UK Gear, a British brand of running and walking footwear that specializes in deliveries to armed forces, has recruited three managers formerly dealing with Saucony UK to forge ahead with a large-scale launch at retail level. Andrew Sainsbury, former managing director of Stride Rite UK, which owns Saucony UK, has switched to UK Gear along with two members of an external customer services team that dealt with the Saucony brand in the country.
This comes after Stride Rite decided to reorganize its European management and to move logistics and customer service for the U.K. market to the Netherlands earlier this year (see below). It pulled out of a third-party agreement for warehousing in Portsmouth, which was immediately taken over by UK Gear. This logistical operation will be used by UK Gear for the retail market, while its existing head office at the Priory, near Rugby, will concentrate on military markets.
For the time being, UK Gear chiefly supplies army units and army stores on military bases in Germany, France, the U.K., Poland and more. Its running shoes are designed and developed with the U.K. Army, which tests them to destruction. For example, its Desert running shoe went through final testing in Afghanistan. The standard outfit for British soldiers includes two pairs of UK Gear footwear, one for indoor activities and the other for outdoor running.
In a major diversification, UK Gear started delivering shoes to a few retail customers in the last years. For the last four years it has been selling shoes to The Sweatshop, a specialist U.K. chain, and it has seen its sales to this account multiply threefold in the last 12 months. Furthermore, it sells to a few independents in other countries and through the internet in the U.K. and the U.S. markets, with roadrunnersports.com and shoebuy.com.
The recruitment of Sainsbury and two more staff members is meant to accelerate UK Gear’s retail sales, and to explore the brand’s retail launch in other European countries. For the time being UK Gear has international offices in San Diego, California, and distribution agreements in France, Poland and Australia, albeit specializing in military contracts.
To begin with, UK Gear is targeting up to 150 dealers in the U.K. in the next three years. The three recruitments and logistical expansion in Portsmouth are a considerable investment for the company, which previously employed nine people, including three in California. Founded in 1993 by David Hinde, UK Gear is still managed and almost entirely owned by this former designer and sports marketing manager.
