Sporting great changes game plan

Sports specialist Russell Corp Australia is to launch an apparel range targeting the consumer market, following its recent brand repositioning drive.
Russell Corp - a subsidiary of iconic US sporting brand Russell Athletic - changed direction under the aus"The brand has been in Australia for 10 years, but we have decided to shift the business model away from team and sponsorship deals to focus on building a branded business," Lambert said.
Russell Athletic's Australasian range will comprise around 70 per cent consumer retail versus 30 per cent sports sponsorship, having formerly consisted solely of professional sporting sponsorship.
The company has also moved into womenswear, shifting from a ratio of 90 per cent men's product versus 10 per cent women's to a 50:50 split.
Russell Athletic's first winter range - segmented into essentials, activewear and lifestyle and including sweats, hoods, jackets, tees, tanks, pants, shorts, as well as accessories - is currently hitting sports stores including Rebel, The Team, A Mart Sportspower, Sportsco and Insport.
Plans to expand the range's lifestyle and fashion offering in future will entail a broader fashion distribution.
The range was positioned at a "just below the market leader prices" and would "generally offer better markups", Lambert confirmed.
Russell Corp - which also owns sporting properties including basketball brands Spalding and Hussy and technical running apparel and footwear brand Brooks - has also recently acquired iconic football brand Sherrin, scheduled to deliver its first branded apparel range to retail this March through specialist sports stores.
"It's branded Sherrin with a football logo and we've come up with a segmented range of real training wear including rip proof Guernseys, shorts and socks. There's also a supporters range including polos sweats caps, beanies and skivvies.
"Sherrin apparel is a new extension of a brand synonymous with quality, workmanship and the sport of AFL. We built a range of products that would resonate with the footballer (training wear) as well as the all round sportsperson (supporter wear) who associates with the heritage and passion of the brand."