Global Brands Group, the U.K.-based master licensee of Fifa and other important sports federations such as Fiba and the PGA, has reportedly dismissed a large part or all of its personnel following serious financial problems. However, four of its managers, who are all former Adidas officials, are said to be trying to put together a new organization that would pursue GBG’s former project to give birth to international collections of licensed products similar to the successful ranges marketed under the names of major U.S. leagues such as the NFL, the NBA and the NHL.
Founded in 2003, Global Brands Group had offices in 14 countries at last report. Company officials could not be reached for comment, but the situation is said to be very complex. It has apparently led to the termination or the suspension of various licensing contracts such as the one struck by Fifa with Amigo Sport for the Indian market. Similar contracts have been under negotiation in various European countries such as the U.K., Germany, Italy, and the Benelux and Scandinavian countries.
However, Sacamalice, a company that recently announced a contract for a lifestyle-oriented range of Fifa branded clothing and accessories for the French market, said it was confident that it will be able to go ahead with its project. It has confirmed an order for samples from the Far East that it should be able to present to major French sports retailers, jeans shops and other types of accounts from the beginning of December for sale in the autumn of 2011.
Sacamalice, which is also involved in the distribution of various foreign brands of casual footwear and jeans, is a company run by Joël Travers, a former French manager of Vans, Ellesse and Wolverine World Wide. One of the lines of its Fifa collection of licensed products is a range of vintage swatshirts and other garments bearing the number 1904 – the year in which Fifa was first established, with its head office in Paris.
