Champion (sportswear)

For other uses, see Champion (disambiguation).

Champion USA

Type	Private (subsidiary of HanesBrands Inc.
Industry	Textile
Founded	1919
Headquarters	Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.
Number of locations	34 stores [1]
Area served	North America, Europe
Products	Clothing, Sportswear, Footwear
Website	www.championusa.com

Champion is a manufacturer of clothing, specializing in sportswear. The brand is a subsidiary of HanesBrands Inc. (based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina), which was spun off by the Sara Lee Corporation.

Champion is HanesBrands' second largest brand with the namesake Hanes brand in first place. Other brands owned by HanesBrands Inc. are Playtex (its third largest brand), Bali, Just My Size, Barely There, Wonderbra, L’eggs, C9 by Champion, Duofold, Beefy-T, Outer Banks, Sol y Oro, Rinbros, Zorba and Ritmo.

Company history

Founded as Champion Knitwear in Rochester, NY in 1919 by Abe and Bill Feinbloom. In 2011 Bill and Abe where inducted into the Rochester, NY Business Hall of Fame.

Champion is the clothing company that invented the hoodie, sports bra, reversible t-shirts, and breathable mesh clothing (found in trucker hats).^{[citation needed]}

Champion has produced uniforms for National Basketball Association teams during the 1990s. It has also produced sportswear for many major colleges^{[citation needed]} .

From 2008, Champion produced kits for Premier League side, Wigan Athletic, the Wales national football team and the jersey of the Greek basketball team.^[2]

Sponsorship

Basketball

• Greek national basketball team (2006-present)
• Italy national basketball team (2004-present)
• NBA - all teams (-2000)
• USA national basketball team (1992-2000)

Clubs

Football

• Wigan Athletic (2008-09)
• AC Parma (1999-2005, including the last season as main sponsor of the club)
• Wales national football team (2008-10)
• FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (2003-2005, including the last season as main sponsor of the club)

NASCAR

• Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. #8 car driven by Aric Almirola at the 2009 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Merchandising licensed manufacturer

The following is a list of the products made by the company in the licensed sports business:

Replica Jerseys

• NBA - all teams (-2000)
• NFL - all teams (1999-2000)

References

1. ^ List of Champion stores
2. ^ Champion presents the new Greek national basketball team jersey

External links

• Official site
• Hanes Brands
• Champion Catalog product reviews
• "What's Your Everest?" Champion site