A new Ann Arbor-based company has everything pickleball and tennis players need to outfit themselves and their teams with matching apparel, water bottles, and more.
CourtMerch is the brainchild of tennis players Amy Gillett and Carolynn Hayman. The long-time players connected over their love for tennis, puns, and quippy phrases. While their company started with a focus on tennis, pickleball's surging popularity encouraged Gillett and Hayman to add merchandise with humorous takes on that sport as well.
"We kept saying, ‘We should put that on a t-shirt,’" Gillett says. "Then about a year ago, we started to think, ‘Maybe this is really an idea and we should actually start doing it.'"
The business is a small operation, with Gillett and Hayman joined by intern Meera Tewari last summer. They're constantly thinking of new designs and different ways to reach their intended audience, and they find inspiration in everyday enjoyment of the sports and the people who play them.
They even invented a mascot: Courtney, a smiling tennis ball in a bucket hat.
"We wanted our designs to be fun and to appeal to everybody," Hayman says.
That includes international fans. CourtMerch offers items in multiple languages, including Spanish, French, Polish, Czech, and others. The company also prints team apparel and merchandise, and designs can be customized or created for specific purposes.
"We’re really hoping to get more men’s teams on board with the idea of team apparel for these sports," Gillett says.
Jenny Rose Ryan (she/they) is a writer, editor, and communications consultant who has more than 20 years of experience sharing complicated and compelling stories. She is based in Ypsilanti.
Photo courtesy of CourtMerch.
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