The holiday season is upon us! That damn bird can’t be done soon enough, the girls are planning their Black Friday shopping strategy, and the guys are drinking whiskey and watching football.

OK, I digress, the girls are doing all of the above. Hats off to all the better halves out there! You da real MVPs!

But seriously, everyone loves a new Bears jersey, Bulls hoodie, or Blackhawks sweater to sport for Christmas.

Fresh duds for a fresh new year are always a good thing for the avid sports fan. So, I scoured the internet for a few of the best rated sites to get all the Bulls, Bears, White Sox, Cubs and Blackhawks crap you could ask for.

Keep in mind a few of these I have not personally used. So, given that, I did not list anything in here that did not have overwhelmingly good feedback from individuals who HAVE used them.

I also went on Reddit and asked Chicago users who and where they buy their gear from, with the most important criteria being quality, price, service and reliability. I took the retailers and vendors with the most endorsements by review and made this list.

So, here you are.

Always nice to find a steal out there, because let’s be honest…Fan wear is not cheap.

Happy hunting and happy holidays!

Clark Street Sports is a locally owned and operated business that started in the early 90’s as a simple street vender of various kinds of Chicago sports merchandise. Per their website, they opened their first retail store in 2007 at 3465 N. Clark Street in Wrigleyville.

On their website you can find all manner of Chicago sports apparel; from jerseys to key chains, to purses and backpacks.

In terms of cost, most everything is priced as expected compared to other authorized retail shops.

More to come later for those of you who don’t mind decent Chinese knockoffs.

Also, despite their Wrigleyville origins, they even have stuff for you White Sox fans!

Fans Edge has been in business since 1999 and is a fairly reputable site to get a t-shirt, jersey, or hoodie for your favorite team.

No worries here if great quality is something you want.

Also, from time to time, have pretty damn good promotional deals and sales. For example, right now any order of $50 or more is 25% off so long as you enter the promo code “GOBBLE”.

Not too shabby for you Black Friday warriors who want to avoid all the mall chaos.

Fanatics should be familiar to anyone who regularly looks for fan apparel; so this isn’t about deals, quality, or shocking revelations. This is about sweaters.

Love ’em or hate ’em, you have to admit, ugly sweaters are at the very least entertaining. Combine ugly sweaters as well as your favorite sports team, now we’re talking.

Personally, I’m in the “love ’em” category and will be purchasing one of the Chicago themed ugly sweaters Fanatics has to offer in the near future.

They’ve got Bears, Cubs, Bulls, Blackhawks, and White Sox ugly sweaters so there’s something for everyone.

They also have a similar deal to Fans Edge going on until midnight tomorrow. Only their promo code is “TURKEY”.

PSA: If you’re a White Sox fan don’t expect to find anything.

If you’re a Cubs fan, this place is a gold mine.

They also have Blackhawks and Bears apparel.

Also, they offer free shipping when you buy online!

Strange Cargo pride themselves on their wide selection of the “strange and cool” as one review put it.

Here, you will find mostly custom and vintage t-shirts for the eccentric in your life.

The prices are moderate to expected for one of a kind wear, but for stuff you can’t find anywhere else what’s $25 bucks for a tee? This is a locally owned company with clever designs.

You can buy online through the link above, and the physical location for interpersonal person is at 3448 N. Clark St.

Another good source to look at is this list CBS Chicago did with its picks for best Chicago sports retail shops around the city. Their list is from 2011, but that shouldn’t matter. Quality is built to last, right?

THIS IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING

The outdated logo and website design may seem a little sketchy, but these guys have great reviews all over the internet.

On Yahoo they have a five-star rating based on over 4, 000 reviews, and the Better Business Bureau has them rated as an A+.

They market themselves as a jersey customization site, where you can find throwback NBA, NHL, and MLB jerseys for very low prices. Low as in under $100.

Personally, I’ve never used this site, but if I can get a decent to great quality knockoff for under $100 and in some cases under $75, it may be worth at least looking into.

Like anything on eBay you have to do your research to avoid any letdowns.

However, with this particular vendor all signs point to the positive end of the spectrum, as they have been reviewed literally tens of thousands of times and have managed to maintain almost a five-star rating. 4.9 to be exact.

Those ratings can be easily accessed on their eBay page provided above.

Just make sure you take a really good look at the picture and read the descriptions of what you will be paying for so there are no surprises.

Do some digging and you could potentially find the closest thing to a legal steal on the internet.

AliExpress from what I could find is essentially the Chinese version of eBay, working as an outlet for thousands of vendors.

On their site you can find most anything, from makeup to a Chicago Bulls jersey.

From reading almost 200 reviews on Reddit all signs point to having a good experience with these guys so far as you don’t just blindly click to buy without taking a second to check the ratings of a specific third-party vendor.

Chances are, if you find a jersey for $25 bucks it’s a jersey manufactured in China that had a factory defect so therefore couldn’t be sold for $100-$200.

So, depending on what that “defect” might be, if it’s of decent quality and legit to the naked eye, and you’re not worried about an asshole calling you out, then why not save some money.

Our “Smokin’ Jay” tees are HOT in the streets!

Yes, not only do we have wildly entertaining articles worth sharing, we also have great gifts for you and/or your loved ones!

So, check out our web store!

And I’ll leave you with this bit of corny goodness…

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Chi

Not a bears fan was speaking, not even “that” guy

The cigars were prepped, smell of brats in the air

all had to be perfect, Coach Ditka soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds

While Uncle Tony and Bill drank Old Style with friends

And Ma’ in her jersey, and I in my cap

Sat there and waited, D. Rose was not back

When on the TV there was such a chatter

So we sprang from the kitchen to see what was the matter

The Bears beat the Lions?! Is that a laugher?

Emery said we’d be better, oh what a gaffer…

Ok no more, thanks for reading and again; HAPPY HOLIDAYS from Sports Mockery.