The gold T-shirts on every seat in Oakland’s Oracle Arena read 2019. PLAYOFFS. WARRIORS. All caps, written in bold blue. The design on the chest featured the top of the Bay Bridge emerging from a cloud. A basketball sat in the cloud too, underneath a plane and birds in the busy Bay Area sky.
Kim Trinidad, the Warriors’ Senior Director of Marketing and Operations, estimates nearly one hundred people had a hand in preparing these shirts for fans, from her internal design team, to the T-shirt vendors and distributors, to the game day staff gently placing one shirt on each seat.
“In August, prior to the season beginning, we have holds on 400,000 gold T-shirts to make sure that the gold is up to our standard, the quality across the T-shirts is consistent and we're in preparation mode,” said Trinidad.
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Imagine coordinating four rounds of T-shirt giveaways for the playoffs.
Now, imagine coordinating all the Warriors' T-shirt campaigns during the season — Black History Month, LGBTQ Night, Women’s Empowerment Month — plus bobbleheads, jersey release campaigns, and more.
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If that’s not enough, add Chase Center concerts and events, along with events at Thrive Plaza surrounding the arena.
It’s all Kim Trinidad’s job. She’s the leader of a massive machine working to serve Warriors fans year-round. She sees her handiwork all over town.
“I beam with pride,” Trinidad said, when she sees the T-shirts on fans at the grocery store.
“I'm only one cog in the wheel when it comes to bringing T-shirts to life, or bringing any promotional merchandise to life for that matter for our fans. But it does give me a great sense of pride and I have to smile knowing they're collectible. Dub Nation rocks them because they love the Warriors.”
Trinidad grew up in the Bay Area and her Warriors fandom is personal. She went to UC Davis to earn her business degree. After jobs at Safeway, Dreyer’s, and Pandora, Trinidad landed with the Warriors, a special opportunity for a woman who states she’s bled blue and gold since she was born.
Her first day at work with the Warriors was in the Oakland office on Broadway. As she prepares for the release of the Oakland Forever jerseys on January 20th, The Town is on her mind.
“This has to be one of the most exciting projects I've been able to be a part of. I vividly remember the We Believe era, and the (Oakland Forever) jersey is going to be one of the biggest moments for me, as not only a fan, but now on the other side of the process, seeing how a uniform gets developed.”
The Oakland Forever jersey is a throwback to the team’s look from 1997-2010, with the dark blue, orange, and yellow the team wore as an eight-seed that upset the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the 2007 playoffs.
Trinidad and her staff were mindful that fans might have sensitive feelings about the Warriors relocating to San Francisco after 47 years in Oakland.
She emphasized Oakland is a huge part of the Warriors' identity, and the team is collaborated with Oaklandish to inspire a limited-edition clothing line coinciding with the jersey launch.
That Oaklandish collaboration will send 10 percent of the proceeds to the Roots Community Health Center.
Finalizing the Oakland Forever jersey was a two-year project. Finalizing bobbleheads takes six to 12 months. Trinidad said creating keepsakes that Warriors fans treasure is one of the best parts of the job.
Her favorite bobblehead combines Steph Curry and Klay Thompson on one Splash Brothers platform. The duo are standing on a wave, their arms raised in a shooting motion.
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She recalls having to work through all the details: What’s the weight of a double bobblehead? Could they ship it with good quality? Was there potential for a high breakage rate?
“We took took a leap of faith that our vendor would be able to pack it appropriately. It was a huge success,” she said.
Trinidad works through the details with the players too. Together, they determine if the bobblehead’s face and hair look accurate and whether the “theme” of the bobblehead makes the player happy. For example, Andre Iguodala’s bobblehead was golfing. Kevon Looney’s bobblehead came out on Star Wars night and his likeness is wearing a Storm Trooper uniform.
“Does this make them happy?” is a question Trinidad considers frequently at work, for the players, her collaborators, and most importantly, fans.
“We are all working together to ensure that we are bringing programs, events, and efforts to life, in the very consistent and cohesive way for fans. At the end of the day, the fans only know that they're experiencing the Warriors and they don't know who it's coming from, you know, in the back end.”
Trinidad has her fingerprints on everything for the Dubs, if you happen to notice a woman smiling at you in the grocery store.