Federer Strikes Commercial Jackpot With US$300m Uniqlo Deal

Reports earlier this year were rife the Swiss ace was preparing to end his career-long association with Nike in favour of a ten-year deal with Uniqlo after seeing his deal with the US sports giant expire in March. The bumper Uniqlo deal is reportedly worth over US$300m across ten years. He is still wearing Nike shoes on court, and doesn’t have a footwear deal yet and is keen to continue his ties with them, however, he is open to exploring commercial possibilities with other brands.

According to Forbes estimates, Federer’s endorsements bring him a cool US$65 million annually, with his long-term partnership with Nike contributing about US$10 million per year to this sum. The new apparel deal signals a massive 300% hike on his previous deal showing that despite Federer’s veteran status, his brand value has a timeless, iconic quality similar to Michael Jordan’s.

During his partnership with Nike, Federer created the distinctive ‘RF’ logo, which is still owned by the brand. Talks are now underway with Nike over the ownership of this logo.

Speaking to media following his first-round win over Serbian Dusan Lajovic, Federer added, “The RF logo is with Nike at the moment, but it will come to me at some point. I hope rather sooner than later that Nike can be nice and helpful in the process to bring it over to me. It’s also something that was very important for me, for the fans really.”

“Obviously we also need to figure out with Uniqlo when at one point we can start selling clothes for the public as well. All this has just gotten underway. We’re hopeful the beginning of next year people can also start buying my stuff. For the moment, as fast at retailing as they are, as great as they are, it just needs a bit of time.”

According to the ASN Index, Uniqlo’s spends in the Asian sponsorship market has also taken a nosedive from its high of US$1.8m+ in Q117, in fact it has fared below its quarterly average of ~ US$1.15m since then, with the first half of 2018 sticking out as a mere US$380k was invested and dominated by a spate of withdrawals. However, Uniqlo’s global clout is certain to get an uplift from the classy Federer, despite the brand’s assertions that it is not a sports brand.