Nike has been Liverpool’s kit partner since 2020. But from the start of next season there could be a change of direction for the Reds.
Back in April, it was first reported by Sport Business that Liverpool were ready to make the move away from Nike at the end of the current contract, which finishes at the end of this current season, with a return to German sportswear giant Adidas expected.
The club has remained coy on the prospect of changing its kit partner to Adidas, declining to comment on the situation when asked by the ECHO recently, with no official confirmation on what will be happening in terms of next year’s kit supplier expected until early next year.
The Sport Business report had suggested that the Reds were to ink a five-year deal with Adidas when the current Nike contract was up, while Puma were also reported to have been in the running.
Liverpool chief commercial officer Ben Latty told the ECHO recently: “We’ve had really successful kit launches with Nike over the in the last few weeks,” said Latty.
“Our focus at the moment is delivering with Nike. We’ve got some exciting collaborations with them coming up as well.”
Liverpool were willing to go to the High Court in London back in 2019 in order to partner with Nike and extricate themselves from a partnership with New Balance, with the US firm having had a clause that allowed them to extend the partnership if they met a rival bid. However, while the Nike deal was lower in annual value, a 20% slice of the sales of LFC-branded merchandise meant that the High Court sided with Liverpool due to the scale and scope of the Nike deal offering a greater chance of a commercial lift beyond the sum that New Balance would have been paying.
Liverpool, who receive around £35m per annum from Nike in terms of a flat fee but where the additional value takes it above the £60m mark, have attempted to create more variety in the club merchandise through the partnership, releasing lines with basketball icon and Fenway Sports Group part-owner, LeBron James, as well as with the iconic brand Converse, with the Reds having looked to tap into the lifestyle brand market.
But the kit market is a healthy one right now, with the several major clubs having put down markers as to what the current value of such inventory is to clubs.
