GIANTX’s Post

I could write about all the things I've done this year, but instead I'll end 2024 with an unusual but inspiring story in esports. While mergers can provide some much-needed survivability in a relatively unsustainable industry like esports, they can also result in unwanted inventory. For GIANTX, it meant they were left with hundreds of old pieces of Giants Gaming and Excel Esports merchandise. Rather than seeing it go to landfill, last month Jordan Bedford said the final pieces of unsold Excel apparel would be reaching an unlikely destination: an Ethiopian conservation area which protects endangered animals. Wildlife charity Born Free Foundation works in the area, and the picture below also shows its staff at a Kenyan national park. Overall, some 300+ items were sent out to Africa for charity use. So while Excel Esports brand might not technically exist anymore, it's still living on, in the garments worn by park rangers helping endangered animals in Africa. I'm not sure this is what Kieran Holmes-Darby and Joel Holmes-Darby envisaged when they founded Excel Esports a decade ago, but it’s inadvertently become a part of their legacy in the process, and is a positive story nonetheless. Thank you to Jordan and Karen Botha for speaking to me about this story. You can read it in full in the comments below. Happy new year! #esports #positivenews #merch #charity