Sports Direct acquires Dunlop sporting goods rights for Australia, New Zealand

UK-based sports retail group Sports Direct plc has bought the rights for the Dunlop brand name in Australia and New Zealand. This deal does not affect the Dunlop tyre brand, which in the region is owned by Goodyear & Dunlop Tyres, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Goodyear Tire & Rubber.

The sporting goods brand rights were purchased together with rights to the Slazenger brand name as part of a larger deal, and the acquisition is expected to be completed on 1 December. International Brand Management & Licensing (IBML), a division of Sports Direct, has signed a licensing agreement with Australian apparel company the PAS Group. The agreement will be carried out through PAS Group subsidiary Designworks Clothing, and covers the distribution of apparel, footwear and sports equipment under the Dunlop brand in Australia and New Zealand.

Rights to the Dunlop brand for sporting goods or mattresses – to name just two products the name is affixed to – are kept separate from those for tyres, however the widespread appeal of the ‘flying D’ logo and the Dunlop name has never troubled neither Goodyear nor other rights holders. Rather, it has served as a positive bandwagon effect that has supported brand recognition. Regional rights in much of the world were previously held by Goodyear and Sumitomo Rubber Industries under a joint venture arrangement. Following its break-up at the start of this year, Goodyear holds the rights to the Dunlop name in Europe and North America, and Sumitomo in Japan and the rest of Asia; the Japanese company had already obtained rights to the Dunlop name throughout the entire African continent after acquiring rights for 30 African and two Indian Ocean region countries from Apollo Tyres late last year. Rights for India belong to the Ruia Group.