Short Stops Week 9, 2023

EXECUTIVE CHANGES

+++ Superdry has announced the appointment of Lysa Hardy, who serves as chief marketing officer and executive director at Hotel Chocolat, to the Superdry board as an independent non-executive director, effective May 1, 2023

+++ European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) has announced that Jacques Raynaud, currently CEO of MyTVchain, will join the tournament at the end of the season as the new CEO

+++ Xponential Fitness hired Andrew Hagopian, formerly chief legal officer of BetMGM, a privately-held sports betting entertainment company partially owned by MGM Resorts International, and general counsel of Newlight Technologies, Inc., as chief legal officer, effective March 1

+++ Fanatics Collectibles, the trading cards and collectibles business of Fanatics, hired Ken Turner, previously EVP and chief marketing officer at Red Bull North America, as chief marketing officer

+++ Peloton hired Dalana Brand, previously chief people and diversity officer at Twitter, as chief people officer, effective March 13, reporting to CEO Barry McCarthy +++

CSR & SUSTAINABILITY

+++ Carhartt has launched Carhartt Reworked, a resale program intended to extend the life of its workwear, in partnership with Trove +++

RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION

+++ Swiss bag label Freitag opened a new store of about 100 sqm on Feb. 22 on Frankfurt’s Bleidenstrasse, operated by lifestyle retailer Selekteur

+++ Foot Locker is opening a new flagship store at The Ilac mall in Dublin, the brand’s largest in Ireland with 1,200 sqm

+++ According to ET Now, Indian multi-brand footwear company Metro Brands, one of India’s largest footwear retailers founded in 1977, is in talks with Foot Locker to bring the U.S. brand to India

+++ Adidas has opened its first retail store in the Bronx, a 1,020-sqm retail space in The Mall at Bay Plaza at 2228 Bartow Avenue

+++ Peloton Studios London has opened a retail space next to the company’s London gym on Floral Street, offering the brand’s apparel collection and education on Peloton’s training hardware +++

+++ U.S. workwear brand Carhartt has started a secondhand program powered by recommerce specialist Trove, called Carhartt Reworked, claiming to be the first branded resale site in the workwear industry

+++ Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-hand shop Tracks Recycle, which sells high-quality sports and outdoor products, is for sale according to Sportfack +++

PRODUCT & MARKETING

+++ Puma has released the Deviate Nitro Elite 2 running shoe, with a carbon-fiber PWRPLATE, NITRO Elite foam, lightweight monomesh and PUMAGRIP rubber

+++ Nox is supplying the official racquet – the ML10 Pro Cup LTD 2023 – for the World Padel Tour (WPT) Open tournaments of La Rioja and Chile this year

+++ Puma, AC Milan and Paris-based label Koché have launched a capsule collection featuring the new AC Milan fourth kit, including the jersey, shorts, goalkeeper kit and a pre-match jacket

+++ Xtratuf, a footwear division of Rocky Brands, is adding professional big-wave surfer and adventurer Andrew Cotton to its pro team

+++ Decathlon’s football brand Kipsta has become an official supplier of Belgian club R. Charleroi Sporting Club, also known as Sporting Charleroi

+++ Intersport France has become an official supplier of the French Basketball Federation (FFBB)

+++ Under Armour has entered an expansive, multi-year partnership with the professional American football league XFL as the league’s founding corporate partner

+++ Tyr Sport, founded in 1985 by swimwear designer Joseph DiLorenzo and 1972 Olympic bronze medalist Steve Furniss in Huntington Beach, California, announced Titan Games winner Dani Speegle as the newest athlete on its team

+++ Following three years of development and over five thousand miles of testing, Keen has unveiled the WK400, a shoe designed with the patent-pending Keen.Curve™ technology combining constant curve geometry, underfoot plate technology, and a high-energy midsole to create a unique feeling of forward momentum that ”makes walking feel like rolling”

+++ Vans has launched a collection with gummi candy brand Haribo featuring Goldbear-inspired footwear, apparel and accessories

+++ Rollerblade announced the launch of two inline skates – Macroblade 84 Boa and Revv Boa – with the Boa Fit System, which allows for a micro-adjustable, customized fit

+++ Kemper Snowboards announced a new partnership with Epic Games to create a range of Fortnite x Kemper Fantom snowboards

+++ Felix Mischker, an upcoming tennis talent from the U.K., raised $50,000 from sports fans last week on FANtium, a sports asset tokenization platform, that enables sports fans to invest in athletes

+++ Igloo revealed its newest official sports licensing partnership through the release of the first-ever Collegiate Series of Playmate coolers in the U.S.

+++ England Athletics has announced Pressio as its official compression clothing partner

+++ Oakley has unveiled its first dedicated running-specific sunglasses – Corridor and Actuator +++

CORPORATE AND M&A

+++ Spanish club Girona FC will invest €25 million in the construction of a new sports town that is set to become the City Football Academy Girona, in the village of Vilablareix

+++ Enjoying the success of his investment in New York City’s Padel Haus, Francesco Belloni – owner of two (soon three) Padel Hero clubs in Italy – is looking to open a pádel club in central London +++

MARKETPLACES

+++ To remove the biggest hurdle consumers have faced so far when selling on eBay.de, the German branch of the online trading platform is waiving all fees on private sales with immediate effect +++

LEGAL & INSTITUTIONAL

+++ The Canadian government has banned TikTok on its service phones, following a step previously taken by the EU Commission out of concern about Chinese espionage +++

TRADE FAIRS & CONFERENCES

+++ The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will be holding a Global Education Conference in France on Feb. 28-29, 2024, at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, before Paris 2024, in partnership with France’s National Anti-Doping Organisation (AFLD)

OBIT

+++ Patrick Van den Bosch, the former general manager of Reebok France and Nike Benelux, has passed away +++