FESI and UEFA proactively discuss Kit regulations.
On this picture: presentation on Kit Regulations held at UEFA
headquarter. On the 29th of November, a delegation composed of several FESI experts and sport brand officials travelled to the UEFA headquarters, where FESI co-organised a workshop with the Union. The objective of this event was to address crucial topics that concern the sporting goods industry while also establishing a clear vision and timeline to discuss the revision of the UEFA Kit regulations, which can have great implications on the business of brands as they are the key rules for all UEFA competitions. The delegates also discussed a large variety of other topics including: the evaluation of the EURO 2016 and recommendations for the upcoming edition, the assessment of the kit pre-approval process, the interpretation of rules regarding the use of winner t-shirts during major UEFA competitions and the clarity of licensing programmes. During this meeting, FESI representatives and associates evaluated the 2012 edition of the UEFA Kit Regulations and brought forward several recommendations to clarify the use of decorative elements of Kits and Undergarments. In addition they proposed some ideas for consistency in the measurement of sponsor branding. Herein, the Federation also explicitly called for alignment between UEFA & FIFA and stressed the need for a clear and foreseeable timeline in terms of regulatory development of the UEFA kits. The latter is a crucial component for the sporting goods industry, as the interpretation guidelines issued by UEFA (commonly known as ‘circulars’) have strong and durable implications for the production and marketing cycles of manufacturers. In this light, FESI’s Public Policy Director (Jerome Pero) also underlined that another pivotal component is the “significance of providing a level playing field for all sports brands”. He exclaimed that UEFA and FESI are pleased with the effectiveness of the current decision making processes and are committed to include in this also smaller companies and grant all relevant actors with clearly defined roles, which will undoubtedly benefit the entire football community as a whole. As the voice of the sporting goods industry in Europe, FESI has been cooperating successfully with UEFA on the harmonisation of kit regulations since 2000. In its final statement the chairman of the Federation’s UEFA Committee, Mr. Alex Junco therefore commented: “We strongly foster the relation with UEFA and are eager to ensure that the views and expertise of our industry are duly taken into consideration”. At the meeting UEFA also invited Kathryn Albany-Ward, founder of Colour Blind Awareness who held a captivating presentation on one of the world’s most common genetic conditions: “colour vision deficiency”, which is currently affecting thousands of players, managers and fans. In this regard, Jerome Pero (Public Policy Director, FESI) concluded: “Kathryn’s presentation truly revealed the frustration which is encountered by people with this condition”. Nearly 220 million individuals (which is almost the equivalent of the American population) are globally affected by colour blindness and that can make common experiences such as watching football-games and purchasing consumer sporting goods very cumbersome. Mr. Pero further added that “it is in FESI’s interest to raise awareness on this issue which concerns almost 10 % of our member’s customer base. At FESI we strive to maximise accessibility to sports and related services and therefore we will definitely promote in our network, the guidance document which will be developed by the Football Association (FA).
