Capitalizing on the growing popularity of rugby and inspired by its values, Samurai is broadening the range of its apparel collections from teamwear into the wider lifestyle and athleisure sectors to address a wider community of consumers. It’s going to do this with a lot of story-telling on social media and with the launch of its first web store, starting with the domestic British market and addressing mainly young male and female consumers aged 20 to 35.
Named after a team of special Japanese rugby players who competed in the 1995 World Rugby Cup, Samurai has been focusing until now on supplying kits for a number of rugby, netball, hockey and cricket clubs as well as schools and corporate clients. Its main rugby sponsorships are with the Exeter Chiefs and the Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership. The highly functional kits are made at the company’s own Chinese factory in Shenzhen.
The company has changed its name from Samurai Sportswear to just Samurai as part of a rebranding process. Using organic cotton and sustainable packaging, a line of T-shirts, leggings and other clothing items for the general public will come out under the Samurai brand name and its redesigned logo in February. Besides the company’s new e-commerce platform, they will also be made available at some selected boutiques, starting in the U.K. As the videos on the company’s website suggest, Samurai is also looking at the sports of running and fitness down the road.
“Starting from rugby, our vision is to build a trend-setting, tech-savy and forward-thinking global brand inspiring people to embrace their lives both on and off the sports field by ‘pushing forward’ our core values of courage, dedication, integrity and purity,” says Stefano Schivo, the company’s young new CEO.
Replacing Terry Sands, who founded the company 25 years ago, the 31-year-old Italian native took over Samurai’s management in London following the recent takeover of a controlling stake by Primosole Holdings. Sands is carrying on as director of commercial relations, taking charge primarily of relations with the teams sponsored by the company as well as numerous schools, colleges and other B2B clients.
After intense studies in Italy and abroad, Schivo worked mainly in management consulting and acquisitions for BNP Paribas and Nomura. He played football until the age of 20, and he also founded and led an Italian start-up that developed a special app to help find student jobs.
Since joining Samurai, Schivo has installed an ERP and a new accounting system to prepare the company for the next phase of its development. He has also hired experienced professionals: Jack Dyson, who previously worked for a producer of leather jackets, Boda Skins; building up a community of 25,000 followers on Instagram, has become head of marketing, Peter Sutton, a former key account manager for Adidas and Reebok, will lead the sales team.
According to Schivo, the use of the registered Samurai brand name is “not contentious.” In fact, the company has distributors for its teamwear in Japan as well as the Fiji and Samoa islands, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Romania and the United Arab Emirates. The company’s distributor for the U.S. is being changed. Samurai also has sales representatives for Ireland and France. About half of its sales come from foreign markets.
With annual sales of between £7 million (€8.2m-$9.3m) and £8 million (€9.4-$10.6m) in a normal year, the company suffered a lot from last year’s Covid-related lockdowns. Thanks to new efficiencies, it is profitable now, in spite of recent strong investments, and its sales for this year are going to be 15 percent higher than forecast, says Schivo, declining to be more specific.
The business plan for the next three to five years calls for annual double-digit increases through the new branding strategy and the diversification of the product line, says Schivo. The teamwear business will be maintained, privileging margins over sales, improving product development and customer service with a goal of positioning Samurai as a “cool” brand at the 2023 World Rugby Cup in Paris.
