Prince William's favorite football team may be at the forefront of a change.
Aston Villa F.C. has just signed a jersey equipment contract with American e-commerce company Fanatics. This company is a large-scale mainland in the United States and operates NHL, NBA, NFL and MLS related products, but they are not famous in the UK across the ocean. If the trial of the UK market goes well this time, they will be able to make a name for themselves.
Fanatics is different from Nike , Adidas , UA. You will never see the Fanatics logo on Aston Villa's jersey, that is, the red F like a fluttering flag.
However, this company backed by SoftBank has bought all the exclusive rights to all the peripheral products of Aston Villa football team. Then, they will split the operating rights of some products, such as jersey equipment, baseball caps and home furnishings. As for the game jerseys, they will hand them over to a men's clothing brand called Luke 1977, which is located in Birmingham, the main city of Vera .
All major companies doubled their investments and threw sky-high contracts to a few top football clubs, but Aston Villa completed a pioneering move. Signing those contracts means that teams with lower levels (Villa has played in the Champions League for the past two years) can regain a little attention from the jersey maker. Those big companies are in power and will generally treat them differently. The equipment categories of small teams are definitely not as rich as those of top teams.
Fanatics will personally make the new version of Vera's jersey, which is very different from the traditional jersey equipment contract. Nike and Adidas will design and sell football equipment, but these companies rarely make jersey equipment themselves, but instead find third parties to do this (sometimes they are looking for Fanatics). For example, Premier League champion Manchester City , they are Nike-sponsored teams, but their jersey equipment is produced by Dewhirst Group Ltd in the UK.
This season, the sponsor of Aston Villa jerseys in Championship is UA
. In contrast, Fanatics controls the entire value chain. They would ask Luke 1977 to make Vera's jerseys, then prepare a warehouse for jersey equipment, and also create and operate websites and applications for equipment sales.
In the traditional sales model of football equipment, Nike or Adidas will sign a contract with the manufacturer and pay $10 for each jersey. Once made, they will sell the jerseys to retailers for $30, such as SportsDirect International Plc. The retailer then sells the jerseys for $60. In this way, the company only has a profit of $20, and they have to use this part of the money to pay the team sponsorship fees.
Because Fanatics company handles production to sales, there are not so many third parties to get a share. It costs $5 to make a jersey, and the logistics and other surcharges can cost $20. The company's profit is $35, not $20 for traditional brands.
Fanatics' preference for local manufacturers should also help. Teams usually need to book a team's jersey for one year or more in advance because the jerseys are produced far away from them. But Fanatics uses local manufacturers, who can complete orders in less time. For example, if Villa can successfully advance to the Premier League this season and need to customize more jerseys, Fanatics can also respond quickly and make the jerseys well. This local production model is very similar to Inditex SA. Their fast fashion chain Zarah is better than HM, and 80% of their manufacturing tasks are completed in Asia.
Aston Villa has a large fan base, but he is in the secondary league. Sponsoring them is relatively low and not too expensive, which is a good opportunity to try the waters of the British football market. Besides, if they can return to the Premier League this year, this contract will be even more worthwhile.
In fact, this contract is an experiment. The team definitely hopes that their brand has enough appeal to allow fans to buy jerseys without relying on some sportswear giant brands to help them promote. Of course, for world-class teams such as Chelsea and Manchester United, it is impossible for them to reject the more than $1 billion sponsorship contract provided by Nike and Adidas. However, for some companies that have just entered the market or have not been able to get the sponsorship rights of strong teams, sponsoring teams like Villa is also a good choice.
extended reading:
in American sports supplies retail field, Dugu Qiubai, Fanatics began to focus on the UK and China
American sports e-commerce Fanatics launched a three-month jersey replacement, and plans to set up a manufacturing factory in China this year
Statement: This article is compiled by Lazy Bear Sports from Bloomberg, and the original author is Alex Webb.
