Аргентиналық Topper брендінің тарихы мен дамуы

Argentine sports equipment brand
Topper was established in 1975 in Argentina as the sports brand of Alpargatas to compete against foreign sneakers manufacturers. In past years, products manufactured and commercialised under the Topper brand included football, basketball, rugby, tennis, and volleyball equipment.

Topper was founded in Argentina in 1975 by Alpargatas, the leading textile manufacturer in the country that had been established in 1885. The name "Topper" came from the dog of then president of the company, Eduardo Oxenford. During the 1980s Topper became one of the most important sportswear brands of Argentina, signing deals with clubs such as Independiente, Ferro Carril Oeste and Estudiantes de La Plata. Most of those teams won several championships (not only in football but in basketball) during that era. In recent years, Topper supplied garments for the basketball and volleyball national teams. The company also signed new contracts with former teams Independiente and Estudiantes and made new agreements with football teams Racing and Newell's Old Boys and rugby union clubs San Isidro and Hindú. The brand was also the official supplier for the Argentina national rugby union team (known as Los Pumas) from 2000 to 2003. In 2007 Alpargatas Argentina was sold to São Paulo Alpargatas (owner of Topper in Brazil), then a Camargo Correa group company. In 2012 Topper brought a lawsuit against club Estudiantes de La Plata for $13 million. The brand accused Estudiantes of "breach of contract" due to the club had switched to German company Adidas in 2011, while the deal with Topper was still active. Adidas and Estudiantes had signed for US$3 million for 3 years. Topper alleged that there was a clause stating that Estudiantes was forced to continue being sponsored by Topper if other brands offered the same amount of money to be their uniform supplier. BRS is a holding company composed by a group of investors led by Carlos Wizard Martins. The contract signed included the license for the use of the brand "Topper" in the US and China.