Fast-growing Gameday Social to expand with new Sioux Falls headquarters

Gameday Social Apparel Co. is growing up.

The Sioux Falls-based apparel business, which has carved a retail niche for itself in apparel for female sports fans, is expanding into an approximately 45,000-square-foot location.

The building at 2500 E. 52nd St. N. previously was a call center for Cigna and allows Gameday Social to combine its office, in-house production, distribution and expanded warehouse space in a single location.

“The need has been building for a while,” said Jael Thorpe, who owned a boutique for more than a decade before shifting her focus to Gameday Social.

She ran stores in Brookings and Sioux Falls and saw the promise of apparel and accessories designed for a fashionable fan.

The first employee dedicated to Gameday Social was hired in 2021. It now has grown to a team of 25 that’s largely based in Sioux Falls, using leased office space at 402 W. Ninth St.

She expects to be at 40 between full-time and contracted workers once operations ramp up in her new location.

“There are a lot of things I’m excited about with the building, but a huge component is … to have a really amazing office that is going to enhance our recruitment efforts.”

Thorpe has been immersed in the design, working with a Vancouver-based interior designer who “has brought a really great aesthetic to the space,” she said.

“We like to use the term ‘approachable edge,’ and I think the space really reflects that as it’s coming together. It’s very fashion-forward, taking some cues from a European-style office space but not in a way that feels pretentious or unapproachable. Still a very hospitable, welcoming space.”

She estimates Gameday Social will grow 75 percent this year over last and projects 70 percent growth next year, driven in part by continuing to grow its licensing base and growing collaborations with professional hockey and soccer teams.

While collegiate athletics still dominates the business, “we’re breaking into the professional sports space,” Thorpe said. “A big motivator is leveling our seasonal peaks. (With) college football — we’re pretty much at max capacity July through September, so we’re looking to get into other divisions that are more spring-heavy.”

The business has added a number of additional campus and national retailers carrying its products this year. It’s carried in major college stores as well as Scheels, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Academy Sports and Rally House in addition to boutiques nationwide.

“Retail, as far as our product category, has stayed really strong,” Thorpe said. “We’ve seen some decline in our specialty boutique market — I think that is a category that is struggling — but our national base has stayed really strong.”

Thorpe also has adjusted her approach to manufacturing this year, diversifying away from China despite maintaining some business in the country.

“We will continue in China. I was just there this fall, and it was incredible,” she said. “I got to see all our factories there, and they were wonderful. There’s a definite narrative about China, so it was good for me to see our factories because they’re amazing family businesses. But (we now manufacture) in China, Vietnam, Pakistan and India, so I just feel like as we grow, we want to be diversified in all areas.”

Gameday Social has expanded in headwear — “that’s a huge category, but just like women’s apparel, there’s really nobody out there focusing on female headwear,” Thorpe said. “So that’s been a pretty cool niche with a lot of growth.”

She’s also acknowledging the growth in markets where game-day apparel is more elevated.

“We are launching several dresses, more jackets, wovens. The game-day aesthetic is really elevated in a lot of markets we’re in, and we felt we needed to meet that market,” she said. “And we’re expanding in youth. … We’re finding the pre-teen girl wants to have elevated pieces too.”

The plan is to begin distribution and screen printing in the new building in the first quarter and have the office operational by late April.

“Originally, the plan had been to lease out part of the space, and pretty quickly as the design started to unfold, I realized we really needed the entire space,” Thorpe said. “And part of the draw of the property is it has land to expand, so I think that will probably be a phase two eventually. We’ll need more space, and we have room to do that.”

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