Following the University of Wisconsin’s decision to cut ties with Nike over workers rights concerns early this year, the Board of Regents approved a five-year extension to a major apparel contract with Adidas.

The deal means Adidas has exclusive rights to manufacture the UW sideline apparel and print the official logo on merchandise. In return, UW Athletics will continue to use only Adidas products for team apparel and footwear and for certain equipment, according to a report given to the Regents.

Last April UW terminated an apparel contract with Nike over their refusal to pay severance to workers in Honduras after closing down several plants in the country.

In July, after several other universities threatened to end their own contracts with Nike, the company announced they were going to contribute $1.54 million to a Honduras worker relief fund.

Student Labor Action Coalition member Daniel Cox said it was a tremendous victory for students and the university and said it shows cutting contracts can really work, even when dealing with large corporations.

By Nike agreeing to pay the workers severance and contributing to their health care fund they actually ended up paying more than the workers were originally owed, Cox said.

Cox added Nike was always a company which refused to admit they had done anything wrong, and with this action may start a precedent where they will be responsible for their workings and their subcontractor’s workers.

Justin Doherty, a spokesperson for the UW athletic department, said UW has had a good two-way working relationship with Adidas for almost 10 years.

However, Cox said Adidas does not have a clean record when it comes to dealing with their workers.

Yet even though Adidas may have a cleaner record then Nike, Cox pointed out that none in the industry have a squeaky clean background.

“There really isn’t a company with great conduct with any of the big apparel companies; they all have mixed records,” Cox said.

Cox added the new larger contract does not change the fact they must follow UW’s rules for its apparel contracts.

“Whether they are selling 10 dollars worth of UW apparel or 10 million dollars […] if they want access to our market they better follow the code of conduct,” Cox said.

UW has had a non-exclusive contract with Adidas since 2001, however the current contract was set to expire in June 2011.

The new contract will run until 2016, and will increase the amount of money UW Athletics receives from Adidas.

In the final year of its old contract with Adidas UW will receive $450,000, while in the first two years of the new agreement the amount UW receives will increase to $850,000 and then $900,000 the final three years.

Without an apparel agreement UW would have to spend around $1.5 million a year to equip its 23 athletic teams.

As a part of the new contract UW has agreed to not license apparel to Adidas’ biggest competitors, which include Nike, Under Armour, Puma and New Balance, according to Doherty.

Doherty added other companies could produce Badger logos on clothing for sale at retail stores, but not official sideline apparel.