spized Founder Robin Teppich on hummel Partnership: “Two opposites that complement each other perfectly”

hummel is synonymous with handball tradition like few other brands, while spized stands for customization and digital processes. With the new partnership, two different approaches come together to create new opportunities for clubs. In this interview, spized founder Robin Teppich talks about the significance of the collaboration, their shared vision and how jersey design and production could evolve in the coming years.

Robin Teppich ist Gründer von spized.
Robin Teppich is the founder of spized. Photo: Max Gillmeier.

hummel x spized: Tradition meets customization

In July, hummel and spized publicly announced their partnership, bringing together the tradition of an established sports brand with the possibilities of fully customized teamwear. At launch, twelve selected hummel products are available: jerseys and shorts for women, men and children in handball and football. The characteristic hummel fit and iconic chevrons remain, while the visual design is entirely in the hands of each club.

For spized founder Robin Teppich, the collaboration is more than a classic partnership between two sports brands, as he explains in an interview. As a former professional handball player, he knows the importance of hummel in the sport from personal experience. At the same time, he sees the partnership with spized as an opportunity to make customized hummel products accessible to a target group that for a long time had to rely primarily on standard jerseys.

Milestone for spized

Robin, for someone with a background in handball: What does hummel mean to you, and what significance does the brand have in handball?

Robin Teppich: It was a milestone for us and something really special that a brand like hummel wanted to work with us. For handball players, I think hummel is the brand. It’s a traditional brand that every handball player associates with something special and high quality. So I was really proud when a company like this approached us and said, “Hey, why don’t we do something together?” hummel has expertise that we perhaps don’t have in the same way – and vice versa. For spized, this gives us the opportunity to stand out from the competition and make a new statement with this innovation and collaboration.

On top of that, hummel makes really cool products and has increasingly moved towards lifestyle in recent years. This has made the brand accessible to a broader audience. As a result, I believe hummel brings a high level of brand awareness with it, which of course also benefits us. Customers now have the option of choosing a premium hummel product or going with our spized in-house brand.

spized-hummel
From now on, you can fully customize hummel jerseys and shorts for football and handball at spized to match your vision.

“It's the combination that makes this collaboration so exciting”

Why do you think hummel and spized are such a good fit?

I think we’re approaching the market from two different directions. spized is the innovative, smaller provider that produces completely on demand: An order comes in, and only then do we start production, directly for the end customer. That’s the opposite of the traditional model based on standard products, catalog collections and distribution through retailers used by established brands. At first glance, these are two opposites that complement each other perfectly. We can offer something that isn’t part of hummel’s core business, while at the same time benefiting from the strength of this established traditional brand. It’s precisely this combination that makes the collaboration so exciting.

Customization knows no league

In the end, amateur athletes in particular benefit from this. They can now customize hummel jerseys themselves – something that in the past may have been reserved primarily for professional or larger clubs. What does that mean to you?

A lot, because I’ve never understood why professional clubs should be able to do something that smaller amateur clubs can’t. Why should a professional club be able to get a fully customized jersey while amateur sports have to settle for generic standard products? That’s why it’s great that, together with hummel, we’re now reaching a new group of customers who may not have come into contact with spized before but can now discover our business model and see the value it offers. This creates a synergy that helps us reach an even broader audience.

spized has now been on the market for almost seven years. Where do you want the company to be in another seven years?

My goal is for spized to become the go-to company for customized sportswear. On the one hand, we naturally want to continue expanding our product range. At the same time, we want to become even better within our niche: when it comes to customization, new possibilities through AI and digital features. But there are also many areas around clubs where we can provide support, such as volunteering and sponsorship. There are so many topics that we can address with digital solutions – helping clubs become more successful, more individual and ultimately happier. We want to truly live by the idea of “by athletes, for athletes” and, above all, be a friend to amateur sports.

AI and digitalization – what role do these topics play in team sportswear?

They will certainly play a very important role. Jersey designs can already be generated today using ChatGPT, Gemini or similar tools. That’s the first step. The second step is then being able to produce those designs exactly as envisioned, which is much more difficult. Ultimately, this will make the market even more competitive and crowded. But of course, it also creates opportunities for us to become faster and better. We’re already working extensively with AI behind the scenes.

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“When it comes to design, there’s a constant cycle”

Are there any trends that could change the market in the coming years – design elements that might make a comeback?

Absolutely. Both in terms of fit and design, there’s a constant cycle. Something tends to come back every ten years or so. I still remember an extremely slim-fitting football jersey from our early days that we called the “Arjen Robben tribute jersey.” It was a really tight-fitting football jersey. Two years later, nobody wanted it anymore. We’ll probably be wearing skin-tight jerseys again in ten years. Right now, they’re not really in fashion – perhaps slightly looser-fitting jerseys are more popular.

It’s similar when it comes to design. Stefan Kretzschmar recently sparked a discussion about why so many handball clubs look like advertising billboards. If you look at the jerseys of the current Bundesliga teams, you can already see that some of them are very clean and minimalist. Maybe they listened to Kretzschmar. Perhaps this will become a trend again: going for a cleaner look, with fewer patterns and just a few subtle accents. The great thing about spized is that we can cater to both styles – wild and colorful just as much as clean and classic.

Design your own: Anyone who wants to create their own hummel jersey can find the available models and the 3D configurator.

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