There is a major development on the sponsor front for the Mercedes AMG F1 team as they are onboarding Adidas as a new clothing partner from the 2025 season. Currently, the Brackley outfit has Tommy Hilfiger as its clothing partner and also has ties with Puma. However, with Adidas coming on board in 2025, those two brands may end their association with the Silver Arrows, reports Sky Sports News.
Tommy Hilfiger has been a clothing partner of Mercedes since 2018. This was around the same time, their star driver Lewis Hamilton got into a collaboration for his own clothing line viz. TommyXLewis with the brand. However, Hamilton’s departure from the team to Ferrari for next year has been a tremor too big for many across the world.
While one cannot say that the seven-time champion’s Ferrari move is the primary factor of this partnership change, it may have had some influence on all parties involved. Adidas replacing Tommy Hilfiger as Mercedes’ clothing partner seems the most likely possibility, as things stand.
There is no official comment from Tommy Hilfiger, Mercedes, or Puma as of yet. Puma has also had ties with the German team since the 2010s, having collaborated to provide the team’s race gear. Given Puma is a direct competitor of Adidas in the sportswear space, it will be interesting to see how Mercedes handle this change/addition of partners.
How significant is the Mercedes-Adidas deal?
For 6 long years, Tommy Hilfiger has become an integral partner for Mercedes. They actively used Lewis Hamilton’s popularity and image to boost their brand and have been successful at that. Even since George Russell arrived at the team in 2022, Tommy Hilfiger has utilized his face too just like Hamilton.
So when we look at Adidas partnering with Mercedes, which could effectively end the Tommy Hilfiger association, it is quite a significant deal. From Adidas’s perspective too, it is a landmark deal as reported by Sports Illustrated, as they just ended their iconic association with the German national football (soccer) team.
Nike has reportedly replaced Adidas as the kit sponsor for Germany’s football (soccer) team. So, while one major partnership has ended for them, they have cracked this huge deal with Mercedes in F1. Financially too, reports suggest that the Silver Arrows will benefit from more revenue via the Adidas deal.
