Nike executives, who recently signed a $100 million deal to equip the German national football team, were offered a timely reminder of what not to do when designing the next jersey: Never produce anything that even bears a passing resemblance to Nazi-era symbols.
Its top rival, Germany’s Adidas, must now halt the sale of some athletic wear after Germany’s football association, known as the DFB, failed to notice the number ‘4’ on the back of a player’s jersey looked suspiciously like one half of the infamous lettering of the SS, Hitler’s death squads.
Since neo-Nazi groups often co-opt symbols that have no connections to extremism as a means of more easily recognizing each other, it is plausible that an Adidas-made German team jersey with the number 44 could become popular in the far-right scene.
“We have disabled the personalization of jerseys in our online store,” the company said in a statement to Fortune.
Up until now, consumers could pay Adidas for jerseys emblazoned with names and numbers of their choice, and eliminating the option will undoubtedly lead to the loss of some revenue.
Hallo @adidas / @adidasfootball,
ich habe gestern eine Presseanfrage gestellt und heute noch mal nachgefragt, aber leider keine Reaktion.Daher hier die Fragen öffentlich:
– Wird Adidas die Nummer 44 in ihrem Shop sperren?
– Wird Adidas Partnershops anweisen diese Nummer zu… pic.twitter.com/nwinZgCTnN— Tobias Huch (@TobiasHuch) March 28, 2024
Already reeling from last year’s anti-semitism scandal around former Yeezy partner Kanye West, Adidas blamed the DFB and the latter’s licensee, 11teamsports, for the typographical fiasco.
It vehemently denied allegations there was any intention behind the design and said the company and its staff comprising around 100 different nationalities supported diversity and inclusion.
“Any attempts to promote divisive or marginalizing views are not a part of our brand values,” it said, adding its online store has eliminated the option for personalizing German jerseys.
On Sunday, the DFB said neither it, 11teamsports nor UEFA, the organizing body of this summer’s European championship, had spotted the similarity to the SS lettering during the design and approval phase—in part because player numbers for the competition only go as high as 26.
Nonetheless, it will submit with 11teamsports, responsible for the typography, a new design for the number 4 to UEFA after the…
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