Topper (sports)

Topper
Subsidiary
Industry Clothing, sports equipment
Founded 1975
Founder Alpargatas S.A.I.C. (Argentina)
Headquarters São Paulo, Brazil
Area served
 South America, Asia
Products Footwear, sportswear,
sports equipment
Parent Alpargatas
Website www.topper.com.br

Topper is a sportswear brand owned by Alpargatas, with business in South America (mainly in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay) and Asia. Its products range from footwear and clothing to underwear, sport bags, balls, and equipment in general for football, basketball, volleyball, rugby union and tennis.

In Brazil, Topper supplies athletic footwear and garments for outdoor and indoor football and other sports. The brand is also operating in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other Asian countries.

History

Racing Club jersey made by Topper and gifted to former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner.
Former logo.

Topper was founded in Argentina in 1975, as a subsidiary of Alpargatas.[1] During its first decade of existence, Topper launched its canvas shoes, 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.[2]

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 has 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 2004.

In 2007 Alpargatas Argentina was sold to São Paulo Alpargatas (owner of Topper in Brazil), a Camargo Correa group company.[3][4]

In 2012 Topper brought a lawsuit against club Estudiantes de La Plata for $13 million.[5] 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.[6] Adidas and Estudiantes had signed for US$3 million for 3 years.[7] 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.[5]

Sponsorships

The following teams, associations and players are sponsored by Topper:

Football

Associations

Clubs

Players

Futsal

Rugby union

Tennis

References

  1. ↑ History of Topper, Alpargatas Argentine website
  2. ↑ Topper article in Argentine Marketing blog
  3. ↑ "Brasil ya manda en seis sectores clave de la economía argentina" - Clarín, 2007-02-26
  4. ↑ Camargo Correa relanzará Topper" - Infobae Profesional, 2008-01-25
  5. 1 2 "Topper demanda a Estudiantes por 13 millones de pesos", Diagonales.com, 28 September 2012
  6. ↑ "Demanda millonaria de Topper contra Estudiantes", AreaCapital.net
  7. ↑ "Topper demanda a Estudiantes por el cambio a Adidas", ArteySportweb
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