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Liverpool have made moves to ensure that when they made the switch to adidas they were well positioned.

Earlier this year saw the announcement of what adidas themselves described in the accompanying advertisement as 'the worst kept secret in football', with the German sportswear giant replacing US brand Nike as the Reds' official kit partner.

At the time, the length of the agreement was presented as a 'multi-year' deal.



That has since been revealed in recent weeks to be a ten-year partnership, one that allows both parties plenty of time to plan and activate to maximise what can be done.

The opening of a revamped club megastore at Anfield on August 1 marked the official switchover from Nike to adidas and the popular 'brand with the three stripes' has already proven to be a hit with fans and that bodes well for the revenue-generating potential of the deal.

On Friday, Liverpool revealed that record-breaking sales had been achieved in the opening week of the partnership for both the home and away kits.

A club statement read: “The launch of the adidas designed home and away kits has been the most successful in the club’s history, with unprecedented levels of demand across the globe.

“The home kit outstripped sales of last year’s launch by over 700 per cent, with orders from 150 countries to date.

“A total of 80 per cent of purchases have been made via the club’s ecommerce platforms.

The club has ambitions to open standalone stores in the United States in the future.

A big part of the Liverpool plan to maximise the potential of the Adidas deal and the club’s global reach was the opening of a new distribution centre in the Netherlands alongside club partner UPS after the UK centre in Prescot reached capacity.

The club plans to open up further distribution centres globally to be able to service more fan demand.

Speaking exclusively to the ECHO earlier this month, Lee Dwerryhouse, senior vice president of merchandising at Liverpool, said: “I think what we were seeing our UK DC at it full capacity, so we were struggling to satisfy demand and we needed to open up another location where it made sense to be in in Europe, particularly after Brexit.

“In the future we'll look to open other distribution hubs.”

While the e-commerce platform was responsible for the bulk of opening week sales, physical retail is a vital component of the way the club seek to operate, with the physical presence in other countries allowing the club to have touchpoints with their fans.

“It definitely has a huge part to play,” said Dwerryhouse.

“We obviously have a large and passionate fan base, located all around the world.

International expansion has been a big focus for me and the team and there's plans to open more stores over the next 12 months.”

For many Reds fans this sounds all well and good, but how does this have a direct impact on what is the main reason for a club’s existence in the first place - the pitch?

Commercial income, which includes kit partnerships and merchandising sales, was £308m for the most recently published 2023/24 financial year.

Coming off the back of a Premier League title could hardly have been better timing for a new kit partnership to start as it provides plenty of merchandising opportunities.

But Liverpool are an immensely commercially savvy operation and the adidas partnership offered them, as they saw it, the best chance to achieve the kind of reach and merchandising growth that they crave over the next ten years with the coming decade likely to see the club’s revenues push past the £1bn per year mark.

Such lofty revenue targets were outlined in an investment sales deck for interested prepared by a reputable US firm back in 2023, during the time Liverpool were searching for minority investment with details seen by the ECHO.