Adidas plans for a ‘made in Germany’ national team kit

The sportswear giant plans to shift the production of Germany’s national football jerseys to the country. “We are working hard to automate our production lines further. After that we will be able to produce more Adidas products in Germany,” said Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer to the magazine Sports Bild on Wednesday. “Our goal is a national ‘made in Germany’ football jersey.”

Adidas is currently testing out automated production units in Germany to shift some production from other countries. The project is expected to be ready for 2017 or 2018.

At the moment, Germany’s national football team wears a sports kit made in Asia, where 99% of Adidas’s production is outsourced. However, the region has become less financially attractive due to rising labour costs and higher environmental requirements, especially in China.

Adidas’ CEO, Herbert Hainer, said Adidas jerseys made in Germany would only make sense if both Adidas and the German Football Association (DFB in German) benefit economically from the deal. The sportswear company has signed a contract with DFB to produce Germany’s sports kit until 2018.  Adidas’ largest competitor is Nike, which is also interested in becoming the official uniform maker of the German national football team.