How are jersey cards created?

[TheOctopiGarden]

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but I've never been able to find this and always been curious. My main question is how are jerseys obtained for gu jersey cards, and then how are the cards created?

The main reason I wonder about this is because of what I know about how the Wings work. I know they get two sets of jerseys for the season, one for the first half of the season and another for the second half. Then they also get a new set for the playoffs. What I'm curious about is how Upper Deck and ITG get the jerseys. I've read (in the newspaper I think) that some of the guys were so superstitious that they wouldn't even change jerseys at the halfway point of the year, that they would wear the same jersey all season. It seems that there is a very small pool of jerseys available to acquire, and the Wings have their own retail store that they sell GU jerseys at (they'll even tell you what set the jersey is from). So all in all I'm confused. If some guys only wear one jersey a year, how are so many gu jersey cards produced?

Another thing I wonder about it how the jerseys are cut up for the cards. Does anyone know how this is done? Does a person hand cut them in order to get the best patches, or is it all done by machine and the way things turn out is luck of the draw?

Sorry for the long post, but any information is appreciated.

[30ranfordfan]

I think Upper Deck or ITG can acquire jerseys pretty much anyway they want. I'm sure some players / teams save extra jerseys for them (for a fee). I'm sure if they really want one of Pavel Datsyuk (for example) if the only way to do it was to walk into the Red Wings store and buy, they could do that too.

The other thing though, is photoshoot jerseys. This is very big for rookies, but they also get veterans to do it too. They can show up at a Red Wings practice one day.... have 20 Datsyuk jerseys with them. Have him put the first one on, maybe take a couple of photos while he does a lap around the ice, and then he'll pull it off and put the 2nd one one. Repeat.

For the higher end stuff (like the Cup) my understanding is that they're all actual game worn. For some of their other products though (Upper Deck Rookie Materials is one, for sure) a lot of the memorabilia isn't actually worn in an NHL game.... it's been worn at "an official NHL event".

As for how they cut them, I don't know. I would imagine its via machine.... but that's just a guess.

[xirxious]

I assume some machine cuts them as UD now used the same size swatch, even larger jersey cards are made from 4 smaller swatches. I'm sure they carefully remove the new high end parts like tag, shield & meigrey tag.

With Wings you forgot the preseason game jerseys that they use for several years. I have two of them that have 2 or 3 nameplates on top of one and other. I just got in a Bertuzzi gamer from 2 years ago, barley used! I'm kicking myself for not getting the Yzerman gamer they had 4 years ago for $2500 in Troy.....

The Coyotee jerseys are sold through the Detroit Jersey Company and Meigrey is contracted to various teams. They have their patch on before being worn.