In the past, AU's athletes had been outfitted with Adidas shorts, Reebok shoes and Mizuno volleyballs. But soon, every athlete and every team will be united under one symbol: the swoosh.
The athletics department signed a two-year deal with Nike through Buffalo, N.Y.-based distributor Ad Pro Team Sports in January. It will provide the sports-apparel giant's latest clothing and equipment to AU's 16 teams starting this fall.
It will spare the department more than $40,000 in equipment costs, according to AU Director of Athletics Joni Comstock.
"If they make mouthguards, [it includes them] right down to shoes and socks," Comstock said.
She credited marketing director David Bierwirth, who held a similar position at George Washington University before coming to AU in August, with helping create the affiliation.
Bierwirth said the deal is a boost from a financial and marketing standpoint for AU athletics, whose budget struggles have led to the loss of the 20 scholarships and the tennis and golf programs over the last three years.
It contains the financial incentive of saving thousands of dollars on equipment and associates the university and its teams with one of the most recognizable brand names in sports, Bierwirth said.
Before the Nike deal, AU teams made their own arrangements with companies for uniforms and equipment.
"Some programs had their own deals with Mizuno, Adidas," Bierwirth said. "But it goes right back to branding. ... It creates an overall look for our teams and advances us from a marketing perspective. It's a good business deal."
Comstock said the affiliation doesn't include financial bonuses for the department or individual coaches, as is the case sometimes at schools with higher-profile athletics programs. But it's still unique for a school of AU's size.
In the Patriot League, AU's conference, only Army is outfitted by Nike while Lafayette contracts with Impact Sports, according to spokespeople from the schools.
"We consider it to be very unique," Comstock said.
She also said concerns over Nike's labor practices were considered before making the deal. Like many large apparel companies, Nike contracts with factories in countries with labor laws different from those in the United States. This has led to accusations that the company uses sweatshop labor. In the past, student protests have come in the response on campuses of universities with similar sports-apparel contracts.
Comstock said she worked closely with Gail Hanson, AU's vice president of student life and chair of its Workplace Conduct Advisory Team, to evaluate Nike. They concluded the company was a human rights leader in the industry.
It's also monitored by oversight organizations. AU is a member of the two of them: the Fair Labor Association and the Workers Rights Consortium.
The FLA is the largest and was established in 1998 with backing from companies, including Nike, and the Clinton White House. The WRC was formed later by universities and students to check the $2.5 billion-a-year college apparel industry.
Hanson said being a member of both organizations helps AU, as they monitor factory conditions and standards and alert the university if problems arise.
"We have a number of students who care about this," she said, "so it was important to find a company that cared about corporate responsibility"
