The Esports Roundtable: Jon Gurman, H4X

20 April 2018

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THE ESPORTS ROUNDTABLE IS A PODCAST THAT HOSTS DIFFERENT GUESTS EACH AND EVERY WEEK, DISCUSSING ALL THINGS BUSINESS IN ESPORTS.

This week on The Esports Roundtable, host Joe Hills is joined by Jon Gurman, the CEO of H4X – the official merchandising partner of ESL and DreamHack. Together, Hills and Goodman set their sights on discussing H4X’s journey, the current state of esports merchandising, and how they envisage the future of that particular industry.

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As always on The Esports Roundtable, the guest delves a little into their backstory to explain how they entered the industry of esports. Gurman revealed that he has a background in fashion and licensing, and when some friends of his showed him Twitch and competitive gaming, he knew within 10 minutes that he wanted to get involved. Gurman noticed the way players dressed when watching a competition and realised that there was an opportunity there.

Jon GurmanGurman goes on to explain how he is the CEO of Moniker, in which H4X is its flagship brand. Moniker deals with brand management and Gurman create H4X when he decided the company needed to build a brand that’s endemic to esports – much like Vans to skateboarding, for example. This means H4X is built with gaming and gamers specifically in mind, which is unique in esports.

The conversation moves to the state of fashion and merchandising in esports in the present day. Hills notes that with official clothing from Riot Games seems a little low quality with big, flashy logos, while merchandise from the Overwatch League favours performance. Gurman believes that clothing in esports will follow trends set by the fashion industry in general, so there’s no way of predicting exactly which way clothing in esports will go.

H4X’s CEO sees a world where the brand is worn by those who aren’t aware that it’s a gaming brand, claiming that’s when he’ll know the brand has made it. He wants the clothing to be bought and worn because it’s stylish and on-trend, not just because it’s good for gaming.

Gurman discussed this episode of The Esports Roundtable afterwards: “We are loving all the reception from fans at events so far. Stay tuned for our future collections and say hi at Dreamhack/ESL events this month!”

Joe Hills, LFG and The Esports Roundtable

Speaking to Esports InsiderJoe Hills, Founder and Host of The Esports Roundtable, also commented:

“Merch is a hot topic to track in the industry. Super excited to see H4X, Sector Six and other brands step up to provide quality at scale.”

Hills is the Founder of Looking for Group, an esports executive recruitment company and has worked to achieve placements for many high profile individuals in the burgeoning esports industry.