Umbro Charts Record Sales For Red England Jersey

England’s Red Jersey Becomes Umbro’s Best Seller Of All Time

Umbro said that England’s red World Cup jersey was the brand’s “best selling [soccer] jersey of all time,” according to ANANOVA. Sales of the jersey in the first six months of the year were a record $453.8M, 41% higher than ‘05 and 26% higher than ‘04, when England competed in the European Championships. An Umbro spokesperson said, “The red shirt nearly always outsells the white home shirt because of the success of the England team in 1966 when it won the World Cup wearing red.” Umbro also sold 150,000 red England shirts “designed for women in the run up to the World Cup, making it the most popular women’s shirt it has ever made”
(ANANOVA.com, 7/6). Umbro has a contract with the England team through 2014 (LONDON TIMES, 7/6). BLOOMBERG NEWS’ Dan Weeks reported Umbro “aims to raise its Chinese revenue and draw customers with more expensive goods such as its Three Lions line” around the English national team. Also, Umbro, which “sells mainly branded shoes” in the U.S. through Foot Locker, has signed an agreement to sell its products at Dick’s Sporting Goods (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 7/6).

BEER RUN: Germany-based brewer Carlsberg is “poised to take up the new headline sponsorship package for the England [soccer] team as it looks to renew” its partnership with the Football Association (FA) with a four-year, US$59M deal. Carlsberg would join utilities brand E.ON. as the FA’s top-tier sponsors. Also, McDonald’s is “putting the finishing touches” on a renewal of its second-tier sponsorship package with the FA (BRAND REPUBLIC, 7/4).

YEAR OF THE CAT: Puma, which supplied uniforms for 12 teams in the World Cup, said that it had brand visibility in 56% of the tournament’s 64 matches, and that sales of soccer-related products this year have increased about 40% over ’05. Italy, which faces France in Sunday’s final, is the first-ever Puma-sponsored team playing in a World Cup final (Puma).