“We’re a heritage-driven sports activities and way of life model,” is the message from hummel.
This was how chief govt Lars Stentebjerg launched the Danish firm, whose identify is thought and cherished across the sporting world, to a small group of assembled English and German media retailers, together with 90min, throughout a particular two-day occasion this month.
“Now we have quite a lot of heritage, that’s who we’re as a model, to utilise in our product growth, one voice to who we’re and the way we wish to reside. Our capacity to mix actually units us aside.”
The emphasis is on heritage, appreciating what has come earlier than to assist form the long run, with “model id and credibility” an equally essential a part of the journey of over greater than 100 years.
Karma. Life-style. Heritage…is one other key tagline philosophy the enterprise attaches itself to.
The hummel story to date has been a rollercoaster. To Danes, the identify is a nationwide establishment. To the remainder of the world, it’s inextricably linked with cult soccer equipment tradition of the Eighties and early Nineties.
The pinstripe half-and-half jerseys worn by the Denmark’s ‘dynamite’ technology on the 1986 World Cup, reissued final yr to have fun hummel’s a hundredth birthday, was ranked the best soccer shirt of all time by FourFourTwo journal in 2022.
Jerseys additionally worn by outstanding English sides Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Southampton and Sunderland greater than 30 years in the past are nonetheless thought of classics of the equipment sport.
Diego Maradona wore a hummel Spurs shirt in a testimonial for compatriot Ossie Ardiles and photographs exists of El Diego carrying Denmark’s pinstripes the day earlier than the 1986 World Cup remaining, having not truly confronted the Danes within the event and buying it another approach. He was even in superior talks to develop into a hummel-branded participant himself at his history-defining peak, though a deal agonisingly fell via.
Actual Madrid wore hummel for 9 years from 1985 through the Quinta del Buitre period of Emilio Butragueno, Manolo Sanchis, Michel and others that delivered 5 La Liga titles within the first 5 seasons of the partnership. Denmark additionally unexpectedly loved European Championship glory in 1992 in one other well-known hummel strip.
However hummel largely disappeared from the English membership scene within the early Nineties, to not return till 2016. Their shirts remained a fond a part of historical past for followers, though in some methods it started to really feel like hummel was a relic of the previous for audiences outdoors Denmark. And whereas the model was nonetheless seen at worldwide tournaments for a decade to come back, the nationwide group’s crowning achievement at Euro ’92 was additionally an sarcastically difficult second for hummel.
Denmark did not initially qualify for the competitors, taking Yugoslavia’s place at quick discover when the Balkan area descended into battle, and so they weren’t truly in a position to capitalise on the success as a result of low worth contract in place. Simply two years later, hummel entered a state of technical chapter.
By this time, hummel had been round for simply over 60 years. Though deeply Danish now, the corporate was initially German, based by entrepreneur Max Messmer and his father, Michael, in 1923 and generally known as Messmer & Co. The primary creation was a cleated sports activities shoe, which Messmer Jr. had been impressed to make off the again of watching a soccer match within the rain and dust, the place gamers have been unable to maintain their footing within the circumstances.
That was delivered to market underneath the identify the ‘HUMMEL’, German for bumblebee. Though rival fledgling German model adidas was additionally beginning up and creating its personal merchandise, hummel are thought of pioneers of the fashionable soccer boot.
That might proceed for many years when it grew to become the primary to steer away from conventional black boots, supplying Alan Ball’s game-changing white footwear in 1970. White and each different color boots at the moment are commonplace from skilled degree to grassroots.
Modifications of possession in turbulent a long time within the Thirties and Nineteen Forties, throughout which Europe descended into battle once more for the second time in little over 20 years, introduced identify adjustments and difficult financial instances. Ultimately, the corporate grew to become Danish in 1956 and has been a part of Denmark’s sporting id ever since. Nonetheless, a nod to historical past noticed hummel develop into the everlasting identify and the bumblebee brand, which additionally options the enduring double chevron – a design staple, emerge.
Right now, hummel has had regular possession for 25 years. Christian Stadil acquired the enterprise along with his father, Thor, in 1999, by his personal admission an opportunistic and low-cost deal given the corporate’s monetary struggles within the previous few years. Whereas larger manufacturers like Nike, adidas and Puma, and much more direct rivals like Below Armour, are publicly traded entities with shareholders, hummel is privately owned by Stadil underneath his Thornico group. It leaves the model in a position to “kind of do what we wish” when it comes to pursuing tasks and making certain that core values stay.
Stadil, a training Buddhist, has put his character firmly into hummel. Instantly upon entering into its nice waterside headquarters at Aarhus docks, guests are greeted by an unlimited sculpture of the businessman, who appeared on the primary 4 collection of Denmark’s model of investor exhibits Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank, sitting in a traditional cross-legged Buddha pose with a soccer on his lap.
These beliefs underpin what hummel, though nonetheless a enterprise out to make revenue, is all about. Amongst many world tasks, hummel have opened soccer faculties in The Gambia and labored with former baby troopers in Sierra Leone. The model additionally created a trailblazing shirt with accompanying hijab for the Afghanistan girls’s nationwide group, launched on Worldwide Ladies’s Day in 2016.
One among hummel’s longstanding ardour tasks is Christiania SC, an novice membership primarily based within the close-knit commune of Freetown Christiania, set on a part of an island with round 900 inhabitants inside the town of Copenhagen. A progressive Denmark was one of many first international locations on the earth the place girls had full voting rights by 1915, the primary to grant authorized recognition to same-sex partnerships in 1989, and enjoys a really sturdy social system. “So long as now we have Christiania, now we have a few of this edge and these values. And that is why we prefer to affiliate ourselves with Christiania,” Stadil defined.
What hummel has in giant portions is the liberty to be inventive and expressive.
Though troublesome to consider now given each their historical past collectively and the present bond, hummel and the Denmark nationwide group break up in 2004. The nation’s soccer federation (DBU) entered a partnership with adidas that lasted for 12 years till 2016, but it surely additionally coincided with a low level in Denmark’s historical past.
The lads’s nationwide group didn’t qualify for 4 out of six main tournaments, whereas exiting the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 on the group stage. The ladies did not fare a lot better, reaching just one World Cup, knocked out early, and experiencing a number of European Championship group stage exits. Briefly, Denmark have been in disaster.
So once they have been reunited with the DBU in 2016, hummel wished to make an announcement. Their canvas was the nationwide group equipment and so they leaned into and embraced the disaster. The end result was a white monochrome strip, that includes crests, badges and even participant numbering and names all with out color, to be worn for a one-off males’s pleasant towards Liechtenstein. It was billed as clear slate and a contemporary begin for an underperforming nationwide group, and the restricted run instantly offered out.
The same technique for a really completely different cause was taken forward of the 2022 World Cup, when hummel produced three monochrome pink, white and black kits to honour the DBU’s vow to put on jerseys that will criticise Qatar’s human rights data. The black version was so as a result of it’s a color of mourning and Denmark noticed themselves as symbolically attending the funeral of migrant employees who had died through the development of the event’s stadiums and infrastructure.
In 2016, greater than 20 years after producing their final shirts for an English membership within the early Nineties, hummel returned to the UK equipment scene. EFL membership Charlton Athletic was the check floor for the re-entry.
New kits are unveiled to followers through the summer time forward of a given season, however these creations have been the topic of a yr or extra’s value of painstaking design work. Proper now, for instance, hummel’s design groups are already engaged on the 2026/27 season.
Excess of what’s launched to the general public by no means sees the sunshine of day, albeit typically archived to be revisited for future concepts or inspiration, and even a number of bodily prototypes may be produced that also do not go on to be the ultimate product. Occasionally, designs are even proposed for golf equipment with whom hummel is hoping to land a contract with, for the potential partnership deal to then fall via earlier than it may be accomplished.
“…something that ties the followers to the shirt.”
– Rob Revell, hummel’s lead designer, UK
“You type of reside and breathe that membership, earlier than you have even received it [on board],” is how Rob Revell, hummel’s lead designer within the UK, places it. That offers a window into the eye to element that goes into making a bespoke set of kits for every of the model’s skilled companions.
“We stroll across the metropolis and we discuss to individuals about what’s essential to them, not simply the soccer membership, however the space they’re from. Coventry Metropolis is an ideal one, the cathedral equipment [in 2022/23], all people talked concerning the cathedral in Coventry and it is essentially the most stunning constructing. I can not consider, typically, if we go right into a soccer membership and so they have not checked out these things…something that ties the fan to the shirt.”
It is not simply participant kits both, with hummel creating full coaching and way of life ranges to accompany what’s seen on the pitch. You by no means knew you wished a pair of Actual Betis x hummel trainers till you noticed they exist. And whereas hummel is internationally generally known as a teamwear specialist, giving novice and grassroots golf equipment in numerous international locations around the globe the flexibility to select their equipment from a listing of pre-made designs, none of its skilled membership creations are templated.
Meaning, in contrast to is the case with larger manufacturers like Nike, adidas or Puma, the place elite golf equipment frequently need to share templates, notably clearly in relation to the goalkeeper equipment, hummel individually design every part. Every skilled associate is obtainable what’s proudly described as “true customisation”.
That was one thing that appealed to Sunderland’s new chief enterprise officer David Bruce, who remarkably approached hummel earlier than truly touchdown the job at his home-town membership earlier this yr. Bruce was beforehand in command of advertising and marketing at Main League Soccer for 13 years however returned to Wearside to assist drive the Black Cats again in the direction of the Premier League.
Sunderland wore a hummel equipment within the 1992 FA Cup remaining, throughout a earlier six-year partnership, and have been the model’s final UK associate earlier than withdrawing in 1994. However Bruce wished greater than what the membership had beforehand had with larger names within the trade, bringing hummel again after 30 years and delivering some unimaginable kits immediately impressed by the previous and the town’s particular person heritage.
“We wish to be genuine in our actions. Sunderland goes hand in hand with hummel.” Sunderland’s 2024/25 dwelling shirt, that includes the unmistakable hummel chevrons, seems to be so good in lengthy sleeves, that Bruce even claims credit score on the membership’s behalf for restarting the broader development this season.
Heritage is a standard theme throughout hummel’s skilled kits. When it got here to celebrating 100 years of the model in 2023, they made shirts for eight associate golf equipment, which included Everton and Southampton on the time, individually impressed by Denmark’s 1986 pinstripes. Retro vibes in fashionable soccer shirts are all the time an enormous hit and, at HQ in Aarhus, an east coast metropolis on the Jutland peninsula round half an hour’s flight from the capital, rotating archival rails frequently serve to assist encourage designers in search of their subsequent huge thought.
Amongst these hummel is especially happy with are Denmark’s Euro 2020 shirts, which achieved a singular look when the soundwave of followers singing the nationwide anthem earlier than a sport was captured and included into the house and away designs.
Right now, hummel is a resurgent drive at dwelling and internationally. Former chief govt Allan Vad Nielsen was in cost for seven years from 2017 till six months in the past when he left to pursue his personal entrepreneurial desires. Throughout that interval, hummel’s turnover greater than doubled and, now with Lars Stentebjerg entering into the position after three years as chief working officer, ambitions stay excessive because the agency goals to nearly double its annual revenues once more by 2028, the equal of what can be an general fourfold development over 11 years.
What most individuals outdoors Denmark might not realise is hummel’s pursuit of changing into a longtime way of life model, creating casualwear, and a powerful coach assortment that provides new traces yr on yr. A kidswear division born in 2007 can also be a rising operation and other than the soccer operation, a number of show rooms within the Aarhus constructing, which has been hummel’s base since 2011 however is already too small amid a reluctance to go away, showcase the varied ranges to potential retailers.
In 2020, father or mother firm Thornico acquired Danish trend label HALO, for which income has grown by an element of ten in three years, and working model Newline. A latest collaboration with HALO produced the particular one-off Denmark shirt worn throughout this month’s UEFA Nations League conflict with Spain in Copenhagen, in addition to a complementary designer way of life vary.
In 2024/25, hummel has as many membership companions in La Liga as Nike and Puma, every with three, and greater than adidas. Werder Bremen represents the model within the Bundesliga, and there are sturdy hopes Sunderland will imminently carry them again to the Premier League. Designs for golf equipment not but formally introduced as hummel companions are already underway too.
Finally, hummel needs to develop into the biggest teamsport model in Europe by 2028, and a goal of 10,000 golf equipment globally from novice degree upwards within the subsequent 4 years. The US, the place numerous professional golf equipment within the USL pyramid already put on hummel, and China have additionally been recognized as rising markets.
So whereas hummel may as soon as have pale from worldwide prominence, the enduring Danish model is now again in an enormous approach, able to tackle the world and alter it too.
