The sales of German sportswear firm Puma’s Leicester City soccer jerseys rose fifteen-fold after the team won the English Premier League title, chief executive Bjoern Gulden has told a German paper.
Puma has been providing the kits for Leicester – who were 5,000-1 outsiders at the start of the season – since 2012. “The fans love such stories… the underdog coming from behind and pulling off something unlikely,” the daily, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, quoted Gulden as saying in its Thursday edition.
However, Gulden didn’t disclose whether Puma would pay more money to Leicester on account of the title win. “Our contract runs for another two years. Of course we’re talking to them about how we can be more successful together,” he said.
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Puma is much smaller than rivals Nike and Adidas, and its sponsor budget is smaller as well – meaning that it has fewer big-name teams in its stable.
Gulden also told the paper that Puma was not interested in competing to provide the kit for the German national team, saying the price would be too high. But there were opportunities for Puma to sell more soccer jerseys and shoes thanks to the upcoming European Championships, he added.
{{/usCountry}}Gulden also told the paper that Puma was not interested in competing to provide the kit for the German national team, saying the price would be too high. But there were opportunities for Puma to sell more soccer jerseys and shoes thanks to the upcoming European Championships, he added.
{{/usCountry}}“We’ve been selling jerseys since the end of 2015, we’ll see the effect on shoe sales later. Sales volumes are rising,” Gulden said.