Auckland-based sailing team Emirates Team New Zealand has partnered with high-performance sailing clothing brand, SLAM.
The four-time America’s Cup winner secures the company as its official apparel supplier in the build-up to the 37th edition of the competition in Barcelona next year.
Emirates Team New Zealand CEO, Grant Dalton, said: “SLAM have demonstrated their clear and positive strategy in working towards becoming one of the world’s best high-performance sailing clothing brands and all of us at Emirates Team New Zealand look forward to working alongside them on that mission.”
The agreement will see the company supplying technical clothing to the team following a collaboration on the development of materials and product design.
The pair explained that a replica version of the clothing worn by the team with the same technical characteristics will be marketed worldwide.
“It is a real honour to sign this agreement and join the Emirates Team New Zealand campaign,” Italian former yacht racer Enrico Chieffi said.
“We will do everything we can to contribute to their defence of the America’s Cup. Grant Dalton and I have known each other for many years.
“There has always been a harmony and deep respect between us even as we were often protagonists at the most important events in world sailing, first as athletes and then as managers.”
Chieffi was a world champion in the 470 and Star classes, a double Olympic sailor, and tactician on Italy’s America’s Cup challenger Il Moro di Venezia in 1992.
“SLAM has played a central role in the sailing world for over 40 years and our objective is to establish its place among the finest high-performance sailing brands in the world. This partnership is a significant step on that journey,” he concluded.
