Topper (brand)

Topper
Industry
Founded1975; 49 years ago (1975)
HeadquartersBuenos Aires, Argentina
Products
Parent
Websitewww.topper.com.ar

Topper is a sportswear brand established in Argentina and currently owned by Brazilian company "BR Sports", headquartered in São Paulo.[1] The brand is commercialised in South America, mainly in Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, where it markets a wide range of products from footwear to clothing.

Topper was established in 1975 in Argentina as the sports brand of Alpargatas to compete against foreign sneakers manufacturers.[2] In past years, products manufactured and commercialised under the Topper brand included football, basketball, rugby, tennis, and volleyball equipment.

History

Topper was founded in Argentina in 1975 by Alpargatas, the leading textile manufacturer in the country that had been established in 1885.[3] The name "Topper" came from the dog of then president of the company, Eduardo Oxenford.[2] During its first decade of existence, Topper launched its canvas shoe, a model of casual footwear which would soon reached not only a huge success but also became the most representative product of the firm in Argentina, and being considered a real "classic" since then.[4]

(Left): Belgrano de Córdoba shirts from the 1980s; (right): Racing Club shirt gifted to former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner

During the 1980s Topper became one of the most important sportswear brands of Argentina, signing deals with clubs such as Independiente, Ferro Carril Oeste and Estudiantes de La Plata. Most of those teams won several championships (not only in football but in basketball) during that era.

In recent years, Topper supplied garments for the basketball and volleyball national teams. The company also signed new contracts with former teams Independiente and Estudiantes and made new agreements with football teams Racing and Newell's Old Boys and rugby union clubs San Isidro and Hindú.

The brand was also the official supplier for the Argentina national rugby union team (known as Los Pumas) from 2000 to 2003.

In 2007 Alpargatas Argentina was sold to São Paulo Alpargatas (owner of Topper in Brazil), then a Camargo Correa group company.[5][6]

In 2012 Topper brought a lawsuit against club Estudiantes de La Plata for $13 million.[7] The brand accused Estudiantes of "breach of contract" due to the club had switched to German company Adidas in 2011, while the deal with Topper was still active.[8] Adidas and Estudiantes had signed for US$3 million for 3 years.[9] Topper alleged that there was a clause stating that Estudiantes was forced to continue being sponsored by Topper if other brands offered the same amount of money to be their uniform supplier.[7]

In 2018, Alpargatas Brazil sold the brand Topper to "BRS Comercio e Industria de Material Esportivo SA" for a total of R$ 40 million.[10] BRS is a holding company composed by a group of investors led by Carlos Wizard Martins. The contract signed included the license for the use of the brand "Topper" in the US and China.[11]

Products

The following chart contains all the product lines by Topper in Argentina and Brazil.[12]

Rugby union and association football balls manufactured by Topper
Area/Sport Range of products
Football Balls, boots
Basketball Balls
Casual wear T-shirts, polo shirts, pants, shorts, hoodies, leggins, jackets, sneakers, boardshorts
Accessories Bags, shin guards, hats, backpacks

Past sponsorships

Topper has sponsored a large list of teams and associations mainly in South America, some of them are:

Association Football

Associations

National teams

Club teams

Players

Bastketball

National teams

Club teams

Rugby Union

Associations

National Teams

Club teams

Tennis

Associations

Players

References

  1. ^ BRS Comercio e Industria de Material Esportivo SA profile on Bloomberg
  2. ^ a b La marca argentina Topper tiene un nuevo socio brasileño by Alfredo Sainz, La Nación, 4 Nov 2015
  3. ^ History of Topper on Alpargatas Argentine website Archived 2010-02-10 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Denme una zapatilla de lona y moveré el mundo on Argentine Marketing blog, 3 Apr 2006
  5. ^ Brasil ya manda en seis sectores clave de la economía argentina, Clarín, 2007-02-26
  6. ^ Camargo Correa relanzará Topper on Infobae Profesional, 2008-01-25
  7. ^ a b "Topper demanda a Estudiantes por 13 millones de pesos", Diagonales.com, 28 September 2012
  8. ^ "Demanda millonaria de Topper contra Estudiantes", AreaCapital.net Archived 2013-04-13 at archive.today
  9. ^ "Topper demanda a Estudiantes por el cambio a Adidas", ArteySportweb
  10. ^ Alpargatas conclui venda de fatia na Topper by Paula Selmi on Valor (Económico), 4 Dec 2018
  11. ^ ALPARGATAS CONCLUI VENDA DA TOPPER E RAINHA PARA CARLOS WIZARD MARTINS by Estadão Conteúdo, 3 May 2016
  12. ^ Accesorios on Topper website (ARG), 4 Jul 2019
  13. ^ Camiseta Newell's 2014 on Marca de Gol, 2 Mar 2014
  14. ^ "Atlético-MG anuncia Topper como nova fornecedora de material". Archived from the original on 2016-12-14. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  15. ^ Balanço 2016: patrocínio fixo, pontual. Quanto o Bota lucrou com marketing? on Globo Esporte, 30 Mar 2017
  16. ^ À espera de acerto com nova fornecedora, Botafogo desenha uniformes para 2022 on Globo Esporte, 10 Dec 2021
  17. ^ "American sportswear giant will continue with Brazilian top-tier soccer side". sportspromedia.com. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  18. ^ Em meio a acusações on SportBuzz, 28 Nov 2019
  19. ^ Relembre todos os fornecedores de material esportivo da história do Inter on Gauchazh, 07 May 2019
  20. ^ "São Paulo promove almoço de confraternização com a Penalty". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  21. ^ El valor de Los Pumas on Clarín, 25 Oct 2001
  22. ^ Los Pumas, de Adidas a Nike on La Voz del Interior, 27 Dec 2011
  23. ^ Como o rúgbi tornou-se queridinho dos patrocinadores no país do futebol? on UOL, 10 Nov 2018
  24. ^ El CASI presentó su camiseta on A Pleno Rugby, 2012-7-12
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