Chiefs, Pancho's Blanket team up on handmade limited-edition apparel rooted in Mexican heritage

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.

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The Chiefs and Kansas City-based clothing brand Pancho's Blanket have joined forces to release a limited-edition run of team-themed apparel.

The collaboration began with an unexpected message from the Chiefs, according to Jonathan Garvey, a Kansas City resident and former Marine who co-owns Pancho's Blanket with his brother, Joseph Garvey.

"On Instagram, the head of marketing [for the Chiefs] reached out to me out of nowhere and was like, 'Hey, we're looking for a local brand to partner with. We think your brand's pretty cool,'" Jonathan Garvey said.

WATCH | Chiefs, Pancho's Blanket team up on handmade limited-edition apparel

His brother and co-owner Joseph Garvey, who lives in Tlaxcala, Mexico, was skeptical.

"Oh my God, I thought it was a scam," he said.

Any doubt was erased when an email arrived from a Chiefs address.

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"When they emailed me from 'at Chiefs.com,' I was like, 'Holy cow, this is actually, this is real,'" Jonathan said.

From there, the brothers got to work with artisans who still use traditional techniques to hand-weave the blankets that become Pancho's Blankets garments.

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The original plan was to launch the line early in Hispanic Heritage Month, which started Sept. 15 and ends Thursday, but the handmade nature of Pancho's Blanket's garments pushed the debut to Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.

Established in 2022, the Garvey brothers started Pancho's Blanket with the aim of preserving traditional Mexican craftsmanship with a mission of "Keeping Others Warm." All the garments are handmade on century-old foot pedal looms, which have been passed down through generations.

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Growing up as missionary kids in Tlaxcala, central Mexico's culture and a life of service became ingrained in Jonathan and Joseph's lives. For this collection, both brothers were hands-on during production.

"Me and my brother, we had to start to put buttons on products," Jonathan said. "We had to start cutting the products — like etching them out, cutting them, doing everything. When I say handmade, I mean our hands are the ones who are involved making it — every single detail."

Now, they can't wait for the collection to go public.

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"If I see a single person putting on one of our Chiefs stuff, I think I'm gonna flip out," Joseph said.

Pancho's Blanket means more than cool clothes — a portion of every sale supports Feed A Family, a nonprofit the Garvey brothers started during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tlaxcala. The program partners with local churches to distribute weekly nutritious meals directly to communities in need.

"Pancho's Blanket is all about helping others," Jonathan said. "It's not about the clout. It's about the kingdom."

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Joseph added, "Anything that we do, we want to also be contributors. We want to be people who can be generous with others, feed others, clothe others."

Through this collaboration, the Garvey brothers hope to do even more good — here and in Mexico.

"More than anything, I just feel extremely grateful to the Chiefs that they would even look at our tiny little brand and want to collab with us," Jonathan said. "... They want us to win. They want us to win as much as they want to win the Super Bowl. It looks like [that] to me."

The collaboration was made possible through the NFL's local merchandise collaboration initiative, which aims to diversify team product assortments with highly localized offerings.

The collection, which will be available for the first time in the Chiefs Pro Shop during Sunday's game against the Chargers at Arrowhead, will also be available at the Pancho's Blanket storefront at The Bauer in downtown Kansas City, as well as on the Pancho's Blanket and Chiefs websites and through Fanatics.

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The Garvey brothers will be at the Chiefs Pro Store before Sunday's game to meet fans and share the story behind the collection.

"Just talking to people, letting them know a little bit about the process, a little bit about each garment, what went into it with the design and with the production and the headaches," Jonathan said.

Joseph has never been at Arrowhead before, so he's excited.

"Yes, sir. And the Chiefs are going to win," he said. "That's all I've got to say; they're gonna win."

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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