UP245 What it means to be Unsigned

Lorraine Ugen's story is a must listen for anyone interested in the personal and commercial reality of professional sport. Ugen is an Olympian who competes in her own brand; one she designed, manufactured and models, and who's building a community of fellow athletes who face the dilemma of competing at the highest level without personal sponsorship from the big sports apparel and equipment manufacturers.  Ugen competed in the long jump at the Rio 2016 Olympics and captained the Great Britain team at the inaugural Athletics World Cup in 2018, winning gold in the women's long jump. For England, she anchored the women's 4 x 100 metres relay team to gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. As a collegiate athlete in the United States, she won an NCAA indoor and outdoor long jump titles. As Covid hit, Ugen found herself without a personal sponsor, the income from which is one of the bases of a professional athlete's income. The plan is to allow athletes to wear the Unsigned brand and attract their own endorsement offers, while fans buy it and support Ugen's growing community of sports stars.You can find out more via UnsignedSport.com We're joined by regular co-host Laura Weston, former MD of Iris Sport and a board member of the Women's Sport Trust. If you like the podcasts, sign up to the Unofficial Partner newsletter, that goes to thousands of people across global sport every Thursday. Or you can follow us on Twitter @UnffclPrtnrUnofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.