straight to your inbox Last year Puma and Manchester City launched a new kit on a helipad against the backdrop of the Shanghai skyline.
Roll on 12 months and even plans for an event three miles from the Etihad were kiboshed by a local lockdown announced hours before it was due to take place.
There have been far greater and graver consequences from the pandemic across the world than football shirts. But a ten-year deal worth up to £650m is big business, and having to constantly revise plans that have been so carefully choreographed proved a major headache for the two organisations.
A partnership based on going hard rather than going home had to adapt when whole countries were confined to theirs. As days turned to weeks, it quickly became.