Adidas surprises Edmonton boy, two years later, with custom-made jersey he designed
Jasper Fleming and a friend spent an afternoon drawing a new soccer kit, and decided to send it to Adidas, hoping the company would design the jersey.
With help from his parents, the 10 year old sent a letter to the Adidas Canada head office in Ontario, even though they didn't have an address or any contact information.
"I hope you can make this full kit that I designed," Jasper wrote to Adidas. "Please fix the mistake on the logo. I thought that inferno was spelled with a 'w' at the end."
Two years later, with some help and kindness along the way, Jasper saw that hope become reality.
Years in the making
When they first mailed off the design, Lise Fleming and her husband didn't really expect a response.
"We decided to go ahead and send it and see what happened," Lise Fleming told CBC's Edmonton AM on Wednesday. "My husband and I tried to manage expectations a bit."
The package eventually made it to its intended destination, even without an address.
"It sounds like Canada Post had to do a bit of sleuthing on there," Fleming said.
She said representatives from the company told her the package sat for a while before the new brand manager found it.
A couple of months ago, Lise Fleming was surprised to get a call from Adidas. Someone at the company had to look up the return address to find a phone number for the family.
When Jasper finally received the package earlier this month, he wasn't sure what to expect.
"I hadn't seen the designs in two years," he said.
Inside the box was the red-and-green jersey Jasper and his friend designed, including the crest for "FC Inferno" on the left breast.
"It was really heartwarming to see how much detail they put into it," Lise Fleming said. "It's certainly something that's very special for a kid to receive in the mail."
The company also sent a Colombia national team jersey, Jasper's favourite soccer team, and a pair of FC Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi cleats.
"They really try to encourage their employees to live by the mantra of the power to change lives," Fleming said of Adidas. "I guess he [the new brand manager] really took that to heart and decided to go ahead with the project for a special little kid."
Jasper isn't sure whether there's a career in jersey design in his future. Since his friend helped with the design, Jasper gave him the Colombia jersey.
"We never could have imagined it could have worked out the way it did," Lise Fleming said. "We're certainly happy that they decided to take a chance and do it."
