Earlier this month the latest thread to the Liverpool and Nike partnership emerged.
Converse, a brand made iconic on both sides of the Atlantic, largely due to its ‘Chuck Taylor’ footwear that has endured through the decades and through differing style trends, aligned themselves with the Reds in a bid to open up new doors and markets for both.
A deal that arrived through Nike being Converse’s parent company and Liverpool’s desire to try and offer products to parts of their fan base who they may not have previously been reaching, as well as reaching those who may not have been Reds fans, or even football fans.
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Nike, through its Air Jordan brand, is well-versed in creating sporting performance apparel and crossing over into lifestyle branding, with the tie-in with Paris Saint-Germain having been a major success in recent years.
As fashion capital of the world, using Paris the destination and Nike the brand to heighten the awareness of PSG the team has been impactful for both brand and club. Take a stroll down Fifth Avenue in New York and among the Cartier, Dolce & Gabbana and Versace outlets that exist along one of the most famous shopping streets in the world lies PSG’s own flagship store. AC Milan, leveraging the same factor of location and association with high-end fashion, have plans to develop in that area in the future.
But Liverpool has long been a home for creatives and trendsetters, with the city’s music scene having played its own role in shaping fashion and trends, both at home and abroad.
Mike Cox, Liverpool’s senior vice-president of merchandising told the ECHO: “You can look at where fashion and trends emanate from. Paris, you could say, a lot of luxury brands emanate from there, the same goes for Milan with a lot of the Italian brands.
“But it is interesting when you look at Liverpool as you can forget that trends emanate out of this city. It is very well known in the lifestyle and fashion business for the number of creatives that come out of Liverpool. There is obviously the music scene, which in turn creates fashion trends as well.
“Several years ago a number of brands saw their growth come from Liverpool. A lot of international brands would look at what people were wearing in and around Liverpool, so there is that element to it.”
Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group made a major push to get the Nike deal over the line, heading to the High Court in 2019 in a bid to extricate themselves from former kit partners New Balance, who believed that the Reds, as per a clause in the existing contract, should have remained a New Balance partner through the Boston firm exercising its option.
Liverpool disagreed, arguing that Nike, while offering a lower guaranteed sum than New Balance, could offer them scale and the ability to effectively market their products to a wider audience, tapping into an array of superstar names in the process. Top of the list of the names that they felt could provide them with marketing leverage was basketball icon, lifetime Nike client and FSG partner LeBron James.
The James effect has started to be felt this year, with the club successfully releasing its LeBron x Liverpool collection. The Converse deal has followed up on that success, offering a very different style of merchandise, but showcasing the power of Nike and the wider partnerships that it has fostered.
“LeBron is a very iconic sports person, he is very successful at what he does and he is very iconic in his own right,” explained Cox.
“What we have tried to do with the LeBron collaboration and the one Converse is try and marry something together that is stronger than the individual piece. Also, we want to appeal to different fans or attract new fans to the club who may not have been interested in football before but they love and follow LeBron, so the interest in the collaboration gets them to find out about what Liverpool Football Club is and to learn more about the city. From that perspective it has worked really well.
“We found when we launched initially with the LeBron collaboration we sold out of some of the initial drops within 24 hours. Whether it was the LeBron 20 or the LeBron 9 footwear, we sold out within 24 hours which is great from our perspective as there is interest and it creates more awareness around the club and the brand.
“When we released the broader collection with LeBron the initial reaction was very similar from what we experienced from an away kit launch day. From a commercial perspective it was very successful and we are looking at how we take that forward longer term so that it isn’t just a one hit. There are future plans for more ranges further down the line, from a sports performance position, moving into the lifestyle area.
“The Converse collaboration is slightly different. Again, it has been very successful but it has come more from the lifestyle positioning than sports performance, and really we believe that it may appeal to more creative people as it is quite different.
“The Converse team, as were the LeBron team, have been great to work with. They both looked at the city for inspiration. Converse spoke to a lot of fans to get their thoughts about the club and what they felt was missing from existing merchandising offers, whether that be the mono-branded Liverpool basis or the coat -branded basis through Nike. I think they have created a product that is different from what went before and I think we have found that fans that maybe haven’t purchased from us before because we didn’t have the right offer for them have brought them into wearing Liverpool-branded clothing or footwear for the first time.”
A look at the commercial partnerships that Liverpool have been involved with and the longevity that has been achieved is clear. Carlsberg have been a Liverpool partner since 1992, while front-of-shirt sponsor Standard Chartered will have been partners with Liverpool for 17 years by the time their current deal comes to an end.
Nike is seen as a long-term partnership for the Reds, one that affords them opportunities that they simply can’t achieve with many other potential kit partners.
The LeBron collection is the first marker that has been put down in what the relationship could offer moving forward, with more already in the pipeline.
“We are looking at how we can work more closely with the LeBron brand and him moving forward,” said Cox.
“The relationship with Nike is a really good one. As time has passed we have got more used to working with one another and have a greater understanding of them as a brand and how they operate. Likewise, they have got to know us more as a club and how we operate and what the opportunity is.
“The launches we have had to date have been really successful. We have had record kit launches for home and away and, more recently, some of the third kits that we’ve launched with them. From a commercial perspective it’s been very successful.
“I think that there is a lot of opportunity moving forward, whether that is expanding what we do from a lifestyle perspective. Some of these things take time because the lead times from design to manufacture and getting to the fan can take up to 18 months in some cases. Over the next season or so you'll see some interesting more lifestyle oriented products coming through that maybe you wouldn’t have expected to see from a Nike, Liverpool or football club angle. There are some interesting things that I think will appeal to some who haven’t bought from us before as well as helping us attract new fans.
“There are more Converse ranges to come later this year and it will be interesting to see how they are received as we move them into more countries than we did with the initial launches. There is a lot more to come.”
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