Footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic's lossmaking line closes

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 23, 2018

Higher-than-expected losses mean footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic is closing his two-year-old clothing line, according to reports.

The former Manchester United star, who now plays for LA Galaxy, had launched the A-Z apparel label in 2016 and had expected it to be lossmaking at first. But a deficit of £18 million has far exceeded expectations as marketing costs were higher than originally budgeted for.

The sportsman had linked with Norway’s Varner Group to launch the label (its name refers to his journey from “amateur to Zlatan”) when he still played for the top flight British team.

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Varner said this week that “despite solid growth in 2017 the European sportswear effort has proved too expensive. Petter Varner and Zlatan Ibrahimovic agree to end their co-operation in A-Z.”

The company had already signalled last year that marketing costs were proving high, but at the time it still expected sales and profitability to improve. “We knew we would not make money in the first year but the losses were higher than expected,” it said this week.

Brands linked to sports stars have had mixed results in recent years with many big names choosing to hook up with a major name sports specialist for a design-and-endorsement deal rather than launching an entirely new, and risky, label.