The Nation's #1 NIL Apparel Provider
Campus Ink is proud to announce that its NIL Store has been ranked #1 in the NIL apparel category for Fiscal Year 2026 by CLC, the Collegiate Licensing Company. The ranking confirms what fans, athletes, and university partners have felt for years: the NIL Store is the nation's leader in NIL apparel.
CLC is the largest and oldest trademark licensing company in college sports, working on behalf of the NCAA and powered by Learfield. Being named the nation's top-selling apparel provider in the NIL category means the NIL Store outsold every other apparel company operating in this space over the past fiscal year.
From Startup Idea to Industry Leader in Five Years
The NIL Store's rise to the top didn't happen overnight. It launched in 2021, in the earliest days of NIL, right after the legislation that finally allowed college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness. At the time, the entire NIL apparel category was uncharted territory. There was no playbook, no established process for licensing athlete merchandise at scale, and no infrastructure built specifically for it.
Five years later, the NIL Store has grown into the category's clear leader:
- 150+ university partners across the country
- 40,000+ athletes supported through licensed merchandise programs, and millions of dollars paid to the athletes in royalties
- A production and fulfillment engine built to move at the speed of college sports
- A robust D2C online channel and rapidly growing wholesale channel
That growth has been fueled by a simple idea: give athletes, schools, and fans a fast, easy, and compliant way to turn a viral moment into real merchandise before the moment passes.
Trusted by the Biggest Names in College Sports
Reaching #1 required more than fast execution. It required trust from universities, from compliance offices, from licensing partners, and from the athletes themselves. Over the past five years, the NIL Store has built exactly that, becoming the go-to partner for some of the biggest programs and brightest stars in collegiate athletics.
That trust is also what unlocked one of the NIL Store's most significant innovations.
First to Market: The NCAA Championship Event NIL License
The NIL Store was the first company to implement the NCAA Championship Event NIL license, a first-of-its-kind agreement that lets athletes benefit financially from postseason moments, including March Madness, the Frozen Four, and other NCAA championship events, that were previously off-limits to NIL merchandise.
Before this license existed, athletes competing on college sports' biggest stages had no way to capitalize on that exposure through merchandise. The NIL Store changed that, building the infrastructure and compliance framework to make championship-moment merchandise both possible and fast, so athletes can benefit from the moments when the spotlight is brightest.
ESPN JOINS THE NIL WAVE
The NIL Store also attracted the attention of sports media giant, ESPN, becoming the company's first-ever NIL apparel licensee.
Through the licensing partnership, NIL Store apparel featuring athletes will have the opportunity to be elevated even further through ESPN's robust marketing channels, including the official ESPN Shop.
Check out our ESPN assortment here.
What This Ranking Means
Being named CLC's #1 apparel company in the NIL category for Fiscal Year 2026 is a milestone for Campus Ink, but it's really a reflection of the athletes, schools, and fans who have made the NIL Store part of how they celebrate college sports. From a 2021 launch built around a brand-new law to a nationwide leader trusted by 150+ universities and 40,000+ athletes, the NIL Store's growth mirrors the growth of NIL itself.
Campus Ink is the collegiate merchandise company that turns campus culture into commerce, empowering athletes, students, and communities through a house of brands, all powered by its own production engine. The NIL Store is proud to lead the category it helped build, and this is just the beginning.
Shop the NIL Store's latest athlete and team drops today, and see why the nation's top programs trust Campus Ink to turn their biggest moments into merchandise.
