England officially switches to Nike

[Drew22]

http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/NewsAndFeatures/2012/nike-kit-supplier-announcement-030912.aspx

The Football Association has announced an exciting new partnership with Nike that will see them create kits for every England team.

The world?s leading sportswear firm will design and make the clothing for our men and women?s sides at every level.

England?s first kits to bear the Nike Swoosh will be launched in Spring next year, as The FA marks its 150th anniversary and the agreement runs until 31 July 2018.

The deal represents a substantial investment, which will be reinvested by The FA back into the game across all levels, from the Senior team to grassroots.

The partnership includes the following elements:

• Supplying kit and match-balls to all of Club England?s 24 football teams at every level, including the men?s national teams, women?s, Futsal, disability and amateur
  
• Sponsorship and support of St. George?s Park, the home of the National Football Centre in Burton-upon-Trent, which in addition to hosting the England Senior team will train and develop a generation of coaches, referees and medical staff every year
  
• Supporting partner of Wembley Stadium, the home of English football
  
• Supporting partner for The FA Cup, supplying match balls for every round of the world?s most famous cup competition
  
• Supply of product to County FAs.
  

FA General Secretary Alex Horne said: ?I am delighted that The FA has secured this new wide-ranging and comprehensive partnership with Nike.

?It is an extremely exciting time for both parties with the opening of St. George?s Park this year and The FA?s 150th anniversary in 2013.

?I would also like to place on record our gratitude to Umbro and their significant contribution to the game, The FA and England teams, over a 60-year period.?

Nike Brand President Charlie Denson added: ?The pride and passion of England fans is renowned throughout the football world and we are delighted to partner with The FA.

?We look forward to supporting England teams at every level with innovative product technology and playing our part to help develop the future of English football through our support of St. George?s Park.?

[marble21]

Explains why the current shirts are being sold so cheap.

[sportstar1212]

Explains why the current shirts are being sold so cheap.

I actually just got an authentic England jersey the other day for $20.

[lancealot]

lets just say it was only a matter of time, i belive eventually nike and adidas will take over all sports manufacturing and merchandising (with the ecceprion of new era caps)

[TFoA]

Technically, England was already under Nike since they own Umbro, but I suppose they just wanted to make things official. I don't think this is gonna change the aesthetic quality of the England shirts too much, as Nike are already the top dogs of football shirt design, IMO, & England have been wearing some great kits for about 4 years now.

[marble21]

I just have 2 wishes...

1. England returns to home of White/Navy/White and away of Red/White/Red.

2. It's not just a regurgitated teamwear template.

The transition of Umbro teams to Nike was inevitable. Just like Reebok to Adidas, hell even Bolton have and they play at the Reebok Stadium. It is ludicrous how often new kits come out now. What was wrong with releasing one every St. Georges day with home and away alternating years?

[gdu]

I just have 2 wishes...

1. England returns to home of White/Navy/White and away of Red/White/Red.

2. It's not just a regurgitated teamwear template.

The transition of Umbro teams to Nike was inevitable. Just like Reebok to Adidas, hell even Bolton have and they play at the Reebok Stadium. It is ludicrous how often new kits come out now. What was wrong with releasing one every St. Georges day with home and away alternating years?

I've never understood this complaint. If you can't afford one, don't buy one. Nobody is making fans buy a new shirt every year.

[kmccarthy27]

Technically, England was already under Nike since they own Umbro, but I suppose they just wanted to make things official. I don't think this is gonna change the aesthetic quality of the England shirts too much, as Nike are already the top dogs of football shirt design, IMO, & England have been wearing some great kits for about 4 years now.

I think Nike is trying to sell off Umbro, so I think they are just trying to secure Umbro's biggest client before the sell off happens.

[shaydre1019]

Man I love Nike and look forward to seeing their England designs, but england no being sponsored by Umbro is just gonna be a little weird.

[marble21]

I just have 2 wishes...

1. England returns to home of White/Navy/White and away of Red/White/Red.

2. It's not just a regurgitated teamwear template.

The transition of Umbro teams to Nike was inevitable. Just like Reebok to Adidas, hell even Bolton have and they play at the Reebok Stadium. It is ludicrous how often new kits come out now. What was wrong with releasing one every St. Georges day with home and away alternating years?

I've never understood this complaint. If you can't afford one, don't buy one. Nobody is making fans buy a new shirt every year.

I just think it shows a lack of faith to market a shirt as the official shirt for XX/XX years, only to bring out another one part the way through its expected lifetime. Part of the reason for justifying a considerable outlay is the fact it will be current for that amount of time.

[Davidson]

Seems a shame. I got the impression Nike were taking the Umbro brand seriously. The 'tailored in England' campaign was very good.

[andrewharrington]

Seems a shame. I got the impression Nike were taking the Umbro brand seriously. The 'tailored in England' campaign was very good.

Agreed. Umbro doesn't really have any high-level assets left, so i really don't know what will become of the company once it's sold. It doesn't seem like Nike saw them as being 'part of the family' the way things are going down.

[andrewharrington]

The transition of Umbro teams to Nike was inevitable. Just like Reebok to Adidas...

The difference, though, is that as Reebok assets moved to the adidas brand, Reebok was simultaneously transitioning from an all-sport and licensed brand to a fitness brand (they still have licensed hockey). Umbro's assets are moving over to the Nike brand, after which Nike is going to sell off the brand to someone else. I don't feel like Nike and Umbro were ever very symbiotic.

[Saintsfan]

Seems a shame. I got the impression Nike were taking the Umbro brand seriously. The 'tailored in England' campaign was very good.

I think it was excellent, however in the last year or so it's taken a real nose dive, from England's current home kit, to Southampton's all red kit, with a few others in between, there's been a few misses in the last year or so.

[gdu]

I just have 2 wishes...

1. England returns to home of White/Navy/White and away of Red/White/Red.

2. It's not just a regurgitated teamwear template.

The transition of Umbro teams to Nike was inevitable. Just like Reebok to Adidas, hell even Bolton have and they play at the Reebok Stadium. It is ludicrous how often new kits come out now. What was wrong with releasing one every St. Georges day with home and away alternating years?

I've never understood this complaint. If you can't afford one, don't buy one. Nobody is making fans buy a new shirt every year.

I just think it shows a lack of faith to market a shirt as the official shirt for XX/XX years, only to bring out another one part the way through its expected lifetime. Part of the reason for justifying a considerable outlay is the fact it will be current for that amount of time.

My understanding is that the shirt isn't changing until it was supposed to, only the mfg mark. And it fans are so mad at the mfg for doing this to them, it should be an easy shirt to avoid purchasing.

And the 2 years vs one may be part of your justification for spending that much, but it's not like those shirts are any different in price than the 1 year club shirts by the same mfgs.

[gosioux76]

Seems a shame. I got the impression Nike were taking the Umbro brand seriously. The 'tailored in England' campaign was very good.

Agreed. Umbro doesn't really have any high-level assets left, so i really don't know what will become of the company once it's sold. It doesn't seem like Nike saw them as being 'part of the family' the way things are going down.

Nike bought Umbro back in 2007 as it was still building its reputation as a major soccer brand. The Umbro deal helped give them stronger footing in that market. Now that Nike is pretty much in a dead heat with Adidas for the global lead in soccer, Umbro has served its purpose and has become surplus.

It's interesting that Nike seems to be stripping Umbro of two of its most valuable assets -- the England and Manchester City kit deals. You'd think that would reduce Umbro's value to a potential buyer.

[Saintsfan]

Seems a shame. I got the impression Nike were taking the Umbro brand seriously. The 'tailored in England' campaign was very good.

Agreed. Umbro doesn't really have any high-level assets left, so i really don't know what will become of the company once it's sold. It doesn't seem like Nike saw them as being 'part of the family' the way things are going down.

Nike bought Umbro back in 2007 as it was still building its reputation as a major soccer brand. The Umbro deal helped give them stronger footing in that market. Now that Nike is pretty much in a dead heat with Adidas for the global lead in soccer, Umbro has served its purpose and has become surplus.

It's interesting that Nike seems to be stripping Umbro of two of its most valuable assets -- the England and Manchester City kit deals. You'd think that would reduce Umbro's value to a potential buyer.

But it also weakens umbro as a brand in the UK, putting it somewhere on a par with the likes of brands that have eventually sunk almost without a trace, such as admiral or bukta. Seems a little like what Microsoft and apple have done in the computer industry, by squeezing the small names out of the market, the big guys can control the market more easily.

[Gothamite]

Exactly - Nike has gutted Umbro, which perhaps indicates that they didn't expect to receive a lot of money in the sale regardless.

[kmccarthy27]

Exactly - Nike has gutted Umbro, which perhaps indicates that they didn't expect to receive a lot of money in the sale regardless.

Sounds like whomever buy its is really just buying the name and will have to start from the ground up. Let hope they do not resort to what some companies do an just buy generic crap and put the Umbro name on it.

[Saintsfan]

Exactly - Nike has gutted Umbro, which perhaps indicates that they didn't expect to receive a lot of money in the sale regardless.

Sounds like whomever buy its is really just buying the name and will have to start from the ground up. Let hope they do not resort to what some companies do an just buy generic crap and put the Umbro name on it.

Umbro does have a number of decent enough small time contracts, it's not quite building from nothing, and it's still an historic brand. Bu Nike has done a pretty good job of cleaning out the best Umbro had.

If I were umbro, I'd move back into other sports as well. Umbro had quite a big chunk of the rugby market 20 years ago for instance, at least in the UK, I'd tap back into that market.