London Olympics provide boom for sportswear companies

“Where the jacket that Jin Jong-oh wore at the winners’ podium?”

At Fila Korea shops nationwide over the weekend, many people wanted to see the uniform worn by Korean athletes at the London Summer Olympics. As South Korea had secured 10 gold medals, the original target of the national team on the 10th day after the Olympics’ opening, consumers flocked to athletic gear shops to buy clothing and caps worn by South Korean players.

Fila Korea, which became a partner of the Korea Olympic Committee for the first time this year, said it has received a promotional benefit from the country`s athletes. Players wear clothing of individual sponsor companies’ uniforms in competition, but must wear the uniform designed by Fila Korea when they stand on the podium and are interviewed on TV.

Notably, shooting competitors wore Fila Korea’s uniform even in competition. The country won three golds and one silver in the sport.

A Fila Korea source said, “We produce only a limited volume of the uniforms for athletes, and the most common sizes of the uniform have been sold out,” adding, “Late July and early August are off-peak demand seasons due to summer vacation, but we have seen sales expand 5 to 10 percent this year by item from the time before the Olympics’ opening.”

Certain companies are expecting a trickle-down effect though they are not sponsors, including fencing academies and companies supplying related products. This is because they receive through their Internet portal sites a flurry of questions from people inquiring about fencing to learn the sport and the price of gear, as a new chapter in Korea’s fencing history was opened in London.

The Seoul Lourus Fencing Club said, “We`ve received about twice as many phone inquires than we get in ordinary times.”

Puma, the global sports brand that has been sponsoring sprinter Usain Bolt since 2002, shouted “Hurrahs” internally when he won the men’s 100-meter final Monday. Since Puma is not an official sponsor of the International Olympic Committee, it cannot even mention his name because the International Olympic Committee strongly restricts portrait rights of athletes to protect the right of this year’s sponsors.

Puma removed all advertisements featuring Bolt from its stores not only in South Korea but also around the world.

Bolt has earned recognition as a global superstar, so the uniform and running shoes he wears have come under spotlight, enabling the sports brand to expect brisk sales in the coming months. Due to the IOC rule that non-sponsors cannot place ads in a place within a 1-kilometer radius from the Olympic stadiums, Puma created a “Puma yard,” a kind of playground, at Brick Lane in central London.

Unlike Puma`s good fortune, Nike, which has provided comprehensive support to the U.S. track and field team, has not generated notable momentum in promotions. Nike is staging the campaign "Find Your Greatness,” which conveys the message that "sports continue at places other than the Olympic stage.”

Adidas is enjoying a bonanza because big-name stars from the U.K., the host country that it supports, have won a string of gold medals. Jessica Ennis, the British track star who is enjoying immense popularity comparable to that of Korea’s figure skating champion Kim Yu-na, won the gold in the heptathlon, causing a major stir across the U.K. Tennis player Andy Murray of the U.K., who is sponsored by Adidas, also grabbed the headlines after defeating Roger Federer for the men`s Olympic gold.

kimhs@donga.com