First years: TyC
The brand made its debut in 1999 as "TyC Signia". TyC was the acronym of Torneos y Competencias, an Argentine company created by Carlos Avila which had signed an agreement with the Argentine Football Association to be the exclusive broadcaster of all the Primera División football matches.
TyC expanded its business, creating a sportswear division due to its partnership with Gatic S.A., the Argentine textile manufacturing company founded in 1953 which had the exclusive license of international brands such as Adidas (since 1970),[3] Le Coq Sportif, New Balance, Arena, Asics, LA Gear, and Umbro amongst others to produce and sell their products in the region.[3][4] However, the incomes of the company had strongly decreased during the last years, due to the Argentine economic crisis.
TyC and Gatic signed an agreement with the objective of creating, developing and commercialising the "TyC Signia" brand, which was officially released in April 2009. Signia was conceived as an exclusive brand focused on high-performance products, in order to compete with other premium sports brands.[5]
Despite being supported with massive advertisement campaigns, the sales of the TyC Signia products were poor, as well its repercussion as a new brand. This caused the first restructuring just one year later, when the brand was renamed simply as "Signia". Soon after, TyC signed its first agreements with some Primera División football teams, such as San Lorenzo de Almagro and Los Andes, which played its third run on Primera División wearing Signia equipment.
Signia designed some uniforms for San Lorenzo that were controversial, such as the black model (inspired by both, the nicknamed of the club, cuervo –raven– and the colour of father Lorenzo Massa's cassock), with a yellow sleeve to supposedly represent a raven peak.[6] The model debuted in a match vs. River Plate, which would be the only time it was worn so the club recalled the jersey despite sales were good. Another model made by Signia for San Lorenzo was a silver kit, a rare jersey at the time, worn in the 2000 Copa Mercosur.[7]
Although Gatic had the exclusive license to manufacture the Adidas products in Argentina, the German company had settled in the country during the 1990s, becoming Gatic's main rival. In 2002, Adidas decided to end its partnership with Gatic, after the Argentine subsidiary called to a creditor's meeting.[8]
The 2001 Argentine economic collapse and the high price of the dollar stopped the entry of imported products (which had relegated the sporting goods manufactured in Argentina during the decade of the 1990s due to their lower costs) to the country. That situation encouraged Eduardo Bakchellian (the old owner of Gatic) to take Gatic over again in 2002. The company would be not a licensor but a manufacturer and provider of products for other brands such as Adidas (its former licensor) or Nike, which had arrived to Argentina a few years before.
