Pro teams' losses are poor areas' gains

Tom Brady might want to take Nicaragua and Romania off his list of places to visit for the next few years. Africa, too, just for good measure.

Unless the quarterback relishes the idea of seeing a shirt trumpeting a New England Patriots Super Bowl 2008 win.

It's tradition to immediately throw a championship hat onto the Super Bowl winners, but that leaves plenty of shirts that are now considered "mislabeled."

Since 1994, Federal Way-based World Vision has taken the clothes and sent them to impoverished communities abroad, where they are given to needy families who don't think about the Super Bowl, much less Brady and his love life.

"It's really recycling at its best," said Karen Kartes, spokeswoman for World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to international poverty and justice issues.

After the Chicago Bears lost last year to the Indianapolis Colts, World Vision received about $2.5 million worth of apparel from retailers. With this year's upset by the New York Giants and teams from two major cities, Kartes hopes to receive about $2 million to $3 million worth of merchandise.

Some people in the Gulf Coast may be wearing Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl XL champions shirts. Kartes believes some of those shirts were distributed to victims of Hurricane Katrina that year.

"It's one of those situations where necessity almost turns into an opportunity," said David Krichavsky, NFL spokesman.

The clothing from the game and from retailers is shipped to World Vision's distribution center in Pittsburgh after the game. There, tags are removed; clothes are sorted, boxed and labeled with a bar code; sent to countries selected by World Vision; and then distributed by local staff in those communities.

Some countries should receive their shipments by the end of February, Kartes said.

The Chicago Bears' loss last year was a boon to kids in chilly climates such as Romania, who benefitted from warm clothes including sweat shirts and hoodies. Bears clothing also went to Zambia, Chad, Chile, Bolivia and El Salvador.

Reebok recently asked if World Vision could use 30 pairs of victory shoes that Kartes thinks were intended for the players.

"They don't want to just throw them away," Kartes said. "Very many of the people we've served have never had new clothes in their lives."

Nicole Tsong: 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com