Jim Banville

Anyone know where to get McLaren merchandise in the US? The stuff at Speedgear sucks.

Dave OH

I wish i knew too! Anyone?

MiamiAMG

The best place i have found is the McLaren website. They pretty much have everything you could want, except the racing shoes which i have been looking for a long time.

Jim Banville

I asked for a place in the US.

MiamiAMG

Easy there tiger, i'm just trying to help you. McLaren rarely outsources any of their merchandise. Try ebay.

trench

Unlike Ferrari, who make more money from licensing than they do selling cars, McLaren holds on to almost all of their merchandising rights, they licence very little out to third party companies - in their words, "to insure only quality products have the McLaren name on them."

As MiamiC55 mentioned, really the only source for "official" stuff is either their website (which tends to be expensive due to the value of the US peso) or the limited selection of t-shirts available from MBUSA. Otherwise, the other option is eBay for unlicensed merchandise (although occasionally you can find real swag that people received as gifts, etc.), however, most of the stuff on eBay comes from China and Southeast Asia (some of which is crap, some of which is nice - I have a bootleg pit shirt which has all of the logos embroidered on a grey Hugo Boss shirt that's pretty cool).

Jim Banville

There seems to be a lot of UK stores selling McLaren merchandise online. I thought there must be at least 1 source for their stuff in the US

Chappy

Go to the next F1 Race at Indy (June 19th). McLaren always has a huge setup in the vendor area. I got some of the coolest stuff at the Canadian Grand Prix (things they don't sell online - pins, caps, etc.).

trench

Nope.

About five years ago Speedgear used to have a much better selection of official merchandise. But over the years they quit carrying most of it.

I think since the only source for merchandise is McLaren itself the problem is the strength of the UK pound vs. the weak American peso.

Most people won't pay $50 bucks for a T-shirt.

Nola

I'll sell you a vintage Mika Hakkinnen t-shirt from '98. B/W Racer in front with dayglo orange accents. "Powered by Mercedes Benz" in back. Size L, slightly used.

OK, I used it a lot... but I bought it in Hockenheim in '98 when Mika Salo moved over for Eddie irvine. That counts for something, right?

Chappy

Dude! I've been hunting for that EXACT shirt

Put it on ebay with no reserve and I'm sure you could retire with the cash generated....you'll probably have to get one of those paypal "platinum" accounts lol :p

Saprissa

looking for a McLaren ball cap & large race-day flag.
Official / authentic,
not some eBay taiwan knock-offs !

any leads ?

Nola

Wow, this is an old thread. M wife has a vintage black and silver Mika Hakkinnen ball cap with dayglo orange accents (perfect match for the t-shirt described above, used by my wife a lot less). She also has a brand new (used 2 times) 2005 Kimi Raikkonen hat, which I have to admit is the **** and probably exactly what you are looking for. I doubt she'll sell any of them though.

Have you tried your local MB dealer? "The Collection" has some F1 stuff in it, and sometimes they come by some swag.

Finally, a word to the wise: West will cease to be a main sponsor after Hungary, so the team might be renamed from West Mclaren-Mercedes to just McLaren-Mercedes, so be careful with what you get.

Chappy

I bought my race-day flag and a couple caps at the F1 race in Montreal a few years ago. Aside from that, your best bet is to search here...

http://www.mclaren.com/store/index.htm

trench

The link Chappy provided is the only place to get an official flag (unless you find someone selling an older one on eBay). Might as well pick up the cap there while you're at it.

I've bought a fair amout of stuff from McLaren's website over the years, it's of very nice quality.
The stuff from McLaren's website has lacked the "West" wording for a couple of years - due to a British laws forbidding the sale of merchandise with tobacco branding - so anything from the site shouldn't appear out of date if the team changes the livery slightly.

Saprissa

thanks ! I ordered a few items today, except that SHIPPING outside of Europe is a RAPE !!! ouch !

I did notice, that there wasn't anything with "WEST" on it.
The only items I've seen with WEST McLAREN have been on eBay, and most of the time, they are knock-off fake things.

by the way the Team McLaren racing flag is currently on sale at £10 down from £25

I didn't sign up for Team McLaren membership at £85+.
Too costly just to save £5-8 on merchandise.

Anyone here a member ????? is the membership worth it ??
Anyone in the UK, that can mail things to the USA at a better rate ???

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

mbbodytech

I've ordered from them in the UK two times, and really it wasn't that bad. I even got one of my orders in a week, which isn't bad for the post.

I looked a while ago, and was dissapointed to see that they didn't have the new team hats with the white band across the front edge of the brim, as the drivers wear now. I would like one of them that includes the West logo. But that is probably a collector's item by now.

Not to get off topic, but I hope that they get a title sponsor soon. I know that they have money, but everyone needs a title sponsor. That rear wing has looked a little lonely this year.....

Saprissa

yeah, that's the one i was looking for (the cap with the white edge on the brim). I know there are Racing (F1) memorabilia shops in the UK, that mostly sell die-cast cars and stuff, and they might still carry the older WEST logo items, but so far, no plans for a London trip anytime soon !

As for title sponsor, I remember SPEED channel saying that for the Hungary Grand Prix Qualifying session, we would no longer see the WEST sponsorship livery on the cars. And that by race-day on Sunday, we would see their new sponsorship.

The only new thing I noticed on the cars was the new "font" of the driver's names on the side ("Kimi" & "Juan Pablo"), and the addition of Johnnie Walker as a sponsor, but not a full title sponsor like WEST was. So

trench

You might want to email them and ask if it has the band on the brim.

I have an older McLaren cap I got from them that has such a band (it's actually a reflective silver - like you see on running clothes - with tiny "Team McLaren Mercedes"'s written across it). But it's possible that they don't sell that exact model any more.

Saprissa

got a call from my credit card company yesterday, saying that they suspected suspicious activity on my account a few weeks back, and had denied Team McLaren from processing my order. I was like WTF ??? anyway, got it cleared up, but it turns out that McLaren uses "clothing accessories" as their by-line name on the charge naming convention, so my CC company called a red-flag (no pun intended).
i guess better safe than sorry. So anyway, my McLaren stuff should be here soon, maybe not in time for the Turkish GP, but the Italian GP.

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

Chappy

Carlos,

What did you order?

Saprissa

the ball cap,
the Team Flag
and a nice silk tie

Chappy

Nice

Saprissa

here are the pics. Notice everything now says "TEAM" vice "WEST"

E320BENZ

I need the cap!!!!! and a jacket if they have one.