MUMBAI: Cricket Australia and Adidas have joined forces in a four-year partnership that will see all Australian and state teams wearing revolutionary Adidas-designed playing uniforms from October 2005.
This will the first time that cricket fans will see the Australian team in separate, specially designed Adidas home and away strips to differentiate series played on local shores and abroad.
Other features of the partnership include tailor-cut playing uniforms for Australia’s female players – traditionally, the women’s uniforms have followed a male design – and International Cricket Council (ICC) approval to incorporate Adidas’ three-stripe design on the limited-overs playing uniforms.
Australia’s male and female teams are World Cup champions and lead the field in Test cricket. Adidas Australia is the market leader in sports apparel, with annual revenue generated by the Adidas brand across the world’s Test-playing nations approaches $1.5 billion.
With the deal coming into effect from 1 October 2005, the new Adidas uniforms will make their debut when Australia takes on an ICC World XI in the Johnnie Walker ICC Super Series in Melbourne and Sydney. The series represents the ideal platform from which to launch the partnership’s theme of innovation.
Under the partnership, Adidas will be the official supplier of:
Uniforms and training apparel for the Australian men’s, women’s and youth teams;
Men’s domestic uniforms for the Pura Cup and ING Cup;
Women’s domestic uniforms for the Commonwealth Bank Women’s National Cricket League;
Uniforms for domestic umpires
Australia’s one-day international playing uniforms will feature Adidas three stripe design – a hallmark of the Adidas brand. Cricket Australia gained approval under the ICC’s clothing and equipment regulations to include the three stripes on the one-day international and domestic playing uniforms as an additional manufacturer’s identification strip.
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said the partnership represented an ideal opportunity for both organisations to strengthen their brand values and performance targets. “We are delighted to welcome Adidas aboard as a valued partner of Australian cricket,” said Sutherland.
“Commercial partners underpin the financial security of our game. We are looking forward to working with Adidas in building a strong relationship for our teams and cricket supporters. There is a natural values fit between Adidas and Australian cricket in fostering innovation and respecting tradition. We now have a real opportunity to create and build a formidable association around this connection,” he added.
“In welcoming Adidas to our portfolio, we extend our gratitude to SM Brands (Fila) who have supported Australian cricket since 2001,” he further said.
The ‘ForMotion’ concept, which features specific fabric combinations and sculpted designs to accommodate a full range of movement, has been developed to ensure Australian cricket teams can maximise performance.
Adidas Australia MD Kevin Roberts said that the partnership between Adidas and Australia’s national sport is a natural fit. “Innovation is widely acknowledged as a sustainable source of competitive advantage. Recent product developments have positioned Adidas as the world’s most innovative sports brand and this same spirit of innovation represents the foundation of Adidas’ partnership with Cricket Australia,” he said.
“Adidas looks forward to working with Cricket Australia throughout an exciting period that will see further developments in the sport, such as the Twenty20 format which has injected a strong sense of innovation and improvisation into the more traditional forms of the game,” he added.
The replica apparel – including a full range of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel – will be available through Adidas worldwide retail distribution network.
Australian cricket joins Adidas stable of global partnerships with sporting teams and organisations including FIFA, the All Blacks and the British Lions.