AILSA CHANG, HOST:
All right, you have probably heard by now, whether you like it or not, because the barrage of news on this will not stop. But pop star Taylor Swift is engaged to Kansas City football star Travis Kelce, and she has got a huge diamond to show for it. Kansas City, by the way, has become headquarters for the Swifty-Kelce alliance. And all of that puts more eyeballs on the city, as well as on the team that Kelce plays for, the Kansas City Chiefs.
The attention might be unwanted by some NFL fans, but it is great news for someone like Ryan Fortney. He's VP of sales for Charlie Hustle, a company that sells Kansas City-themed apparel. And he, maybe more than anyone else, knows the excitement this romance is driving. Hello, hello.
RYAN FORTNEY: Hello. Thank you for having me.
CHANG: (Laughter) OK, so I looked through your catalog. And one of your Kansas City Chiefs T-shirts says in my ring era. I have to say, I find this very suspicious because you turned this around so quickly. So I have to ask you, did you guys have advanced warning of the engagement news?
FORTNEY: (Laughter) We didn't, unfortunately.
CHANG: (Laughter).
FORTNEY: That would've been great to be given a heads up. But, I mean, in Kansas City, we are always prepared for something exciting to happen.
CHANG: (Laughter).
FORTNEY: You know, whether it's a Super Bowl win or a World Series, there always seems to be something.
CHANG: Wait, wait, wait. Between Super Bowl wins and Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting engaged, which is bigger news?
FORTNEY: Probably Travis and Taylor.
(LAUGHTER)
CHANG: Oh.
FORTNEY: Yeah.
CHANG: Kansas City Chiefs fans are hissing. Or maybe not.
FORTNEY: I mean, as a lifelong cheese fan, you knew there was going to be an era like this eventually.
CHANG: (Laughter).
FORTNEY: But I don't think anyone could've predicted what's been going on between these two.
CHANG: You all have been in business for - what? - almost 14 years, like, well before the Swift-Kelce love story even began. Has there been a noticeable Taylor Swift bump in sales the last couple years?
FORTNEY: A hundred percent there has been. I mean, there's been a noticeable bump in Chiefs fans thanks to Taylor Swift.
CHANG: (Laughter).
FORTNEY: So everybody is, like, wanting to get their hands on products that celebrate the Chiefs...
CHANG: Yeah.
FORTNEY: ...And celebrate everything that's going on. So, I mean, you can't throw a stone in this city without hitting something that has to do with the Chiefs or with Taylor.
CHANG: So what have been popular products that have sold a lot, like disproportionately more in the last couple of years because of the romance?
FORTNEY: We have definitely introduced some more feminine products for Chiefs fans.
CHANG: (Laughter) We're not talking about in a drugstore, people.
FORTNEY: Yes, yes, for lack of a better word for sure.
CHANG: (Laughter).
FORTNEY: You know, she has that very girly aesthetic to her that she really owns and she's so proud of. And, you know, we've really introduced a lot of that stuff as well to make sure that, you know, her fans have the product that they need to celebrate her and the Chiefs.
CHANG: OK, and we are, again, only in the engagement period. I'm just wondering, what is your wedding merch going to look like? Is that going to be next level?
FORTNEY: I just need to know what the date is first.
CHANG: (Laughter).
FORTNEY: As soon as they announce a date, then we'll have a better idea of what we can look to celebrate it.
CHANG: That is Ryan Fortney, VP of sales for Charlie Hustle in Kansas City. Thank you so much for being here.
FORTNEY: Yeah, for sure. Thank you so much for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF TAYLOR SWIFT SONG, "FEARLESS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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