In 1993 a new era for Palmeiras would begin in Brazil. Italian dairy giant Parmalat would invest heavily in the club and lead them to a decade of glory. Coincidentally (or not), around the same time Palmeiras would switch their jersey manufacturer from Adidas to the unknown Rhumell.
There was a series of issues with this new obscure local brand. First of all, it seemed like a blatant knock-off of the Danish brand Hummel, in Portuguese both names are read exactly the same. In addition, during its first year Rhumell even used the same logo, the distinct arrows that are as associated to Hummel as the swoosh is to Nike.
Despite the brands controversy Rhumell took Brazilian soccer by storm, the brand came out of the blue and sponsored dozens of clubs simultaneously throughout the 90's and even sponsored the Chilean national team. Regardless, none of their other deals were as talked about as the one with Palmeiras. The club president at the time, Mustafa Contursi, allegedly closed the deal despite having better offers on the table. In fact, no one ever got a hold of the contract and rumor has it Palmeiras was making $0 from the agreement. Later, Mustafa was accused of being directly involved with the brand, a clear conflict of interest, but it was never proven.
Years later an investigation was opened, but the officials were unable to get a hold of both the ex-president Mustafa and any representative of Rhumell.
By 2006 Rhumell had completely faded back into obscurity but not before giving soccer fans a few more bizarre stories. The more egregious one is this jersey that Rhumell made for America-RJ using both their own logo AND the one of the brand that they are accused of plagiarizing from:
There was also an unusual situation with Bahia where the deal was sealed, the jerseys were manufactured and delivered, but the club suddenly broke the contract unilaterally before the season even started and closed a deal with Diadora instead. Bahia never gave an official reason for their actions but rumor has it that Rhumell got the tone of blue wrong and the club found it unacceptable. The jerseys were never used on the field and donated to local street markets.
Rhumell had disappeared for about a decade before returning to the scene. In 2017 they briefly manufactured Bragantino's jerseys, Anapolina in 2022 and Independente de Limeira in 2024. Far from the spotlight like they were in the 1990's.
Interestingly, in 2022 the original Danish brand Hummel announced it would start getting ready to enter the Brazilian market, claiming they are 17 years late because they were previously legally prevented from doing so because of Rhumell. This time, however, Hummel promises to take any legal measure necessary to be successful.