A month after the scheduled date, the organizing committee (OC) is still claiming that merchandise for the Commonwealth Games 2010 will be available ‘‘soon’’.
On Sunday, senior OC officials said merchandise would be unveiled for the Delhi Games ‘‘within this week’’. Said a senior CWG official connected with the merchandise function, ‘‘The difficulties with Premier Brands the company manufacturing the merchandise for OC has been resolved. We expect the products to hit the market this week.’’
The decision to launch the products ranging from T-shirts, caps, wrist bands and other memorabilia to home furnishings comes after months of delay in launching the merchandise. The launch was to take place on July 15, which was delayed to the first week of August. But this deadline too could not be met.
Sources said the decision to launch the products had been decided for August 6-7, but got cancelled at the last minute. On August 13, the company which had been selected to manufacture the merchandise, Premier Brands, pulled out of the deal, citing the delay which it claimed made it impossible for it to make any profits. However, on August 28, in an executive board meeting, the deal with PBL was revived, said OC officials.
Sources said products worth Rs 3 crore had already been manufactured by PBL, which makes the launch of the merchandise possible. Officials connected with the merchandising operation admit the last two months leading up to the Games are crucial, not only in terms of revenue for the OC but also to drum up enthusiasm and public interest in the Delhi Games.
Incidentally, products bearing the CWG logo have already started appearing in many markets. Shopping havens like Janpath and Sarojini Nagar can be seen selling T-shirts and other apparel bearing the Games logo in numbers but the products are not endorsed by the OC.
On Sunday, senior OC officials said merchandise would be unveiled for the Delhi Games ‘‘within this week’’. Said a senior CWG official connected with the merchandise function, ‘‘The difficulties with Premier Brands the company manufacturing the merchandise for OC has been resolved. We expect the products to hit the market this week.’’
The decision to launch the products ranging from T-shirts, caps, wrist bands and other memorabilia to home furnishings comes after months of delay in launching the merchandise. The launch was to take place on July 15, which was delayed to the first week of August. But this deadline too could not be met.
Sources said the decision to launch the products had been decided for August 6-7, but got cancelled at the last minute. On August 13, the company which had been selected to manufacture the merchandise, Premier Brands, pulled out of the deal, citing the delay which it claimed made it impossible for it to make any profits. However, on August 28, in an executive board meeting, the deal with PBL was revived, said OC officials.
Sources said products worth Rs 3 crore had already been manufactured by PBL, which makes the launch of the merchandise possible. Officials connected with the merchandising operation admit the last two months leading up to the Games are crucial, not only in terms of revenue for the OC but also to drum up enthusiasm and public interest in the Delhi Games.
Incidentally, products bearing the CWG logo have already started appearing in many markets. Shopping havens like Janpath and Sarojini Nagar can be seen selling T-shirts and other apparel bearing the Games logo in numbers but the products are not endorsed by the OC.
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