Source: Parity Locker
Whenever I go to a baseball game, there’s one thing that’s always coming with me. It’s not my wallet or a pair of sunglasses, but my old mitt, tucked under my arm or in the waistband of my pants while I juggle overpriced snacks. Have I ever caught a foul ball? Not even close. But there’s always the hope that I’ll snag one from a favorite player, and get to store it on a special shelf. Whenever I see it I’ll be brought back to the crack of the bat that led to my lucky moment. There’s an indescribable magic that surrounds sports memorabilia, especially items that were worn or used by our heroes.
For Parity Locker, Parity’s women’s sports memorabilia marketplace, it all started with a visor. When the Parity Locker launched in the fall of 2023, one of the first big ticket items was a race worn visor and pair of gloves from NASCAR phenom Toni Breidinger. The item was listed for auction, and the Parity team went back to work. The bids started slowly, then steadily ticked up.
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Source: Parity Locker
The team Slack’s notifications started to ping frantically: the now legendary hot ticket item had bids for over $50,000. While the final purchase wasn’t quite that high, it did sell for well over the initial asking price, the buzz had begun, and the Parity Locker was officially open for business.
Since then, the Parity Locker has put more than $12,000 in the pockets of athletes, furthering Parity’s mission of pay equity in sports, and putting one of a kind items into the hands of fans. I sat down with Parity’s Katie Shaffstall and Lindsey McKone to talk about what the Parity Locker means to the organization, and where it goes from here.
The Parity Locker grew out of Parity’s NFT marketplace, where select NFTs were sold with an accompanying piece of merchandise. “People became more excited about the merchandise than the NFTs!” Katie joked. With a growing community of female athletes across countless sports, countries, clubs and national teams, Parity knew that they had coveted access to unique memorabilia at their fingertips. But as the Parity Locker took shape, the team knew that fostering a personal connection between each athlete and fan was what would really set the Parity Locker apart in the memorabilia space. Since the beginning, merchandise often comes to buyers with a handwritten note directly from the athlete.
Source: Parity NFT Marketplace
The Parity Locker first and foremost serves as a way to put money in female athletes’ pockets. While women’s sports are undoubtedly on the rise, pay equity has yet to catch up. Parity is stepping in and connecting female athletes with sponsorship and partnership opportunities, and the Parity Locker is a creative extension of that revolutionary work. It’s a unique opportunity because it isn’t a sponsorship: it doesn’t require an agent to ink a deal or for an athlete to have a certain number of thousands of Instagram followers to be a part of.
All athletes have fans, so it’s an opportunity that’s available to all Parity athletes. Athletes simply ship their gear to Katie, she photographs and packages it, posts it in the Parity Locker, and then sends back the profits.
Parity takes a small cut to cover labor and costs associated with the process of selling the gear, but they cut that cost if the athlete is selling their gear for charity. It’s not only a way to put more life-changing money in athletes’ pockets, but it connects athletes to their causes and fans, helping to give them more passion and purpose.
The Parity Locker also connects fans back to their favorite female athletes. As a marketplace that sells exclusively female athletes’ gear, the Parity Locker is the only marketplace of its kind. For fans of more niche athletes, it also highlights all the breadth of Parity’s community. Everything from water skiing to lacrosse to para track and field to race car driving has been featured in the Parity Locker. And while it is the best place for fans to find their favorite female athlete’s gear, it also introduces fans to new athletes they might never have heard of. Lindsey shared they often see repeat buyers coming back to the Parity Locker purchasing items from a whole range of athletes. I asked why the Parity Locker is a combination of auction-style bidding and items that are available for immediate purchase. Lindsey explained that it’s often very difficult to put a price tag on these items.
In many ways, the women’s sports memorabilia world is still in its nascent stages: as the value of women’s sports teams, tickets and jersey logos continues to skyrocket, so will the price of memorabilia. Holding an auction for memorabilia helps the market determine the right price of each item, and helps inform the Parity Locker moving forward.
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Source: Parity
Finally, the Parity Locker is a space that serves the ever-growing desire to be a part of women’s sports history.
We are seeing records broken every season, month, week and game, and the items that you can find in the Parity Locker are chapters in that story.
Many items that end up in the Parity Locker are game worn, so it goes without saying that those pieces are unique chapters. There also are pieces of gear from the Olympics and Paralympics: items from special gear drops that are only made once for athletes, and can’t be bought in any store. Being a collector is a part of men’s sports that goes hand in hand with fandom: as the women’s sports dynasties rise, the bidding wars will become more and more heated.
Where does the Parity Locker see itself in 5 years? Katie and Lindsey hope that the Parity Locker will be the go to spot for fans to acquire women’s sporting memorabilia, and the top of mind place for female athletes to share their gear with their fans. They hope to do more work with teams and athletes from all over, and steadily grow from year to year. I asked if they would ever consider selling non-Parity athletes gear, wondering if someday I’ll be able to buy one of Coco Gauff’s signature headbands from the Parity Locker. “It’s free and takes maybe 5 minutes to sign up!” Katie smiles. “We offer so many amazing resources at Parity, including general resources as well as more ways to make money. So if they aren’t a Parity athlete when they start, they will be by the time they finish.” So maybe someday I will be able to get that sweaty thin headband, and tell my grandchildren they are grounded if they even think about touching it.
Source: Parity Locker
Interested in getting involved? If you’re a fan, check out the latest available merch here. Are you an athlete with some extra gear lying around? Reach out to us here to be a part of the Parity community!
About Parity
Minority-founded in 2020, Parity's mission is to close the gender income and opportunity gap in professional sports. By developing high-impact collaborations between brands, professional women athletes and their fans, Parity has proudly put more than $3.5 million in the pockets of women athletes, attracting dozens of brands to the movement in the process. The platform offers connections to more than 1000 women athletes from 80+ sports, including well over 200 Olympians and Paralympians. For more information on how to tap into the rapidly rising influence and popularity of women athletes, visit https://paritynow.co or follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Threads.
