North Korea Sign Legea Kit DealBloomberg reports that North Korea has signed a four year - 4 million-euro Legea kit deal, according to Daniele Nastro, marketing director of Pompeii, Italy-based sports apparel maker Legea.
North Koreanfootball association assistant general secretary Ri Kang Hong confirmed the deal with Legea, without giving financial details.
North Korea received other bids. It declined an offer by China Hongxing Sports Ltd., the Singapore-listed company that provided its jerseys for qualifying games, according to Kelvin Yeung, chief financial officer of the Chinese company.
European brands might have bid more, Yeung said, without saying how much China Hongxing offered. Ri said the agreement with the Quanzhou, China-based company had expired and declined to comment on why it wasn’t renewed.
Brand : Legea
Vendors Leave No Shirt Unturned Seeking North Korean Soccer DudsMAY 27, 2010
Secrecy Suits Hermit Kingdom to a Tee; Will There Be a Brand New Jersey ?
By ADAM THOMPSON
Richard Smith wants to start selling the official soccer jersey of the world's most secretive totalitarian regime before the World Cup tournament begins June 11.
He isn't optimistic.
Hawking the soccer jerseys of all 32 World Cup teams competing in South Africa this year is a point of pride for Mr. Smith, the managing director of Subside SportsLtd., an apparel seller in Exeter, England.
To do that, he and his fellow sports merchandisers must find North Korea's soccer shirt. They've initiated the equivalent of a world-wide Easter egg hunt, talking to apparel makers from Mexico to China.
Mr. Smith says he would order 1,000 North Korean jerseys if someone would just let him. " Our market is collectors, " he says. " They will want the shirt no one else has. "Handicappers view the North Korean soccer team as a long shot in this year's Cup. The secretive Democratic People's Republic of Korea mostly boasts players from its walled-off home league, which soccer fans know little about.
With an opening match against Brazil on June 15, the country makes its first Cup appearance since 1966. While the North Koreans have made pre-Cup appearances this year, they have yet to show off the shirt they will wear in South Africa. Such elusiveness is an anomaly in the gear-fanatical global soccer culture that feeds the merchandising frenzy surrounding the Cup every four years.
Adidas AG and Nike Inc. make many national teams' jerseys. But the job of clothing teams from more obscure nations sometimes falls to smaller companies.
The Chinese Hongxing Erke Group had dressed North Korean athletes in recent years, but it isn't equipping them for this Cup.Some vendors guessed Mexico's Pirma would assume the job after it hastily provided the North Koreans with replacement jerseys when the team's luggage failed to arrive in Mexico City for a March 17 exhibition against Mexico.Julio Villalobos, Pirma's director of clothes and accessories, said the company began negotiations with the North Koreans over providing World Cup jerseys shortly after that. But he says haggling got out of hand :
" They kept wanting a lower price, so we eventually said, 'No deal. 'North Korea's national soccer federation didn't respond to requests for comment made through the country's United Nations mission.
As recently as this week in an exhibition with Greece, the
North Koreans wore a jersey made by Spanish apparel company Astore. But Astore sales director Michel Gogniat says his company has no official deal with North Korea. Instead he says his company unwittingly sold the shirts without any national demarcations to an intermediary in China, who redirected them to the team.After spending months on the puzzle, Mr. Smith finally solved part of it earlier this month. A contact in Asia informed him that the
North Koreans had struck a deal with Legea SRL, an Italian company. But Mr. Smith still isn't sure his firm can order the jerseys before the Cup begins.Lorenzo Grimaldi, Legea's marketing manager, confirmed that it has the North Korean contract. He said it struck the deal in Pompei, Italy, in early February, which predates the negotiations between Pirma and the North Koreans.
Legea wants the exposure of having jerseys with its logo shown on TV all over the world. So it is paying for the costs of producing the jerseys and other official attire worn by the North Korean team.
Getting the jersey to the market in time for the tournament has proved tough. The North Koreans wanted a " personalized " design for their jersey, including fabrics that were " off the catalog, " Mr. Grimaldi recalls.Legea translated memos into Korean explaining such details as how large the North Korean flag and Legea's own logo would appear on the jersey in order to meet World Cup standards. " This really slowed our work, " Mr. Grimaldi says.
The jerseys aren't available anywhere online yet. Legea will charge €45 ($56) to €50 ($62) for the shirts.Why it should be so difficult to sell the jerseys is anyone's guess, says Jim Noonan, vice president of marketing for Sports Endeavors Inc. in Hillsborough, N.C. " I don't think they're being deliberately difficult, " he says of the North Korean soccer federation. " They're just winging it, probably. "
Finding the jersey is just one of many challenges facing those hoping to sell North Korean merchandise.
Mr. Noonan is among the vendors who don't expect much from sales of souvenirs for one of the tournament's biggest underdogs, considering the unpopularity of the government and the lack of access to customers within that country's closed borders.
So far souvenirs like
" I DPRK Football " infant bodysuits, which Mr. Noonan's company sells online for $12.99, have accounted for .025% of the company's World Cup-related saleAs for questions about the morality of making a buck off Kim Jong Il's favorite soccer team, the merchandisers say they don't worry about that.
" We're a football company, " Mr. Smith says. " We're not a political adjudicator. We trade in polyester. "
" I have Iran, Venezuela, everyone on the Axis of Evil," says Ben Phillip, a Michigan graphic designer with a North Korean soccer T-shirt for sale. " It doesn't really bother me. "Even if merchandisers can't get a hold of this year's jersey, there is one set of North Korean shirts vendors can count on: throwbacks. Subside sells shirts from 2008 and 1966. Toffs Ltd., another English company, also sells the 1966 edition.
Toffs co-owner and president Alan Finch says his company usually accommodates customer demand regardless of how controversial the jersey may be, and never thought twice about making the North Korean throwback. He was 18 when the 1966 World Cup came to England, and recalls having a soft spot for the unheralded team that upset Italy and reached the quarterfinals.
" They were likable long shots, " he says.
—Stacy Meichtry, Nicholas Casey and David Luhnow contributed to this article.
Sources :
http://online.wsj.com/North Korea Profits From Brazil World Cup Game With Jersey DealJune 02, 2010, 11:37 AM EDT
By Alex Duff and Makiko Kitamura
June 3 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea is returning to the World Cup after 44 years, and venturing into the sports marketing industry that evolved in its absence.
Ahead of the June 11 start of the tournament, the soccer team of Kim Jong Il’s regime has snared a
4 million-euro ($4.9 million) jersey contract over four years, according to Daniele Nastro, marketing director of Pompeii, Italy-based sports apparel maker Legea s.r.l. North Korean soccer association assistant general secretary Ri Kang Hong confirmed the deal with Legea, without giving financial details.“ Perhaps it’s a sign of incipient capitalism, ” Jim Hoare, a retired British diplomat who served in Pyongyang, said from London. Although western sports leagues aren’t covered by the media in North Korea, officials “ would be aware of the value of sports sponsorship, ” Hoare said.
The deal is timely as North Korea faces trade restrictions. South Korea halted business last month after blaming the communist nation for a torpedo attack on a warship that killed 46 sailors in March. Japan has tightened controls on sending money to the North, which was already under United Nations sanctions for nuclear testing.
Kim’s regime is “ hungry ” for foreign cash, according to Scott Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy at The Asia Foundation in Washington. “ The economy is in a very difficult situation, ” he added.
1,000-to-1 ChanceRanked No. 105 in the world, North Korea takes on the Nike Inc.-clad Brazil, the record five-time world champion, in its opening game on June 15 in Johannesburg. Ladbrokes Plc, a U.K. oddsmaker, rates North Korea a 16-to-1 chance to defeat Brazil, meaning a $1 bet would yield $16 in profit.
The communist state is given a 1,000-to-1 chance of winning the tournament, according to Ladbrokes.
At the 1966 World Cup in England, when brand names were absent from even European team uniforms, North Korea wore plain red shirts when it upset Italy 1-0 to reach the quarterfinals and won the affection of the English, who “ probably felt sorry for them, ” Hoare said. England now commands about 34 million euros a year from Nike Inc.’s Umbro brand, making it the top earner of the 32 teams that will play at the World Cup in South Africa, according to Sport + Markt AG.
No Apparel MarketNorth Korea’s team is getting an amount similar to what might be paid to a low-ranking team in the English Premier League, the world’s richest soccer league, according to Simon Chadwick, a sports business professor at the U.K.’s Coventry University. Ri, in an interview in Tokyo last week, said it was
hard to find a jersey sponsor as there’s “ no market ” for sports apparel in North Korea.“ If it doesn’t result in sales, there’s no point ” for some sporting-goods companies, Ri said.Legea will provide North Korea with branded World Cup jerseys and training gear, Nastro said. That will help raise the Italian brand’s international profile, although the marketing bet could backfire, Chadwick said.
Legea “ will be working overtime to put clear blue water between the team and the regime, ” Chadwick said. “ It could get to the stage when people stop buying the brand if they’re being seen as propping up a dictatorship. ”While not breaking trade sanctions, Legea is “ swimming against the tide ” with its sponsorship because of the perception of North Korea, Snyder said.
“ It’s a bit like sponsoring Tiger Woods at the moment, ” he said.Nastro said he isn’t worried. “ In the World Cup, politics will be out, ” he said by telephone from Pompeii.
Rival Chinese BidNorth Korea received other bids. It declined an offer by
China Hongxing Sports Ltd (ERKE), the Singapore-listed company that provided its jerseys for qualifying games, according to Kelvin Yeung, chief financial officer of the Chinese company.
European brands might have bid more, Yeung said, without saying how much China Hongxing offered. Ri said the agreement with the Quanzhou, China-based company had expired and declined to comment on why it wasn’t renewed.
North Korea rejected Legea’s first design for its shirts as too modern, frowning upon a white line across a red shirt, Nastro said.“ As a people, we don’t like flashy designs, ” Ri said. “ For home games, the jerseys are white, which we regard as noble, and it reflects our spirit. For away games, we go with red, which is used in our national flag. It also symbolizes our passion and heart. A simple design expresses that more purely. ”As part of the shirt deal agreed in March, there is a kicker for North Korea: it will get a 10 million euro bonus if it wins the World Cup, Nastro said.
“ That’s probably not going to happen, ” he added.
Sources :
http://www.businessweek.com/ 
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