Ron Hill, the British running apparel brand, is preparing to hire an international sales manager after its acquisition last year of Hilly, a brand of technical socks named after the same British long-distance runner.
The sales forces of the two brands has remained distinct, but the integration of their management and back office has been going ahead fast. Graham Richards, former brand director of Hilly, was placed in charge of sales and marketing for the two brands this summer. Meanwhile, Steve Rothwell, who was the brand director for Ron Hill, has become the sourcing and product development manager for the two brands.
While the Ron Hill brand should achieve sales of about £5.5 million (€6.5m-$8.6m) this year, Hilly will make about £1.6 million (€1.9m-$2.5m). Their joint target is to reach about £10 million (€11.8m-$15.7m) in the next two years, but this could be achieved much earlier if they do well with international distribution deals that they have secured recently with the combination of apparel and socks.
The Ron Hill brand was launched in the U.S. market at the Running Event in Austin, Texas, a few weeks ago. It was introduced by Chris Nelson, who formerly worked with Nathan and several other American brands, and now represents both Ron Hill and Hilly. Two months earlier Ron Hill was introduced in Canada through an exclusive distribution agreement with Running Room, a specialist retailer in the country. A similar agreement was struck in the Netherlands with Runners World, a chain of nearly 30 running stores belonging to Euretco, the buying group behind the Sport 2000 banner in the country.
