Why Manchester City is being sued by Superdry

Manchester City’s players wore modified training equipment during their pre-match warm-up on Sunday, following a claim by fashion brand Superdry in the High Court.

Last week it emerged that City are being sued for damages over the use of the words Super Dry – a type of beer sold by one of their main sponsors, Asahi – on their training kit.

Some immediate implications have become clear: Until Wednesday, January 3, the day Superdry’s claim was first reported by Law360, City’s players wore bibs, sweatshirts and jackets emblazoned with the words ‘Asahi Super “Dry” in training and before matches ”’.

Since the middle of last week, and also during the warm-up before their FA Cup tie with Huddersfield Town on Sunday, the players’ clothing has been changed to ‘Asahi 0.0%’.

But with Superdry, the British clothing brand, also seeking an injunction and financial damages, and even the option to ‘destroy’ City’s ‘Super “Dry”’ training equipment, there are more developments to come.

Here, The Athletics explains what we know so far and what could still happen.

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What does Superdry want and why?

Superdry claimed that City is “unfairly benefiting” from “free riding on the well-known Superdry registrations” and said its own brand could be “tarnished” by poor quality garments sold by City.

It also claims there is the potential for its brand to be influenced by “negative perceptions or prejudices about Manchester City Football Club in the minds of, for example, supporters of rival football clubs” and says the club’s use of the Super “Dry” branding “ could damage Superdry’s reputation.”

Superdry stated that “the appearance of the (training) kit may mislead a substantial number of members of the British public into believing that the (training) kit is clothing designed or sold by (Superdry)”.

As a result, the brand is seeking financial damages from City. According to the court documents, it is “currently unable to quantify the exact financial value of this claim,” but these damages are intended to include “any unfair profits made by the infringer as a result of the infringement.”

The value of City’s training wear sponsorship with Asahi was not publicly disclosed, although it was reported that the club’s previous partner, OKX, paid US$20 million (£18.5 million) for the 2022–2023 season and therefore speculated that the new agreement would be concluded. a similar bracket.

Superdry claims that City “benefited very substantially” from the sponsorship agreement in relation to the branding on the training kit and that it “knowingly and/or with reasonable grounds to know that Superdry was a well-known clothing brand” engaged in infringing activity. who had not given permission.

In November 2023, Asahi won an award from marketing agency The Drum for a campaign that, according to an article on The Drum’s website, aimed to “elevate the status of the training package and infuse it with the same level of pride and symbolism as the first kit and away kit”.

After collecting the award, Asahi said the campaign – which included Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones – was City’s most engaged sponsorship program of the season to date, with 19.87 million views and 428,000 interactions around the world. social media.

Superdry also asked the court to prevent City from using or selling items bearing the phrase ‘Super ‘Dry’, and to order the club to transfer all such items to the company, or to ‘destroy or alter’ them.

What else is in the court documents?

In documents filed on December 15 – and seen by The Athletics — Superdry aims to highlight its popularity as a brand by highlighting its 98 UK stores, several well-followed social media pages and awards won, and by listing celebrities such as David Beckham, Neymar Jr and Kylie Jenner who have owned the clothes to behave.

It also mentioned collaborations with rock bands Metallica, the Sex Pistols, Iron Maiden and Motley Crue.

City players Julian Alvarez, Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland, Kyle Walker and Oscar Bobb also wear training gear with Asahi’s ‘Super “Dry”’ logo, specifically ‘Super “Dry” Asahi 0.0%’.

Superdry claims that some photos show that not all of that wording will always be visible due to “various factors such as viewing angle and the wearer’s physical position.” In one of the photos, Haaland can be seen accidentally covering much of the ‘Asahi’ logo on his training shirt.

The brand also gives examples of its own clothing where the words ‘Super’ and ‘Dry’ are stacked on top of each other, as was the case on City’s Asahi clothing.

It appears City have already made changes to their training kit. Last Wednesday, the club posted a photo of women’s team forward Khadija Shaw during training, wearing a half-zip with the words “Asahi 0.0%”. There were more images on Thursday of the male players wearing the same branded clothing.

2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣ done! 💯 pic.twitter.com/KvIWG33qFx

— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 3, 2024

The last time the Super “Dry” branded items were publicly visible was during the Premier League match against Sheffield United on December 30.

The city has not commented and it is not clear when they were notified of the claim against them.

What are the consequences for the City?

City announced in July that the Asahi Super “Dry” beer brand will be featured on both men’s and women’s training gear from 2023-2024.

In a statement at the time, they said: “Since the partnership began, the Asahi Super Dry brand has been integrated in a number of different areas, including the rebranding of the Asahi Super Dry Tunnel Club and the wider installation of cutting-edge technology across Etihad Stadium to To provide City fans with the unique Japanese super-dry taste.”

This claim relates to training wear only and not to the hospitality offering of City’s tunnel clubs.

Although the Super “Dry” brand itself is owned by Asahi – and is a trademark relating to beer advertising rather than clothing – City finds itself in the middle of the claim because they own and sell the product with the disputed wording.

There is no set date for further hearings and it is unknown when a resolution will be reached.

Superdry, Asahi and Manchester City all declined to comment.

(Top Photos: Getty Images)