"Go Warriors!"

Brandan Kop, like any University of Hawai'i football fan, is rooting for the Warriors against Boise State on Friday. But as owner of the largest local licensee of UH-branded merchandise, Kop has a lot extra riding on the pivotal game.

The team's unprecedented 10-0 record this season has translated to record sales of Warrior gear for Kop and hundreds of people and companies producing and selling everything from backpacks to towels featuring the Warrior "H" or some other UH logo.

Royalty revenue to UH from licensed merchandise is up 69 percent between July 1 and Nov. 19 this year compared with the same period last year, a jump attributed in large part to Colt Brennan and crew.

"The brand has never been stronger, and fans are reacting to that," said John McNamara, associate athletics director for external affairs. "They want to be part of the team."

With tickets to Friday's sold-out game available for $140 to $650 each yesterday on www.stubhub.com, a $15 UH shirt may have to suffice for sharing the Warrior pride.

Fans can buy all kinds of Warrior stuff — jewelry, temporary tattoos, $200 floor rugs and the Warriors' fight song ring tone.

More common items like hats and T-shirts are being sold at many stores, including 7-Eleven, Sears, Foodland, Price Busters, Longs Drug and Sam's Club.

Kop, owner of Pearl City-based wholesaler Kop Distributors LLC, said his sales to local retailers from July to September are up more than 300 percent from the same three months last year.

"Sales are off the charts," he said. "Hawai'i fans are supporting the winning team."

Kop said sales have risen after every Warrior win this year, and he expects that if the Warriors beat Boise State and their final regular season opponent, the University of Washington, then he likely will run out of Warrior apparel.

Debbie Kutara, licensing administrator for UH's Collegiate Licensing Office, said royalty revenue totaled $194,465 from July 1 to Nov. 19, up from $114,958 in the same period last year.

A rough estimate is that the royalty figures translate to retail sales of $4.8 million in UH merchandise during that period this year.

Kutara said part of the reason sales have grown is that bigger national manufacturers and distributors have merchandise licensing agreements.

Greater exposure of the football team on national TV also helps fuel sales outside Hawai'i, she said.

This year, UH is celebrating its centennial, which is another factor helping increase the university's merchandising business, according to Didot Soewondopranoto, who manages Rainbowtique stores on campus and at Ward Centre operated by the university.

Kop, who has manufactured and distributed UH-branded merchandise for 20 years, said his experience is that UH football drives 90 percent of sales.

"It all correlates to the football team," he said.

During losing years under football head coach Fred vonAppen, Kop said, getting UH merchandise into stores was difficult. "You couldn't give it away," he said.

But business dramatically improved with the hiring of coach June Jones in 1998, the introduction of the Warrior "H" logo in 2000 and now this season's fantastic win streak.

Kop said more retailers in recent years have added Warrior gear or are giving additional or better display space to the merchandise.

The Warriors' undefeated season also has inspired products outside of licensed logo items, such as a shirt disparaging Boise State being sold at the local clothing store Butigroove.

Butigroove owner BJ Sabate recently dedicated two display windows of his Pi'ikoi shop to the Boise shirt and another one touting Brennan's prospects for the Heisman Trophy.

Sabate said he sold about 100 of the "HI's MAN" shirts and hopes for similar sales of the Boise shirt. If the Warriors win this week, he plans to make a shirt disparaging the Washington Huskies along with one appealing to local residents who attended the school, as he did.

"It's been crazy," he said of the Warrior mania.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.