Burberry partners with Tour de France team Qhubeka NextHash

Burberry has become the first luxury fashion brand to partner with a Tour de France team; the British house is supporting Team Qhubeka NextHash, a purpose-led, high-performance UCI WorldTour cycling team.

The team competes to raise awareness and funds for Qhubeka – a South African not-for-profit organisation – and Burberry's support will begin with the race on 26 June and run throughout the rest of the year.

Meaning “to move forward” in Nguni, Qhubeka enables people to earn bicycles through its not-for-profit programmes, which will also be supported by a donation from Burberry. Qhubeka’s initiatives help students travel to school, healthcare workers access more patients and first responders transport life-saving equipment to those in need.

Burberry and Team Qhubeka NextHash said the partnership brought together their "shared values of pushing boundaries, exploring new spaces and landscapes to create possibilities and challenging expectations".

Rod Manley, Chief Marketing Officer, Burberry said: “We are delighted to be supporting Team Qhubeka NextHash, partnering with them as they compete in this year’s Tour de France and contributing to their charitable work. We were inspired by their ethos of uniting a diversity of cultures and backgrounds to focus on high performance while having a meaningful positive impact on the communities around them. We will be cheering them on through every stage of the Tour and into the future, and we are so proud to be a part of their team”.

Douglas Ryder, Team Principal, Team Qhubeka NextHash added:“I am so happy to welcome Burberry as an official partner to our team, a brand built on pioneering luxury clothing for the outdoors. The beautiful Thomas Burberry Monogram will feature on the jerseys of our team as they push the boundaries and go beyond what they think is possible in Tour de France and the rest of the racing calendar this season. Our mutual passion for diversity and inclusion through the team and the Qhubeka charity is a strong connection, and we look forward to telling some impactful stories together.”

The Burberry logo and Thomas Burberry Monogram will feature on Team Qhubeka NextHash’s cycling jerseys and tour vehicles.