Puma sponsors England Commonwealth squad

Sportswear brand Puma is to sponsor the England athletics squad at this year’s Commonwealth Games.

The brand, which in recent years has become famous for its retro footwear and clothes, has entered a £1m-plus contract to provide Team

England’s sportswear for the games, to be held in Manchester this summer.

At the last games – held in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 – the team’s kit was provided by Nike, which has close ties with athletics at a grass-roots level . The sportswear giant stepped in at the last minute after the Commonwealth games council for England was unable to find a kit sponsor.

Late last year Puma had to revise plans to brand a new “fun” footwear range, La-La, because Ragdoll, the production company behind the Teletubbies, owns the rights to the name Laa-Laa. Instead Puma had to name the range “New Collection” with La-La being incorporated in individual product names (MW October 4, 2001).

Puma was founded 53 years ago, after founder Rudi Dassler and his brother Adi split their family shoe business and started Puma and Adidas respectively.