12 Facts About Russell Athletic

Russell Athletic is an American clothing manufacturer based in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Currently a subsidiary of global company Fruit of the Loom, Russell Athletic was the main brand of Russell Brands, LLC until its acquisition in 2006.

Russell Athletic supplied jersey uniforms and apparel for many professional sports teams of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, and high schools, colleges, universities, and minor league teams, until it shut down its team uniform division in 2017.

Today, Russell Athletic primarily focuses on casual wear, producing t-shirts, hoodies, jackets, sweatpants, shorts and underwear.

Later in 1938, Russell began making woven athletic garments, including basketball, baseball, and football pants and jackets.

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In 1941, founder Benjamin Russell died on December 16 and the reins of the company were passed to his son Benjamin C Russell.

Benjamin C Russell died in 1945 and was succeeded as president by his brother, Thomas D Russell.

In 1992, Russell Athletic dealt a five-year contract to serve as the exclusive producer and marketer of athletic uniforms for most Major League Baseball teams.

Russell Athletic's brands joined Fruit of the Loom in the Berkshire Hathaway family of products.

Russell Athletic has had a team of brand ambassadors representing the brand in their local markets, ranging from Olympic swimmers Stephanie Rice and Ellie Faulkner to number of professional rugby union and rugby league players in England and South Africa such as Sailosi Tagicakibau, Cheslin Kolbe, Shaun Lunt, Ryan Atkins, and Stevie Ward and professional health ambassadors and Yoga ambassadors such as Samantha Laura Kaye.

In early 2015 Russell Athletic Europe visited one of their factories and filmed the process of the making of a T-shirt.

Russell Athletic cited that companies like Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour starting their own team uniform units, and as a result eating away at Russell's market share in that department was a contributing factor in discontinuing Russell's team uniform manufacturing business.