Strategy

Arby's Rewards Fans With Meat Sweats

For the latest in carnivore couture, look no further than Arby’s, the chain that purports to “have the meats.” The fast-food restaurant known for roast beef is rewarding its biggest fans with custom sweat suits, covered head to toe with close-up photorealistic images of sliced meat.

Arby's Rewards Fans With Meat Sweats

The sweat suits feature an elastic waistband, “built-in bacon-patterned warming pockets” and a “retractable bacon-patterned venting hood for maximum temperature control,” according to a press release from the brand. The custom sweats are a reward for select customers who shared their 2017 “feats of meat” on social media, whether that entailed scaling Arby’s epic Meat Mountain or smoking ribs to perfection on a grill.

Several worthy meat lovers have already received their comfy reward in the mail, posting selfies sporting their new duds on social networks. The sweat suit apparently arrives in a bright red plastic envelope with the hashtag #MeatSweats in bold, white letters across the front. A Twitter user with the handle @StSquiggy, who had posted a photo of Arby’s Meat Mountain sandwich back in April, received a message from the sandwich’s maker earlier this month, telling him that “a conquering carnivore should dress the part.” A few days later, @StSquiggy posted: “My #meatsweats came in, AND THEY’RE GLORIOUS.” Clearly, Arby’s has struck a chord with its fan base.

Arby’s meat sweats cap off a year’s worth of fast-food fashion. KFC started selling drumstick socks, “finger-lickin good” necklaces and other colonel-related swag online over the summer. McDonald’s created a Big Mac onesie as part of a limited-time merch collection. Taco Bell teamed up with Forever 21 to start a spicy apparel line. And in 2016, Pizza Hut launched a line of Hut Swag.