Manchester City players wore modified training clothes for their pre-match warm-up on Sunday following a High Court trademark infringement claim brought by fashion brand Superdry.
Last week it emerged that City are being sued for damages over the use of the words Super Dry (a type of beer sold by one of their main sponsors, Asahi) on their training kit.
Some immediate implications have become apparent: until Wednesday, January 3, the day Law360 first reported on Superdry’s claim, City players had been wearing dungarees, sweatshirts and coats bearing the words ‘Asahi Super “Dry “‘ in training and before games.
However, since the middle of last week, and even during the warm-up before Sunday’s FA Cup match against Huddersfield Town, the players’ kit was changed to ‘Asahi 0.0%’.
City wore training shirts without the ‘Super “Dry”‘ branding over the weekend (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
But with UK-based clothing brand Superdry also seeking an injunction and financial compensation, and even the option to “destroy” City’s “Super “Dry” branded training kit, there will be more developments to come.
Here, The Athletic explains what we know so far and what could come next.
What does Superdry want and why?
Superdry alleged that City “unfairly benefits” by “riding on the coattails of… known Superdry records” and argues that its own brand could be “tarnished” by poor quality clothing sold by City.
It also claims that there is a possibility of its brand being affected by “negative perceptions or preconceptions of Manchester City Football Club in the minds of, for example, supporters of rival football clubs” and says that the club’s use of the Super “Dry” brand could cause “damage to Superdry’s reputation.”
Superdry claimed that “the appearance of the (training) kit is linked to misleading a substantial number of members of the UK public into believing that the (training) kit is clothing designed or sold by (Superdry).”
As a result, the brand is seeking financial reparation from City. “It is currently unable to quantify the exact financial value of this claim,” according to court documents, but intends for those damages to “include… any unfair benefits obtained by the infringer as a result of the infringement.”
The value of City’s training kit sponsorship with Asahi was not made public, although the club’s previous partner OKX was reported to have paid $20m (£18.5m) for the 2022-23 season and, of course, Therefore, there was speculation that the new agreement would be finalized. a similar support.
City players wearing the Super “Dry” training kit in late December (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Superdry claims that the city has “substantially benefited” from the brand-related sponsorship agreement on the training kit and that it has “engaged in…infringing activities knowingly and/or having reasonable grounds to know that Superdry was a well-known clothing brand. that he had not given his permission.
In November 2023, Asahi won an award from marketing agency The Drum for a campaign that sought, according to an article on The Drum website, to “elevate the status of the training kit and instill in it the same level of pride and symbolism.” than the first kit and the second kit.”
After accepting the award, Asahi said that the campaign, which featured Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones, among others, was the sponsorship content with which City had interacted the most during the season up to that point, achieving 19.87 million visits and 428,000 interactions worldwide. social media.
Superdry also asked the court to stop City from using or selling any items emblazoned with the phrase ‘Super “Dry”‘ and for the club to transfer all such items to the company, or “destroy or alter” them.
What else is in the court documents?
In documents filed on December 15—and seen by The Athletic — Superdry aims to highlight its popularity as a brand, highlighting its 98 stores in the UK, several widely followed social media pages and award wins, as well as listing celebrities such as David Beckham, Neymar Jr and Kylie Jenner who have worn its clothes.
He also cited collaborations with rock bands Metallica, Sex Pistols, Iron Maiden and Motley Crue.
City players Julian Alvarez, Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland, Kyle Walker and Oscar Bobb are also pictured wearing training gear emblazoned with Asahi’s ‘Super “Dry” branding, specifically ‘Super “Dry” Asahi 0.0%’.
Superdry maintains that some of the photographs demonstrate that not all text will always be visible due to “various factors such as the viewing angle and physical posture of the user.” One of the photos shows Haaland inadvertently covering up much of the “Asahi” logo on his training shirt.
The brand also offers examples of its own clothing where the words “Super” and “Dry” are superimposed, as was the case with City’s Asahi clothing.
City already appear to have made changes to their training kit. Last Wednesday, the club posted a photo of women’s team forward Khadija Shaw in a half-zip training session that read “Asahi 0.0%.” More images emerged on Thursday of the male players wearing clothing with the same brand.
2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣ done! 💯 pic.twitter.com/KvIWG33qFx
– Manchester City (@ManCity) January 3, 2024
The last time ‘Super “Dry”‘ branded items were publicly visible was during the Premier League match against Sheffield United on December 30.
City have not commented and it is unclear when they became aware of the lawsuit against them.
What are the implications for the city?
The city announced in July that the Asahi Super “Dry” beer brand would appear on the men’s and women’s training equipment during 2023-24.
In a statement at the time, they said: “Since the inception of the partnership, the Asahi Super Dry brand has been integrated into several different areas, including the rebranding of the Asahi Super Dry Tunnel Club and a broader installation of state-of-the-art technology. . technology throughout the Etihad Stadium to provide City fans with the unique Japanese super dry taste.”
This statement refers only to the training kit and not to the City tunnel club’s hospitality offering.
Although the Super “Dry” brand belongs to Asahi (and is a registered trademark in relation to beer advertising and not clothing), City is in the middle of the lawsuit because it owns and sells the product that bears the disputed wording .
There is no date set for further court hearings and it is unknown when there will be a resolution.
Superdry, Asahi and Manchester City declined to comment.
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(Main photos: Getty Images)
