News Archive | TEAMS BOWLED OVER BY WINNING DESIGNS
TEAMS BOWLED OVER BY WINNING DESIGNS
The clock is always ticking on sporting careers. For cricketers, the end usually comes at around 35 to 37 - assuming you avoid injury. James Kirtley is 32, and playing for Sussex County Cricket Club has been his living for the last 12 years.
"It's a wonderful life to have," he says, "but there's a cut-off." He knows he has maybe three or four years' play left, and then he'll need a new form of income.
So he was definitely interested in 2004 when he, his long-time friend Roger Myall and Nick Keeley, thought of making a business of bespoke sportswear. Keeley, who works for the cricket equipment manufacturer Newbery, knew logistics.
Myall, whom Kirtley met playing league cricket, had also worked at Newbery product sourcing and sales and marketing. The three contributed equal funds and set up MKK Sports.
The idea that teams and schools want sportswear in their own colours seems obvious. Yet, says Kirtley: "There was a company that only provided a cricket shirt with a navy panel. Our club colours are bottle green, and we thought if we could find a supplier prepared to work with us, we could provide different panels, piping, embroidery, etcetera, and offer a service."
In July 2004, Myall went to China to meet suppliers and find out their capabilities, based on Keeley's existing contacts. In October, Kirtley made a trip there, partly to take over a big order, but "also for my conscience".
He wanted to know China didn't mean sweatshops, "None of us wanted to get involved in that. The only way to be sure was to go there and see first-hand the conditions and environment we were going to use."
There are sound reasons to use Chinese suppliers besides cost. "Their attention to detail, the quality of the embroidery - and fabrics we use are made in Taiwan." Embroidery therefore can be done before garment construction, which is cheaper and better, especially for waterproof garments. The minimum order is only 25 - a strong selling point.
The company has grown by word of mouth, beginning with Eastbourne College, where Kirtley's wife works. "They wanted their colours - a specific cornflower blue. We made shirts for their tour with the correct Pantone colour and they went down fantastically well."
Pantone colour? A technical term Kirtley agrees is new vocabulary. "Understanding the terms - gross profit, net profit, Pantone references, fabric names like poly tricot - that's been the hardest thing to do. The next hardest is time management."
Cricket is six months a year. In the winters and on summer evenings, he works with customers and sponsors; year-round he supplies expertise on players' needs in garments, fabrics, design and service.
"I'm very much at the coalface of where our garments are used." The clothes have to be comfortable, hold together, and stand up to washing by everyone from harassed mothers to professional laundryfolk.
MKK now supplies his own club, for example ("We tendered along with everyone else"), and MKK's year was, he says, the first time everyone reported in to find their kit ready, boxed, and correctly labelled. "We try to set ourselves apart with those sorts of details."
Myall, who runs the business, and the designer the company has recently hired are the only two full-time salaries the company is currently paying. Keeley, who does the logistics, still works with Newbery.
"I know we're very lucky," Kirtley says, "but I did not appreciate how many people have either failed or struggled with first-year businesses. I thought everyone, if they started a business with a good idea, they were bound to be successful."
He also was surprised "how much work it takes. I've been in a profession where I know you can't just turn up and do it. You have to train and work hard. It's the same in anything you do, whether you're working late at night on a laptop on a kitchen table, or making sacrifices early on."
"It's a wonderful life to have," he says, "but there's a cut-off." He knows he has maybe three or four years' play left, and then he'll need a new form of income.
So he was definitely interested in 2004 when he, his long-time friend Roger Myall and Nick Keeley, thought of making a business of bespoke sportswear. Keeley, who works for the cricket equipment manufacturer Newbery, knew logistics.
Myall, whom Kirtley met playing league cricket, had also worked at Newbery product sourcing and sales and marketing. The three contributed equal funds and set up MKK Sports.
The idea that teams and schools want sportswear in their own colours seems obvious. Yet, says Kirtley: "There was a company that only provided a cricket shirt with a navy panel. Our club colours are bottle green, and we thought if we could find a supplier prepared to work with us, we could provide different panels, piping, embroidery, etcetera, and offer a service."
In July 2004, Myall went to China to meet suppliers and find out their capabilities, based on Keeley's existing contacts. In October, Kirtley made a trip there, partly to take over a big order, but "also for my conscience".
He wanted to know China didn't mean sweatshops, "None of us wanted to get involved in that. The only way to be sure was to go there and see first-hand the conditions and environment we were going to use."
There are sound reasons to use Chinese suppliers besides cost. "Their attention to detail, the quality of the embroidery - and fabrics we use are made in Taiwan." Embroidery therefore can be done before garment construction, which is cheaper and better, especially for waterproof garments. The minimum order is only 25 - a strong selling point.
The company has grown by word of mouth, beginning with Eastbourne College, where Kirtley's wife works. "They wanted their colours - a specific cornflower blue. We made shirts for their tour with the correct Pantone colour and they went down fantastically well."
Pantone colour? A technical term Kirtley agrees is new vocabulary. "Understanding the terms - gross profit, net profit, Pantone references, fabric names like poly tricot - that's been the hardest thing to do. The next hardest is time management."
Cricket is six months a year. In the winters and on summer evenings, he works with customers and sponsors; year-round he supplies expertise on players' needs in garments, fabrics, design and service.
"I'm very much at the coalface of where our garments are used." The clothes have to be comfortable, hold together, and stand up to washing by everyone from harassed mothers to professional laundryfolk.
MKK now supplies his own club, for example ("We tendered along with everyone else"), and MKK's year was, he says, the first time everyone reported in to find their kit ready, boxed, and correctly labelled. "We try to set ourselves apart with those sorts of details."
Myall, who runs the business, and the designer the company has recently hired are the only two full-time salaries the company is currently paying. Keeley, who does the logistics, still works with Newbery.
"I know we're very lucky," Kirtley says, "but I did not appreciate how many people have either failed or struggled with first-year businesses. I thought everyone, if they started a business with a good idea, they were bound to be successful."
He also was surprised "how much work it takes. I've been in a profession where I know you can't just turn up and do it. You have to train and work hard. It's the same in anything you do, whether you're working late at night on a laptop on a kitchen table, or making sacrifices early on."
