It might come with a little surprise, especially with regards to the timing, but: the club just announced that it will not renew the contract with Under Armour which is due to expire at the end of the season.
(Picture by Peter Böhmer, Translation by Arne)
To put it cautiously, the moaning about this news might only be limited within the fan-scene. Since 2016, we were supplied with kits and gear by the gigantic sports gear company from the US – and even if club’s president Oke Göttlich did emphasise frequently (even at one of our shows) that this was a really huge deal for the club, it never reached the status of a “match made in heaven”, particularly from a fan scene’s perspective.
Hunting- and military gear, partly blatant sympathies for Donald Trump, a somewhat never denied proximity to the NRA – yes, agreed, all other players in this field will definitely have their drawbacks as well, but with this deal, it appeared as if we’d moved to the very dark site.
So, it can only get better, even if the question remains if there can be any better offers in these economically challenging times. The club left the exact future in this regard unanswered so far. A few thoughts on that and how difficult the search for a new outfitter could get were already put to paper by flippa in August (in German only).
The Scots would say: “Get tae fuck, UA!”
// Maik
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Under Armour seems to have less than progressive minded affiliations, even after the founder stepped down as CEO last year. Here in the US they gained significant marketshare and brand awareness by going after the gridiron football, police/military and hunting markets as well as targeting their brick and mortar retail stores towards mainstream suburban outlet malls full of cheap entry line merchandise. So often one sees red state dwellers wearing MAGA hats accessorized with a garish UA logo shirt or shorts (or both).
Unfortunately, UA’s foray into the soccer market hasn’t panned out so well. And despite the less than inspired designs of this year’s FCSP kits, the UA gear has been some of the nicer fitting and feeling kit I own.
That said, as you pointed out earlier this year, all of the quality players have their downsides. I’d like to think that with as much merchandise FCSP sells annually, there has to be one of them that is willing to put up some reasonable cash to have their logo on our club’s gear. The only question is who?
Hi Peter,
Thanks for your input.
Well, we will have to wait and see, but the club announced that they will provide a solution “zeitnah” (soon).