National Women's Soccer League fans are getting the merch they've been looking for, courtesy of BreakingT

• BreakingT is a sports merchandise brand that makes the apparel fans want as the action happens.
• The company has reached a deal with the NWSLPA to make National Women's Soccer League players merch.

National Women's Soccer League fans are finally getting the merch they've been looking for.

The premier women's soccer league in North America - which employs most of the US Women's National Team players and many of the gold-medal winners from Canada's Women's National Team - is in the midst of the playoffs. And ahead of the semifinal round of the postseason, the NWSL Players Association launched a deal with unique sports merchandise brand BreakingT to make apparel for the league and its players.

"More NWSL products in the market also means more exposure for these world class athletes, which means capitalizing on the massive growth opportunities in the NWSL," NWSLPA Executive Director Meghann Burke told Insider. "We're thrilled to join the ranks of all the other major pro sports players associations in launching this partnership."

"Aside from just believing in the market of women's sports and knowing that there's just a ton of opportunity there, it's a great business decision to keep investing time and resources into products that covers women's sports in the way that we do," BreakingT Director of Strategic Partnerships Nicole O'Keefe added. "We always hear 'Where's the merch?' There's clearly fan demand. We've gotten a ton of idea submissions on our website."

BreakingT is known for responding to fan requests and releasing T-Shirts, sweatshirts, and more just hours after the action happens. Leveraging its longstanding partnership with the USWNTPA, the brand previously made apparel based on the national team's inside-out jersey protest, Alex Morgan's iconic tea-sipping World Cup celebration, the USWNT sisters Sam and Kristie Mewis' collective nickname: The Mewii, and plenty more.

The company is taking a similar approach with its NWSLPA merchandise.

"As we've done with the US Women's National Team players, we're all about capturing the moment and turning those moments and the things that fans are excited about into products that they can wear and support their favorite players out and about, especially after they do something incredible," O'Keefe said. "So our primary premise is to take that same business model and continue to apply it to the NWSL players now."

"Really what we focus on is what are the moments and the things that matter to fans," she added. "And with the women's sports leagues, the fans connect so much more with the players. It's just different than it is for a lot of men's sports."

With the Washington Spirit, Portland Thorns, Chicago Red Stars, and OL Reign headed to this weekend's semifinals, BreakingT has released T-Shirts designed around a star from each of the four remaining playoff teams. NWSL Golden Boot winner Ashley Hatch is the focal point of BreakingT's first Spirit shirt, while Bethany Balcer - the league's 2019 Rookie of the Year - finds herself on the front of the inaugural Reign apparel.

For the Red Stars, BreakingT cleverly played on forward Kealia Watt's last name for a "Turn Down for Watt" shirt. But O'Keefe's favorite of the lot is the one devoted to Canadian international and Thorns superstar Christine Sinclair, which features a sketch of the star dribbling in front of her iconic "Sincy" nickname.

"I'm excited to do Christine Sinclair, because we had a lot of requests for her during the Olympics," O'Keefe said. "It's actually almost worse in women's sports because the fans are like, 'Why aren't you doing this for this person? Don't you know how good they are?' And fans don't understand how licensing works. So to them, to the outside, it just looks like we've chosen not to do a product for this moment."

"That was one of them where it hurt that we couldn't do that moment," she added, referring to Canada's gold-medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics. "So that one's one that I'm pretty excited about."

There's sure to be plenty of action - and thus plenty of inspiration for apparel - coming out of Sunday's semifinal matchups. Fans can tune into CBS Sports Network at 3 p.m. ET to catch the No. 3 Spirit take on second-seeded Reign, then stick around until 5:30 p.m. ET when fourth-seeded Chicago heads to Portland looking to knock off the mighty Thorns. Roughly a day later, they can expect to find fresh merchandise from BreakingT based on the biggest moments of each game.

And even though giving the fans what they want - and giving it to them quickly - is BreakingT's bread and butter, O'Keefe recognizes that the brand's newfound partnership with the NWSLPA has significance far beyond fan demand itself. While the focus of calls for greater investment in women's sports typically involve "ownership groups and marketing deals and ticket sales and that kind of stuff," she says merchandise is a major growth area for women's sports teams and leagues.

"The merch factor has a greater impact than just the dollars; it shows fan support, it captures excitement, and it creates a bond between the players, the teams, and the fans," O'Keefe said. "The merchandise side has been really under-invested in in women's sports... it's really lagging behind the investment in a lot of men's sports. And so we're excited to be a part of investing in that."

"This is a good business decision for us at the end of the day," she added. "We're running a business, and it's a good business decision."

Fans can purchase the new wave of NWSLPA merchandise at breakingt.com/nwslpa.