O’Neills Sportswear celebrates their centenary year in 2018. The family-owned company, not only supplies professional sports organisations such as Super League clubs St Helens, Huddersfield Giants and Widnes Vikings, but also Cricket Ireland, all sectors of education and rugby’s children’s charity Wooden Spoon.
Since joining forces with Wooden Spoon, over 4,000 pairs of O’Neills/Wooden Spoon socks have been purchased by schools and clubs all helping the charity to raise much-needed funds for projects helping underprivileged and disadvantaged children.
If your school is interested in supporting this fantastic charity, please contact Ian Lindsay at Wooden Spoon – Ilindsay@woodenspoon.org.uk
O’Neills Sportswear celebrates their centenary year in 2018. The family-owned company, not only supplies professional sports organisations such as Super League clubs St Helens, Huddersfield Giants and Widnes Vikings, but also Cricket Ireland, all sectors of education and rugby’s children’s charity Wooden Spoon.
Senior independent schools such as Blundell’s (pictured above playing in the English School National Trophy Final), Bristol Grammar School, Cathedral School Llandaff, Devonport HS for Boys, King’s Bruton, Kingswood Bath, Llandovery College and Manchester Grammar School have all turned to O’Neills for a variety of reasons, most stating poor levels of service as the reason for a change.
The prep school market is also a growth area with All Hallows (Somerset), Belmont, Great Walstead, Moulsford, Perrot Hill and Rose Hill Schools joining forces with O’Neills.
Peter hopes that the service O’Neills provides to ALL customers will result in more of a trust developing in a market that for years has not exactly done itself favours in this area. His experiences in education and especially when working in rugby union, did not paint a pretty picture, mainly due to excessive leadtimes and poor levels of service/communication.
He believes O’Neills stands alone in this area. “Bespoke teamwear, embroidered and/or printed goods can all be with the customer in three to four weeks. A lot of our sports clubs and a growing number from education now prefer online shops, rather than tying up money in stock which may or may not sell. We can deliver to the door of the customer in three to seven days and have the ability to supply teamwear in the same period and all made on demand. The factory in Strabane has increased its capacity to cope with the demand for online shopping and this is the future,” said Peter.
“The regional sales office in Somerset for the South of England and Wales and Leigh and Greater Manchester for the North of England and Scotland are also key to O’Neills success. Our customers really do build up a bond with our fantastic admin team. They are one call away from always getting an answer and this counts for such a lot,” continued Peter. “One hundred years is an incredible achievement in an age when so many suppliers come and go and the aim is to grow the UK, European and global business via offices that have now been set up in France, Australia and the US.”
If your school wants to work with a UK supplier/manufacturer who will welcome you to the factory, so you can see for yourselves what is possible, don’t hesitate to contact Peter Kennedy on pk@oneillsuk.com or via 01458 448414. Ffi: oneills.com
