Got the opportunity to chat with the man @Robert G (Robert Giovannetti, Senior Associate Athletics Director / External Operations & Strategic Communications) this afternoon out at Jones AT&T Stadium where he gave some insight into the adidas partnership.
First, a look at Jones AT&T today.
Into the conversation...
What does this partnership mean for Texas Tech?:
"I think it means the beginning of kind of a new era of the Big 12. This being the first day that the Big 12 looks a little bit different, and now Texas Tech looks a little bit different as well. This is something that's been in the works for months, even years really. And so we're excited about the beginning of this and this is just step one of what's going to be a really impressive partnership that a lot of people are going to take notice of as we announce more over the coming weeks."
What can you say about the role that Patrick Mahomes played in this partnership?
"Patrick played a pivotal role, obviously. So a couple years ago, you know, he always invited Kirby (Hocutt) to his his summer golf tournament for his charity and Patrick was just talking to him about hey, we need to get adidas and Texas Tech together, and talked about his gladiator brand, so that's what kind of kicked things off. Patrick always stayed in touch with Kirby to say, Hey, how are things coming along? He wanted to make sure that when the gladiator logo made it's debut in college athletics, it was with Texas Tech."
What does this partnership mean for the fans?
"Well, I think it means for the fans, you got to restock your closets, right because Lubbock has always been very supportive of our gear and our gear provider. And I think we're already starting to see a lot of adidas already pop up throughout the community. I think you're gonna see some great options in footwear, you're gonna see some other great options as well. Adidas has taken this this partnership very seriously and they're going to really come out with some fantastic clothing, apparel items. You can already go online to adidas.com and check out and see what they have. We encourage all Tech fans to join the adiclub which means club gives you some discounts and some other things it's gonna be a fun ride, for sure."
Is there any more gear that you can give a hint towards, maybe with Mahomes' logo?
"Yeah, it'll be coming out later this fall. You know, we'll have some announcements with Patrick later on to where the gladiator logo debuts. You see it up there on the board, there's so many cool things about that logo, why it is the way it is and why it's important to Patrick. We will come out with some of that over the next couple of months. But Patrick, not only has you been instrumental in this, but we will be wearing the gladiator logo in football. There will be a baseball uniform and eventually other sports as well."
Are there any other secret uniforms that are coming out?
"We've shown everything we've got in the closet. I think it's tomorrow we'll have a soccer reveal as well, unveil the soccer uniforms and as the weeks go by we'll include the other sports and show their uniforms as they come out."
How intensive was the collaboration process between the brands?
"You can't even imagine how much this was involved with lots of different parties. Over the last couple of months we met two to three times a week with adidas, with Patrick's people, with various people from our staff, various people from their staff. Four of us went out to Portland in April and talked with adidas and met with them and we mapped it out really well. I gotta give credit to our social media team and our communications team for the way we roll things out today. It's been planned for weeks and weeks and weeks of exactly what time things will go out. We got pushed up a little bit. We intended to release our uniforms a little bit later today. But it just got to be such an overwhelming response on social media and we decided to go ahead and release them this morning when we did. We've been talking for months about how this will look...but so many people had a part in this, so many Texas Tech employees worked tirelessly to make this happen and we're excited to let them see the fruits of their labor."
Who all had a hand in designing the football jerseys?
"The 8:30 video where we said welcome to three stripe life, there's a conference room full of people. Adidas came here. I can't remember what month that was but they brought a team of designers here. Matter of fact, their lead designer was the Stanford tree back when Stanford played the Lady Raiders at the Coliseum back in the 90s, so he had some knowledge of Texas Tech. And they did so much research about the history of Texas Tech, the history of our uniforms. You'll see Joey in there, you'll see Kirby in there and there's some others in that meeting and they presented some of their ideas. But it truly was, again, a collaboration going back and forth. Hey, here are some ideas. Joey felt really like in football that he wanted them cleaner and a little less detail, and I think you saw that in what they actually look like."
Barnett Howard & Williams PLLC is a law firm founded by three Red Raiders and based in Fort Worth. BHW attorneys handle personal injury, family law, criminal defense, and Title 9 cases all across the state. We hope you never need us, but we are in your corner when you do.
First, a look at Jones AT&T today.
Into the conversation...
What does this partnership mean for Texas Tech?:
"I think it means the beginning of kind of a new era of the Big 12. This being the first day that the Big 12 looks a little bit different, and now Texas Tech looks a little bit different as well. This is something that's been in the works for months, even years really. And so we're excited about the beginning of this and this is just step one of what's going to be a really impressive partnership that a lot of people are going to take notice of as we announce more over the coming weeks."
What can you say about the role that Patrick Mahomes played in this partnership?
"Patrick played a pivotal role, obviously. So a couple years ago, you know, he always invited Kirby (Hocutt) to his his summer golf tournament for his charity and Patrick was just talking to him about hey, we need to get adidas and Texas Tech together, and talked about his gladiator brand, so that's what kind of kicked things off. Patrick always stayed in touch with Kirby to say, Hey, how are things coming along? He wanted to make sure that when the gladiator logo made it's debut in college athletics, it was with Texas Tech."
What does this partnership mean for the fans?
"Well, I think it means for the fans, you got to restock your closets, right because Lubbock has always been very supportive of our gear and our gear provider. And I think we're already starting to see a lot of adidas already pop up throughout the community. I think you're gonna see some great options in footwear, you're gonna see some other great options as well. Adidas has taken this this partnership very seriously and they're going to really come out with some fantastic clothing, apparel items. You can already go online to adidas.com and check out and see what they have. We encourage all Tech fans to join the adiclub which means club gives you some discounts and some other things it's gonna be a fun ride, for sure."
Is there any more gear that you can give a hint towards, maybe with Mahomes' logo?
"Yeah, it'll be coming out later this fall. You know, we'll have some announcements with Patrick later on to where the gladiator logo debuts. You see it up there on the board, there's so many cool things about that logo, why it is the way it is and why it's important to Patrick. We will come out with some of that over the next couple of months. But Patrick, not only has you been instrumental in this, but we will be wearing the gladiator logo in football. There will be a baseball uniform and eventually other sports as well."
Are there any other secret uniforms that are coming out?
"We've shown everything we've got in the closet. I think it's tomorrow we'll have a soccer reveal as well, unveil the soccer uniforms and as the weeks go by we'll include the other sports and show their uniforms as they come out."
How intensive was the collaboration process between the brands?
"You can't even imagine how much this was involved with lots of different parties. Over the last couple of months we met two to three times a week with adidas, with Patrick's people, with various people from our staff, various people from their staff. Four of us went out to Portland in April and talked with adidas and met with them and we mapped it out really well. I gotta give credit to our social media team and our communications team for the way we roll things out today. It's been planned for weeks and weeks and weeks of exactly what time things will go out. We got pushed up a little bit. We intended to release our uniforms a little bit later today. But it just got to be such an overwhelming response on social media and we decided to go ahead and release them this morning when we did. We've been talking for months about how this will look...but so many people had a part in this, so many Texas Tech employees worked tirelessly to make this happen and we're excited to let them see the fruits of their labor."
Who all had a hand in designing the football jerseys?
"The 8:30 video where we said welcome to three stripe life, there's a conference room full of people. Adidas came here. I can't remember what month that was but they brought a team of designers here. Matter of fact, their lead designer was the Stanford tree back when Stanford played the Lady Raiders at the Coliseum back in the 90s, so he had some knowledge of Texas Tech. And they did so much research about the history of Texas Tech, the history of our uniforms. You'll see Joey in there, you'll see Kirby in there and there's some others in that meeting and they presented some of their ideas. But it truly was, again, a collaboration going back and forth. Hey, here are some ideas. Joey felt really like in football that he wanted them cleaner and a little less detail, and I think you saw that in what they actually look like."
Barnett Howard & Williams PLLC is a law firm founded by three Red Raiders and based in Fort Worth. BHW attorneys handle personal injury, family law, criminal defense, and Title 9 cases all across the state. We hope you never need us, but we are in your corner when you do.
