Four-year old swimwear maker Roka Sports has signed a four-year deal to become the official uniform and swimwear partner of USA Triathlon, replacing Tyr after seven years. Roka will make the uniforms for the '20 Olympic and Paralympic teams and the NGB’s Team USA, a group of more than 1,500 elite part-time triathletes. It will also have exclusivity in competition swimsuits, goggles and other water gear. Financial terms were not disclosed. Dallas-based Roka already had personal contracts with four of the Triathlon team’s six participants at the Rio Games, including Gold Medal-winner Gwen Jorgensen. The athlete deals gave Roka plenty of visibility, company co-Founder & CEO Rob Canales said, but the NGB relationship will further cement the brand’s place in the top level of the sport. "For us, it’s an opportunity to work directly with the high performance team with USAT, and spend more time in the R&D phase,” said Canales. “We’re going to dig in, over a much longer time period over the next four years, to learn how we can best prepare for Tokyo, and integrate into their process, versus working with one or two athletes and designing in a vacuum." USAT CMO Chuck Menke said Roka has impressed triathlon officials with how much market share they have claimed in just a few years on the market, despite not having a presence in brick-and-mortar retail. The athletes also vouched for the newcomers. “It was in Rio where our conversations really began, but even before Rio, I just happened to, organically, on my own, see how many people were wearing Roka in our events,” Menke said. Tyr had held these categories since '10. Roka has been a sponsor of the Ironman triathlon series since '15, and with the USAT deal, Roka now has broad coverage across the sport. Canales: "It’s a huge opportunity for us to reach more people."
ENDURANCE TEST: USA Triathlon today is relaunching its e-commerce platform, USATStore.com, with Endurance House Inc. on board as a new retail operations partner. Endurance House has signed a four-year deal to operate the online store and received exclusive rights to handle all on-site and digital sales for event-specific apparel and merchandise at the NGB’s four national championships: Age group, collegiate and high school, duathlon and youth/junior. TriSports.com previously handled that work for USAT. The NGB also is launching a new line of branded casual wear and training apparel today.
