ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has acquired the right to market and license the Champion brand in Japan. Champion is owned by Authentic Brands Group LLC (headquartered in New York, U.S; Jamie Salter, Founder and Executive Chairman; hereinafter "Authentic"). Additionally, ITOCHU and Inglewood Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Ryusuke Kurokawa, President and Chief Executive Officer; hereinafter, "Inglewood") will jointly acquire all of the shares of Hanesbrands Japan Inc. (headquartered in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo), which operates the Champion brand business in Japan, from Hanes Holdings U.S. Inc. and operate it jointly as the new Champion Japan Inc.

Champion is an athletic wear brand that was established in 1919 in Rochester, New York, the United States. Acclaimed for their high durability, Champion products were adopted by the United States Military Academy as training wear. Champion has also provided its products to the sports teams of many universities and colleges, including the University of Michigan. It has thus established a solid position in the athletic wear industry. In 1934, Champion developed the Reverse Weave® sweatshirt that is synonymous with the brand. It made Champion widely known as a pioneering brand that has established the prototypical sweatshirt. Currently, Champion offers a wide array of casual wear and sportswear, including sweatshirts, T-shirts, hoodies and activewear. Due to their high quality, which is ensured by manufacturing in which careful attention is paid to detail, including functionality, durability, materials and sewing methods, the products are supported by many people of many different generations as their regular choices.

Going forward, ITOCHU will strive to enhance the value of the Champion brand in Japan by combining its broad knowledge and network in the brand business with the expertise in digital marketing and e-commerce sales that are the strengths of Inglewood in cooperation with Authentic. ITOCHU will collaborate with various brands, manufacture higher-quality products, and engage in other initiatives to grow the Champion brand to retail sales of around 35.0 billion yen in Japan in three years.

ITOCHU has put forth the management policy "The Brand-new Deal – Profit opportunities are shifting downstream –" and is developing our business areas by tracking needs as they diversify with social changes and by pioneering and evolving downstream businesses that are closer to the consumers. ITOCHU will work to maximize the value of Champion, a quality global brand, and accelerate new development activities in the Japanese market, taking full advantage of the experience and expertise it has cultivated over many years in the brand business, in addition to its market-oriented perspective.

The company owns brands including Reebok, Brooks Brothers, NAUTICA, Eddie Bauer, and Barneys New York.