 retail stores nationwide.
Expansion From a Record-Breaking Year
Amid a record-breaking year and allocating resources to different places, one of the most unexpected changes to daily operations was the need for extra space.
After moving headquarters into a newer and larger warehouse in April of last year, the company has grown from a 5,000 sq. ft. warehouse to a 20,000 sq. ft. facility. However, it was still insufficient to hold all of our products, which led to the purchase of another 25,000 sq. ft. facility in Denver, Colorado.
“Our warehouse in Denver has already gotten started in shipping out products and will grow in importance in 2025,” said Rom.
Photo Courtesy of Instagram/@baseball_lifestyle101
The need for more space for inventory and the entire shipping department has shown exactly the level of growth that BL101 has experienced in the past year. From just a handful of people in the department to new hires coming in every week, more help was needed to ship packages to customers at a rate never before seen. At times, over 2,500 orders were shipped out a day across the country to keep up with the number of orders coming in overnight.
The Role of Marketing in Daily Operations
Marketing has contributed to the amount of apparel that leaves our doors every day and has led to higher recognition of the brand in terms of social media content and the clothing line. Previous product drops and collections that have blown up are majorly due to the level of quality marketing, which has been one of the company’s biggest strengths since the beginning of the clothing line in 2016.
“We plan on spending the most money we’ve spent on marketing ever in new ways,” said Rom. Hosting events and promoting giveaways have long been a part of the marketing strategy. The idea is to get more involved in holding experience-style marketing where fans and followers of the brand can get a new perspective of the work done to gauge interest in the brand and promote a love of baseball at all levels.
A relatively newer part of the marketing scheme has been partnerships with baseball influencers. Current players like Max Clark who's on the verge of reaching the major leagues, as well as influencers like Darnell Maisonet and Max Fries, who have been featured on the page to help BL101 reach new audiences and gain followers through other networks.
The opportunity to work firsthand with featured players has opened the window of creativity into the clothes with unique colorways and themes. “We’ve taken everything both parties are doing together and made it into something consumers want and would proudly wear,” said Shapiro. “When we’re looking at an athlete like Max or Dexter, it’s important to see their aura and style to tailor their personality into color and designs.”
That relationship with players has expanded the brand to give everyone their own connection to the product and wear it as a unique part of their style. Regarding customers, Shapiro believes that it is still targeting the same audience, but putting a face on the collection that baseball fans know as an up-and-coming young player helps them to see that if they are wearing the product proudly they can as well.
Going From Social Media to the Industry Standard
With the company growing every day, Shapiro wants everyone involved to “do what we’re doing but on a bigger scale. It hasn’t always been easy, but the most difficult part was starting as an influencer-based account where it was mainly curated content and becoming more of a brand.”
The rise from a social media page to the leading off-field apparel company has made for an incredible journey, and while there is more work to be done in the future to take the company even higher, there is still room to build on the successes and failures that have gotten BL101 this far.
Baseball Lifestyle 101 has become a staple in the baseball community largely because of the following we have built up since the company’s beginning, and the people along the way who have come in to help grow the brand into what it has become. The journey has been long, but the everyday grind into making BL101 a household name has always been the centerpiece of a successful company looking to spread its message for the love of baseball.