Focus: Adidas and Puma eye chances in soccer's fashion moment
01/11/2023 06:10
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Celebrities, models wear soccer kits as fashion statements
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Soccer clubs hire creative directors
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Trend creates opportunity for sportswear brands
By Helen Reid
LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Sportswear brands like Adidas
and Puma are seeking to take advantage of a flirtation with
soccer by the fashion world to reach a new customer base,
building in part on demand created by this summer's successful
Women's World Cup.
With celebrities like Kim Kardashian seen attending matches
and wearing soccer jerseys, clubs too spy new merchandising
opportunities. One Premiership team has hired a creative
director to expand its apparel offering, while Adidas in
September launched an "exclusively off-pitch" apparel collection
for some of the big-name teams it sponsors.
"The love-in between football and fashion is only just
beginning," said Richard Busby, CEO at sponsorship consultancy
BDS Sponsorship.
The Women's World Cup showed there is huge unmet demand for
soccer-related merchandise for women: Nike drew a backlash from
fans for not offering replica kits for England's Mary Earps and
other goalkeepers playing in the competition.
But the trend extends to fashion-conscious fans of both
sexes, Busby said. "Premiership clubs have a lot of wealthy
supporters but very few of the items they sell appeal to them,
whether men or women."
Second-division Greek football club Athens Kallithea is
among those giving its jerseys a makeover. Its campaigns show
women wearing the unisex tops with satin skirts and styled as
smart casual clothing to wear out to dinner.
The ranges are designed to appeal beyond a club's
traditional fan base.
Kardashian has been spotted wearing vintage Roma and Paris
Saint-Germain shirts, while 20-year-old model Mia Regan paired
an Arsenal shirt with a long denim skirt and boots at a Paris
Fashion Week show in October.
In August, Crystal Palace hired Kenny Annan-Jonathan as
creative director focused on apparel. He is expected to expand
the range of clothing offered by the Premier League club.
HYPE AROUND FOOTBALL CULTURE
Adidas and Puma have long been associated with streetwear
and pop culture.
But with the German companies each spending two-thirds of
their annual sponsorship outlay on soccer, according to a
GlobalData report published this month, football's fashionable
turn could prove lucrative.
For Nike, which also invests significantly in basketball and
college sports, soccer accounts for 48% of its annual
sponsorship spend, GlobalData found.
"We are experiencing hype around football jerseys and
general designs influenced by football culture across streetwear
and fashion," said Puma's global creative director Heiko Desens.
Puma is seeking to further fuel that hype. Its newest
footwear collaboration with popstar Rihanna's Fenty brand,
launched last month, was a trainer inspired by cleats worn by
the late, legendary Brazilian soccer player Pele.
The launch campaign featured Rihanna inside a giant
de-constructed soccer ball. The shoes, priced at $170 for a
silver colourway and $160 for a black and white model, sold out
on Puma's website on the day they were released.
"Puma has a higher sales exposure to women than Adidas or
Nike, and the original Rihanna partnership in 2015 was really
effective in helping it build strong demand and a lot of
credibility with the female consumer," said Graham Renwick,
analyst at Berenberg.
"So with the relaunch of this partnership Puma will be
hoping for a similar response."
Adidas's apparel range for Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Juventus,
Manchester United and Real Madrid, launched in September,
included crop tops and dresses made in a jersey knit and
featuring more subtle club branding.
"We want to cater to the needs of both the consumer who
plays football actively and the consumer who is attracted by
football culture," Adidas said.
High fashion is also getting involved: in May, Italian label
Prada collaborated with Adidas on soccer cleats in three
colourways including white, retailing for $595 a pair.
Liverpool and Newcastle United are also seeking to hire
creative directors, in a trend that could change the dynamic
between the Premiership clubs and their sponsoring brands.
Athens Kallithea and Italy's Venezia FC have used slick
social media campaigns to sell apparel globally despite a
smaller fanbase.
"There's a risk of tension with existing fans whenever you
start moving beyond the core culture," said Athens Kallithea's
president and creative director, Ted Philipakos. He said teams
from the Premier League and Bundesliga had contacted him to
learn from his strategy.
"It's a delicate balancing act that requires more nuance and
sensibility than many big clubs tend to have," Philipakos said.
(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Catherine Evans)
((Helen.Reid@thomsonreuters.com; +44 7584 155 200 ;))