Umbro, the official kit partners of the FAI, have signed a new five year deal with Everton football club in the English Premier League that seems to assure the brands future involvement in the lucrative replica kit market.
It is the first major deal signed since the company was sold by its previous owner Nike to a New York based fashion house in 2012.
It has won this contract from it’s previous owner who were also beaten last week to the Arsenal contract which is to switch over to Puma from next season.
There is a massive inflation in kit contracts with increased visibility through global media contracts and improvements in the policing of counterfeit copies in the developing world.
The current deal between Umbro and the FAI is for ten years, running until 2019 and is worth between €25 million and €30 million depending on performances over the remaining five years. That is a deal which will likely increase significantly next time round.
Apart for the international jerseys and kit, Umbro is a significant investor at other levels of the game in Ireland. It is kit supplier to a number of Airtricity Premier League Clubs, the Umbro Senior Schools tournament and the FAI Umbro Women’s FAI Cup competition.
It was a long term sponsor of the Galway Cup each August, one of the largest under age tournaments in Europe, before that tournament signed a five year deal with Macron in 2013
An interesting factor of the new Everton deal unveiled yesterday will be the involvement of individual fans through the design process for next season’s home and away kits.
This is something which could be offered through social media channels as a way to get fans fully engaged with the next rendition of the Ireland jersey.
