Connor and Christa Hitchcock are the husband-and-wife founders of Homefield Apparel, the little engine turned juggernaut of college sports merchandising. It started a decade ago as a side hustle out of Connor’s Indiana University apartment, rooted in a strange love for IU football. Now headquartered in Indianapolis, where the Hitchcocks live, Homefield sells officially licensed merchandise for more than 200 universities, endearing itself to the parochial, fully immersed culture of college fandom with vintage logos and unique designs. “The Good Brand,” as it’s known among OG patrons.

And then there’s Indiana football. The similarities, shocking as they might be, are not lost on the couple. A pair of improbable, Hoosier-state Cinderella stories, ascending in tandem.

“I never thought I would see this reaction to Indiana football,” said Connor. “I always felt like I was part of this secret club because I liked Indiana football more than Indiana basketball. So that’s been really special.”

It brings the company and its favorite team to Monday’s college football national championship game in Miami, where Indiana — which until very recently was the losingest program in college football history — is the heavy favorite to win its first title against the hometown Miami Hurricanes.

“It’s just … unbelievable,” said Christa.

Homefield Apparel officially launched over Labor Day weekend 2018, but its origins were a company called Hoosier Proud, which Connor created as a business major at Indiana a few years earlier. What started with state-pride stickers and other merch evolved into Homefield thanks to the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl. Indiana lost in overtime on a controversial missed field goal; Connor channeled his pain into T-shirts that read “The kick was good.”

The company gradually expanded beyond Indiana shirts and the confines of Connor’s apartment, adding apparel and designs for more and more schools. Homefield went from less than $1,000 in its bank account in 2019 to more than 30 employees today. But Indiana football has always been the bedrock of the brand’s identity, particularly on social media. Whether it was leaning into the #9WINDIANA hashtag (and merch) during a surprising 2019 season or the usual self-effacement that comes with rooting for the Hoosiers, that authenticity built a loyal following among college football diehards.

“If we came out as Michigan fans on the (Homefield) Twitter account, we would have never built that kind of following,” said Christa. “But it was deprecating to be an Indiana football fan. It was charming.”

She knows of what she speaks. Christa grew up a Michigan fan in metro Detroit; her dad played quarterback for the Wolverines. She didn’t attend Indiana, but she and Connor dated all through college, and his love of the Hoosiers became her love of the Hoosiers. (And now their 2-year-old son Jude’s love of the Hoosiers.) Connor remembers Indiana’s late collapse in the Gator Bowl to end the 2019 season — one victory shy of #9WINDIANA glory — as tears streamed down Christa’s face.

“I’m like, What have I done? She was a Michigan fan, dude, and she traded it for Indiana,” said Connor. “I felt like an awful person in that moment.”

But as Indiana made its inconceivable climb from perennial bottom feeder to national title contender — “Rags to Roses” as the recent Rose Bowl merch put it — that passion paid off.

RAGS TO ROSES

INDIANA ROSE BOWL CHAMP MERCH IS HERE 🌹https://t.co/FyTgF7fyTC pic.twitter.com/pUxz0cAJOe

— Homefield (@HomefieldApparl) January 2, 2026

Even as Homefield continued to grow, its persona stayed tethered to the Hoosiers, tapping into a long-dormant fan base that rattled to life under head coach Curt Cignetti. Indiana has always been Homefield’s top-selling school by a considerable margin. But in 2024, during an out-of-nowhere run to the College Football Playoff in Cignetti’s first season, the company’s IU merchandise sales were double the year prior. In 2025, further bolstered by wholesome, Heisman-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza and an undefeated Big Ten championship, IU sales were 2.5-times more than those 2024 increases. Indiana fans are suddenly everywhere — many of them wearing Homefield gear.

“I would always tell people, yeah, we’re terrible at football, but I don’t think you understand how big this alumni base is,” said Connor. “People have been hungry here for so long for something, anything.”

The past two seasons have delivered, this one in particular, with IU claiming the program’s first Big Ten championship since 1967 with a win over Ohio State in Indianapolis. Then the No. 1 seed in the 12-team Playoff, with blowout wins over Alabama in the Rose Bowl, Oregon in the Peach Bowl, and the team’s first national championship appearance. Homefield dropped new merch every step of the way.

Connor Hitchcock initially felt bad for influencing his wife to cheer for Indiana football. (Courtesy of the Hitchcock family)

The company is sending nine employees to South Beach for the game and is hosting a handful of branded pop-up events, including sponsoring Indiana’s alumni association gathering. It also has championship apparel ready to launch at the final whistle. Even if Miami wins.

“We do have a lot of Miami stuff ready to go. And it looks great,” said Connor, who will be at Hard Rock Stadium with Christa for Monday’s game. “But that will be sad. People will be roasting us in the comments.”

He admits they have a lot more designs if the Hoosiers finish this dream run, including a small batch of early prints that will be on sale Tuesday morning at Homefield’s first brick-and-mortar store, which opened in August in Bloomington. Christa, who handles a lot of the design work, teased one with Indiana’s revived bison mascot — a Homefield favorite — and a crown.

“There’s kind of no limit to what we could do. We could probably do three months of merchandise launches,” said Connor, who suspects that a week’s worth of Indiana championship sales could nearly match the 2025 totals. “Indiana winning will be, would be, the most consequential event that has ever happened to this company.”

Yet the Hitchcocks remain more dumbstruck by what has happened on the field than to their own business portfolio. Connor rattles off the likes of Antwaan Randle El, Terry Hoeppner, Michael Penix Jr., and the shortlist of bright spots during his otherwise bleak life as an IU football fan. One preceded by decades upon decades of similar despair.

“It made no sense for me to love Indiana football. It gave you nothing,” said Connor, who had yet to experience a Hoosiers bowl victory in his 31 years on this earth prior to the Rose Bowl win over Alabama.

Now IU has a chance to go 16-0 and punctuate the most stunning turnaround the sport has ever seen. Maybe that any sport has ever seen.

The Hitchcocks loved Indiana football before it was en vogue. (Courtesy of the Hitchcock family)

It’s a long way from wearing his Pinstripe Bowl grievances on short, screen-printed sleeves. Connor believes Indiana will pull it off on Monday, win by multiple scores. (“Which is an insane thing to say.”) And he can’t help but dream of what a future with Cignetti and an awakened fan base might look like, the true hallmark of college football grandeur.

But he and Christa are also making sure to soak it all in and cherish this experience — ideally with closets, storefronts and warehouses full of commemorative merchandise.

“All of this, it was just never in the realm of possibility,” said Connor. “I don’t cheer for Indiana football to win a national championship. I cheer because I love the team, and it’s my school. But now here it is. It’s such a turn of fate. I’ve been very grateful for every step of it.”