Image by FLEXX
Ivorian sportswear brand FLEXX has been named Official Apparel Partner of the Comité National Olympique de Côte d’Ivoire (CNO-CIV) and will dress the country’s delegation at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, which open today. The partnership puts a homegrown label on Côte d’Ivoire’s team at the first Olympic event held in Africa, a role filled by an American supplier at the last Games.
FLEXX announced the partnership under the campaign line “The Fabric of a Nation”. In the French version of its announcement, the company said the deal covers equipping the Ivorian delegation for Dakar and called it a new chapter for African sportswear on the international stage.
“Together, we are bringing a new expression of national identity to the international sporting stage, combining design, performance and the pride of representing a nation,” the company said.
The partnership is a change of direction for the committee
For Paris 2024, CNO-CIV signed NUBA, an American apparel company, in May 2024. FLEXX, founded in 2021 by Ivorian entrepreneur Jean-Jacques Koffi and operating between Abidjan and Kigali, has been adding institutional rights at pace. In December 2025 it signed a two-year deal to become official kit supplier to the Ivorian Tennis Federation, and earlier this year it secured a partnership with NBA Africa through the Basketball Africa League.
Committee treasurer Alfred Karou said in December 2025 that the body expected approximately 20 million CFA francs in sponsorship towards its Dakar budget, which covers equipment and athlete travel. An apparel partner supplying kit takes one of the bigger costs off that list, although the value of this arrangement has not been made public.
The Youth Olympics is a smaller stage than a senior Games but still a useful one. Kitting a full national delegation, on deadline and to Olympic standards, is the operational proof a young brand needs before it can credibly pitch for senior Olympic or national football team contracts, categories where international suppliers have typically won. Stacking the tennis federation, the Olympic committee and a BAL partnership also gives FLEXX a domestic base of national rights, the same route larger sportswear brands used to build credibility in their home markets.
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