State of the Nation: Sports

A sporting Inset: The new NBA chance store is being operated by Lids, the largest sports retailer in the US.

2021 is in the midst of a glorious summer of sport – from the Three Lions’ stunning performance in Euro 2020, to the British & Irish Lions heading to South Africa and Team GB flying the flag at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. From a licensing point of view, it’s also been a busy time, with numerous new deals and collaborations.

Formula 1 has revealed a special collection with British luxury goods house, Asprey, celebrating the sport’s new era, with a new car and rules and regulations introduced in 2022.

Asprey – which is marking its 240th anniversary this year – previously partnered with Ferrari’s F1 team in the late 1990s on a premium collection of gold, silver and leather pieces. The new collaboration follows the launch of new 2022 F1 car, which was unveiled at Silverstone ahead of the 2021 Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix.

The exclusive collection is inspired by the design of the new 2022 car and includes sterling silver replica and sculptural models in 25cm, 18cm and 10cm sizes, as well as a range of small silver goods and silk products.

Fine jewellery items including cufflinks, bracelets, charms and signet rings are set to launch later in the autumn.

The National Basketball Association has opened its first official store in the UK.

The new two-floor store – which is located in Foubert’s Place, in the Carnaby shopping area of London’s Soho – is being operated by Lids, the largest licensed sports retailer in the US, which is partly owned by Fanatics.

The London opening marks the first official NBA store operated by Lids as part of the NBA’s partnership with Fanatics. It will be followed up with three further stores around the world in the next 18 months.

The outlet offers a wide range of official NBA and WNBA merchandise including exclusive NBA products, apparel, jerseys, toys, sporting goods, headwear and collectables from brands such as New Era and Nike among others. There will also be a customisation service.

“Ahead of our 75th anniversary season, we are excited to welcome fans to the first NBA Store in the UK,” said Steve Griffiths, NBA EME director of global partnerships.

Inset: The exclusive collection is inspired by the design of the new 2022 F1 car.

Ascot Racecourse opened its first online shop earlier this spring, while a new raft of licensed products for 2021 have also been launched in deals brokered by IMG.

L.K. Bennett has launched ladies ready to wear silk dresses, jumpsuits, skirts and tops, suits and silk scarves, as well as Ascot’s first ever footwear collection featuring courts and wedges.

Meanwhile, in the year that Royal Ascot permitted navy blue morning suits inside the Royal Enclosure, Favourbrook launched its first Royal Ascot collection featuring a navy morning suit in addition to the more traditional grey and black variants. The range also includes pinstripe trousers, waistcoats, ties and pocket squares.

Radley’s 2021 Royal Ascot collection has 13 new styles including small leather goods for the first time, in shades of Chalk, Salt Lake Pink and Butter Brown. The silhouettes are inspired by traditional leather saddler techniques and one of the styles features hand-drawn illustrations.

Charbonnel et Walker has created a bespoke top hat chocolate box, featuring a new flavour duo combination of milk sea salt and strawberries and cream truffles, while Christy’s London and Oliver Brown also have new Ascot-inspired collections.

Inset: Radley has 13 new styles in its Royal Ascot collection.

WIT Fitness strengthened by CrossFit

London-based sportswear retailer, WIT Fitness has secured a multi-year global ecommerce and retail partnership with CrossFit.

WIT will create an online CrossFit store, selling CrossFit-branded apparel and other merchandise. It will ship globally and integrate its localised distribution in the US, EU, UK and future operations in Asia Pacific and South America.

Meanwhile, the flagship London store will give customers the opportunity to explore, touch and try on CrossFit gear in person. WIT also has the opportunity to create custom retail stores at the CrossFit Games, future CrossFit events, and future physical locations globally.

Below: WIT will create a flagship London store, as well as an online outlet.

Bravado has secured a deal with Team GB to design and distribute official, branded merchandise ranges to the UK retail market to coincide with the team’s participation in the 2020 Olympics this summer in Tokyo.

The multi-layered offering will encompass online and in-store, as well as luxury, with highend capsule collections scheduled to run later this summer.

The collections have been designed to ‘delight and inspire’ according to the company and will comprise athleisure apparel and accessories, featuring new, never been seen before designs.

“We can’t possibly be more passionate and excited about this collaboration,” enthused Keith Taperell, vp retail and sales at Bravado UK. “With such a testing year behind us, we look forward to the creativity, optimism and patriotism that accompanies this project. The unity and inspiration the Games conjure the world over, is just what we all need.”

Above: Bravado is celebrating Team GB this summer.

Animoca Brands and Queens Park Rangers FC have joined forces to develop and launch non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on the football team, starting with sets of limited edition collectables to be launched later in the year.

Animoca Brands has secured a global licence through the club’s holding company, QPR Holdings.

Euan Inglis, commercial director at Queens Park Rangers, said: “The opportunity to create digital assets that are unique and truly ownable by their holders really is particularly appealing for sports teams. Working with market leader Animoca Brands, whose track record speaks for itself, was an opportunity we could not miss. The concepts that we will develop through this partnership will create some real excitement with our fanbase.”