SUDU have today announced a long-term partnership with Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, to become the club’s official technical kit partner, responsible for the design and manufacture of the club’s official kits, training and leisurewear, including across the men’s, women’s and academy teams from the 2024/25 season onwards.
As a landmark deal within the sports industry, it marks a significant shift in the traditional kit supply model, the current structure of which affords a suboptimal deal for most sports teams, often with an imbalance of commercial terms and service levels.
Joe Poole, Head of Partnerships at Levy Merchandising, a new arm of Levy UK & Ireland of which SUDU sits within, explains: “Unless you’re in the Premier League ‘Big Six’, the team and brand model is broken. It’s self-serving for brands as opposed to being a true partnership and we want to change that.”
Poole adds: “Seven-figure value is being lost by sports teams through inflated marketing costs, but even more so as a result of a disjointed supply chain which squeezes margins to the detriment of teams and fans.”
With the current model, brands are operating more so as third parties taking value out of the chain, where SUDU’s innovative new approach instead brings the whole process under one roof, from top to bottom, encompassing manufacturing, retail and brand.
For Wolves, this will translate to reduced expense, without compromise on craftsmanship or materials, with greater commercial return therefore available to be reinvested into the club. Meanwhile, for fans, the new deal will mean substantial reductions in retail prices as compared to their Premier League peers, providing exceptional value.
Poole comments: “Levy Merchandising was born from a desire to revolutionise the often-inflated price of pro and replica kits and we’re incredibly proud to be partnering with such a well-supported club like Wolves, with an amazing fan base and rich heritage.
We’ve seen the price of Premier League jerseys increase consistently over the past few years. Our philosophy is that a pro jersey should not cost £125, Wolves’ will be £80. A replica jersey should not cost £80, Wolves’ will be £58.”
Russell Jones, General Manager of marketing and commercial growth at Wolves comments: “This fresh new approach to kit creation is long overdue and we’re delighted that Wolves get to be at the forefront of this innovative approach.
For far too long top tier clubs like Wolves have been held to template designs. This partnership enables Wolves to work with fans and players to create technical product with our heritage at the forefront of design.
We are also able to continue to widen our reach, as this innovative model allows us to create attractive price points to better distribute within the U.K and internationally ensuring that Wolves products can be available, at affordable prices for fans, in-stores all over the world.”
The above said, in a first for Wolves, the new kits have been crafted in collaboration with the playing squad with peak performance on the pitch in mind. The players not only informed the look and feel, but also participated in fit and performance sessions with SUDU to ensure kits meet every standard.
Club captain, Max Kilman, who has played a part in the product creation process, commented: “It has been really interesting to play an active part in creating our kit for this season. Since we were first introduced to SUDU, the designers and product development team have kept us constantly updated.
Seeing feedback on fabrics, design and our performance needs worked into the finished products has been a really positive experience for us. We are delighted with the final products and are excited to wear them this season.”
While the creation of the Wolves kits has been spearheaded by SUDU’s Design team, who, collectively, boast experience across the likes of Adidas, Puma, JD Sports, Berghaus and Regatta, Levy Merchandising’s wider world class team which has been assembled has considerable experience across multiple sports including across licensing, product, buying and retail, design, manufacturing, ecommerce and trading.
Poole explains: “We’ve big ambitions for Levy Merchandising and the SUDU brand having successfully launched our first Run menswear collection last month. Expansion into other categories is already being worked on with Play football, Train fitness and Rest lifestyle product ranges to come, likely in early 2025, and we will be looking to further build out partnerships with other sports teams across sports.”
