Sport Chek to offer Olympic apparel ahead of Sochi Winter Games
As the rain poured down and the humidex continued to climb Tuesday morning, the air conditioning inside Sport Chek’s Eaton Centre location in Toronto was working overtime to keep a branded ice sculpture and podium from melting.
The sports equipment and apparel retailer was part of a press conference to announce an exclusive four-year partnership with Adidas Canada and the Canadian Olympic Team.
Adidas Canada has signed on as the “Official High Performance Apparel and Footwear Supplier” for the Canadian Olympic Team and is set to launch a collection this fall that will include winter jackets, vests, long and short-sleeved t-shirts, footwear and accessories.
Items from the line will include both the Adidas and Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) logos and will be available at Sport Chek locations across Canada starting Nov. 7. A limited selection of the full line will also be available in Canadian Tire and Sport Expert locations a few weeks later.
Jim Gabel, president of Adidas Canada Group, who was on hand for the press event, told the crowd that keeping Olympic-branded collections relevant and on shelves year-round has been a challenge for the industry.
Though Olympic-branded merchandise tends to come and go with the Games, Canadians continue to train and perform all year round, he said.
“What really excites us is to be able to offer in a Sport Chek location coast-to-coast our best high performance apparel to Canadians every day of the year,” said Gabel.
In addition to the apparel agreement, Adidas Canada and Sport Chek have signed two-year sponsorship agreements with seven Canadian Olympic athletes leading into the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia (hence the ice sculpture). The athletes will participate in community and grassroots events and be featured in a massive marketing campaign called “What It Takes.”
Featuring Olympic athletes in its advertising isn’t a new move for the retailer. Meaghan Mikkelson of Canada’s National Women’s hockey team, for instance, appeared in a Mother’s Day/Father’s Day commercial for the retailer.
Tuesday’s announcement follows a deal made in January between Canadian Tire Corporation and the COC to become a premier national partner of the Canadian Olympic Team and several amateur sport groups – the Canadian Paralympic Committee, the Canadian Soccer Association, Skate Canada, Hockey Canada, Alpine Canada Alpin and Canada Snowboard.
Both partnerships fall in line with the retailer’s revamped brand platform built around the sentiment that Sport Chek consumers want to play, look and feel better – epitomized by the strapline “You Better Starts Here.”
“We believe in the power of sport to inspire greatness, we believe in the power of sport to inspire our children to become more active and we believe in the power of sport to inspire each of us to dig deeper,” said Michael Medline, president of Sport Chek’s parent company, FGL Sports.
