Global retailer Superdry has launched its first sportswear partnership in collaboration with Help for Heroes as the official sportswear partner for the UK team at the Invictus Games, currently being held in Sydney.
Superdry Sport's in-house team of designers won the pitch to create full technical kits for the 72 UK competitors just over 12 months ago.
The brand's head of partnerships, James Soosalu spoke to Ragtrader while he was in town for the games to explain how it came about.
“We want to prove that we're a credible sports brand but we wanted to do in a nice way where it wasn't shoving a logo in people's faces at sporting events.”
He said the idea to partner with the Invictus Games came from a personal project that Superdry co-founder James Holder had been working on.
“It started about 18 months ago, where one of our founders James Holder came up with the idea of setting up Invictus racing, which is basically doing what the Invictus Games does now but for racing cars.
“He launched that separately from Superdry... but it opened the doors and talks for us to talk to the IGF about potentially getting involved with the Invictus Games Foundation and the possibility of the UK delegation for the UK team.”
After winning the pitch, the brand set to work to create a unique offering for the team.
“We wanted the kit for the UK to be different and a bit more out there than usual.
“You will see a lot of reflective fabrics, not just on the kit but even backpacks and everything else.
“We have gone from water bottles to sunglasses to footwear, village wear kits, performance t-shirts and polos, board member polos, tracksuit bottoms, tracksuit shorts, tracksuit hoodies, tracksuit henleys, waterproof jackets, backpacks, drawstring bags.
“Then you go into the technical kit which [includes] athletic compression, vests, archery vests, power lifting [and] sailing.”
Soosalu said the design team were only left with a short window to pull together the specific designs for the each person in the team.
“Team trials were in April this year and selected then from the 1st of May.
“So, we only had from May until [just before the game] to get the kits measured specifically for the 72 competitors.”
He said the brand went to the team trials and took measurements of all 500 people trying out so that it had a head start when creating the kits.
“When we got to the announcement, which was in May, we had a head start on knowing we had their details so we could just pull it through and send to our suppliers.
“[Then] we could get it more close to the actual size.
“As you can imagine there are lots of different shapes and sizes.”
Alongside the overarching kit creation activity, Superdry have been following the competitors for the duration of their Invictus Games involvement – from the team trials in April to the team announcement that took place at the Horse Guards Parade in London, onto the various UK-based training camps.
The retailer transformed its global flagship store on Regent Street in London into a locker room to deliver the kits to each member of the team.
“We have really tried to go above and beyond, not just as a kit sponsor but [to] take them on the journey and be part of the family.”
Soosalu said the initial plan was to pitch to three nations – the US, the UK and Australia – but decided to start with just one after seeing how big the project was.
“We quickly realised that it's realised that it's actually a big project and we didn't want to do it half-heartedly and not deliver and come in at 98%.
“We wanted to come in at 110%.”
The partnership falls in line with a significant expansion of Superdry Sport's offering in stores and online, following the opening of its first standalone global sports shop.