Recycling: Adidas Give Identical Clothing Collections to Arsenal, Leeds & Celtic
Over the last few days, Adidas have released identical clothing collections for Arsenal, Celtic and Leeds, with possibly more clubs to come, comprised of base designs that were originally released in May this year.
Adidas Give Identical Love Unites Collections to Many Clubs
Adidas'"Love Unites" range was designed by Australian artist Kris Andrew Small and released in May 2022. The collection is full of vibrant, colourful clothing and was commissioned to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community. A wide range of items were released as part of the collection, among which was an Adidas Tiro football shirt and tracksuit, which have both now been relaunched with the crests of three different clubs printed on them.
Given that the original "Pride" collection came out months ago as general sportswear not designed for any team in particular, it seems like Adidas are attempting to shift some unsold stock at regular retail price by marketing it directly to the fans of Arsenal, Celtic and Leeds. Most of the pieces from the original drop are now available at discounted prices from Adidas' USA online store, as seen above, while the "new" club-branded items are available at the original value from the clubs' respective online stores.
Although clubs contracted to the same manufacturer essentially all receive the same training and match attire, in those cases the gear is generally personalised for each club to some extent, with specific colours, inscriptions and added details. It's slightly unusual to see Adidas recycle a pre-existing design like this with the only modification being the addition of a club badge. Could it be a last minute solution to help clear the stock and still sell it at full price? Or maybe the range was always intended to be made available to these clubs.
Would you consider this a lazy move from Adidas? Or is it a clever way of maximising sales by attracting a new audience to a product they may not previously have been interested in? Have your say in the comments.
