O'Neills to manufacture new Harlequins kit

kensutz

Good to see an Irish company getting in on the act:

http://www.union.quins.co.uk/news/13465.php

Harlequins Rugby Club are delighted to announce a new kit partnership with Irish based technical sports apparel provider O'Neills Irish International Sports Co Ltd.


The four year deal sees O'Neills take over as the club's official kit partner from the start of the 2011/12 season and will produce a bespoke range of training and playing kit for the Harlequins squad and supporters.

The partnership sees Harlequins join forces with a sports apparel partner who are stepping into the professional rugby union market for the first time. This key strategic partnership will provide O'Neills with a platform at the top tier of rugby union to raise its visibility and profile within the UK and international markets.

Commenting on the deal, Harlequins Interim Chief Executive David Morgan said: "The club went through a very competitive tender process for the new kit partnership with a number of high profile sportswear brands keen to associate themselves with our club and the famous quartered shirt. Following this process we are delighted to have reached an agreement with O'Neills that suits both parties in equal measure. Like Harlequins, O'Neills are an established yet ambitious brand and we are all greatly looking forward to working with people that share our vision whilst building on our existing relationship to ensure that the partnership is a successful one. They have a hugely successful track record in kit partnerships with sports clubs and I'm sure that players and supporters alike will be very happy with both the quality and style of the kit that they produce over the coming four seasons."

Harlequins Director of Rugby Conor O'Shea said: "I know from the playing side of the club the guys are delighted with this deal having already been involved in choosing the kit for next season. O'Neill's have established themselves in sport in Ireland and are making major strides in the UK. I am sure we will have some exciting times over the period of this contract as our team continues to develop and grow just like O'Neill's will do."

O'Neill's UK Sales Manager, Susie Robertson added: "We are really excited about our forthcoming partnership with Harlequins - initial meetings regarding the 2011/12 kit requirements have been extremely successful and the Club has been an absolute pleasure to work alongside. O'Neills is an Irish company founded in 1918 with a wealth of experience in delivering a wide range of team and leisure wear - we design and manufacture our own products and are very proud of our quality and customer service, two aspects which we believe sealed our partnership with Harlequins for the coming seasons. We look forward to supporting the Club and their supporters wholeheartedly throughout the contractual term by providing innovative merchandise to a quality deserving of the Harlequins licensed logo."

mikedragon32

Hopefully they're better than GAA shirts.

smurphy29

Harlequins, a club built in the British public school tradition, can look forward to streepy 1980s shorts next season.:D

Good to see anyone else get in on the action tbh.

Too many companies making one kit and then just swapping colours for other countries / teams etc.

pappyodaniel

I always wondered how do O'Neills get away with having the 3 stripes (adidas) on their jerseys.

Fair play to them all the same, they've been doing Rugby League jerseys for a while.

Risteard

pappyodaniel wrote: »

I always wondered how do O'Neills get away with having the 3 stripes (adidas) on their jerseys.

Think they're allowed the three stripes in Ireland but not anywhere else.

Similar I suppose to Bulmers/Magners.

celtictiger32

they usually only give a **** about the gaa. have dealt with them in the past and found them a nightmare of a company to deal with

Teferi

Yep, O'Neills aren't great to deal with for small orders. I'd imagine it's the same for smaller, local clubs but I'd say they'll work great for Harlequins.

Great to see another company get in on the game, looking forward to see what they come up with. Would love to see an Irish company doing the Irish jerseys in future.

maherball

I thought the three stripes thing was that adidas wanted to do Gaa jerseys (they signed a deal with dublin) but it was blocked so O'Neils did a deal with them so have the three stripes on an O'Neils jersey for a fee which they pay to adidas?

Aidric

Has there been any comment from Aquafresh?

Pete_Cavan

maherball wrote: »

I thought the three stripes thing was that adidas wanted to do Gaa jerseys (they signed a deal with dublin) but it was blocked so O'Neils did a deal with them so have the three stripes on an O'Neils jersey for a fee which they pay to adidas?

I was told once that O'Neills get away with using the three strips because, if you look here, they claim it is not three white stripes against a red background, it is two red stripes against a white background on the sleeve. Not sure how true this is but it is an interesting theory.

Another one I heard (more likely to be true) is that Adidas brought court proceedings against O'Neills in the early 1980's for using the three stripe design and both the High Court and Supreme Court found in favour of O'Neills. It held that Adidas only started using the three stripe design in 1967, whereas O'Neills began putting stripes on their products since 1965, albeit in varying numbers from 1 to 3 stripes. After a while though they began to focus on three stripes also.

Kerry wore addidas jerseys for the '98 season. Then the GAA introduced rule that playing kits must be supplied by an Irish brand (although training tops, jackets, etc. do not necessarily have to be Irish). I think this is a great rule because it supports Irish jobs. In fairness to O'Neills, if you look across the jerseys they do for the various county teams, they have a lot of variety in their designs, possibly more than addidas, nike, etc. do across their rugby/soccer jerseys.

SomeFool

Romania wore o' Neills kit at the last RWC. Will be interesting to see what they can do with the Quins jersey, the one at the monent is awful!

JustinDee

Aidric wrote: »

Has there been any comment from Aquafresh?

Lol!

Hyperbullet

So a GAA kit maker has finally infiltrated the AP. To alter a quote from the Aprés Match lads:

"Sure next season you might see the rugby fellas wearing tighter fitting shorts, and maybe even a pair of gloves. There's more changes to come"

pappyodaniel

Aidric wrote: »

Has there been any comment from Aquafresh?

I don't get it.

hardCopy

pappyodaniel wrote: »

I don't get it.

The other brand with the three stripes

theoneeyedman

Teferi wrote: »

Yep, O'Neills aren't great to deal with for small orders. I'd imagine it's the same for smaller, local clubs but I'd say they'll work great for Harlequins.

Great to see another company get in on the game, looking forward to see what they come up with. Would love to see an Irish company doing the Irish jerseys in future.

you're right there....bought a few sets over years for a small gaa club-once was a nightmare about 8 or 9 years ago and again about 2 years ago lokoking for a set of 20 jerseys(team plays max 13 a side-got a reply with a quote for 25. Called back a few times to get it altered and they didn't even be arsed to reply to my queries. Went to Azzurri and there was no bother with order quantities or mixing sizes for big/small lads. IMO they had gotten lazy with a captive market and i hope they have improved since

Third_Echelon

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

I was told once that O'Neills get away with using the three strips because, if you look here, they claim it is not three white stripes against a red background, it is two red stripes against a white background on the sleeve. Not sure how true this is but it is an interesting theory.

Another one I heard (more likely to be true) is that Adidas brought court proceedings against O'Neills in the early 1980's for using the three stripe design and both the High Court and Supreme Court found in favour of O'Neills. It held that Adidas only started using the three stripe design in 1967, whereas O'Neills began putting stripes on their products since 1965, albeit in varying numbers from 1 to 3 stripes. After a while though they began to focus on three stripes also.

Kerry wore addidas jerseys for the '98 season. Then the GAA introduced rule that playing kits must be supplied by an Irish brand (although training tops, jackets, etc. do not necessarily have to be Irish). I think this is a great rule because it supports Irish jobs. In fairness to O'Neills, if you look across the jerseys they do for the various county teams, they have a lot of variety in their designs, possibly more than addidas, nike, etc. do across their rugby/soccer jerseys.

I think those adidas shirts were manufactured in Ireland though. Carlow i think??

SomeFool wrote: »

Romania wore o' Neills kit at the last RWC. Will be interesting to see what they can do with the Quins jersey, the one at the monent is awful!

Yeah was just about to post about the Romania rugby shirt. I think O'Neills did a shirt for Romania in the 90's as well....

JustinDee

Third_Echelon wrote: »

I think those adidas shirts were manufactured in Ireland though. Carlow i think??

Nope. Adidas use producers in SE Asia, Lithuania and Turkey.

Third_Echelon

JustinDee wrote: »

Nope. Adidas use producers in SE Asia, Lithuania and Turkey.

maybe puma it is i'm thinking of that have a factory in ireland somewhere...

yabadabado

Third_Echelon wrote: »

I think those adidas shirts were manufactured in Ireland though. Carlow i think??

adidas sub-contracted the production of that jersey to a company in Dublin to get around the clause protecting Irish-made kits.

Third_Echelon

yabadabado wrote: »

adidas sub-contracted the production of that jersey to a company in Dublin to get around the clause protecting Irish-made kits.

ah... that's what it was... defo thought that they were made here alright..

JustinDee

Third_Echelon wrote: »

maybe puma it is i'm thinking of that have a factory in ireland somewhere...

They use factories in China and other parts of SE Asia. Almost all of them do.

JustinDee

yabadabado wrote: »

adidas sub-contracted the production of that jersey to a company in Dublin to get around the clause protecting Irish-made kits.

Shirt is made overseas. Label put on here so its allegedly 'Made in Ireland'.

connundrum

We've O'Neills jerseys for Tag Rugby - very happy with them tbh.

Similar to Lions Adidas jersey.

Third_Echelon

JustinDee wrote: »

They use factories in China and other parts of SE Asia. Almost all of them do.

I'm aware of that alright...

profitius

JustinDee wrote: »

Shirt is made overseas. Label put on here so its allegedly 'Made in Ireland'.

There is controversy about that. I heard before about Brazilian meat shipped here and they just put on a label and call it Irish. Irish meat would be of a higher quality so farmers are rightly a bit p!ssed.

hardCopy

profitius wrote: »

There is controversy about that. I heard before about Brazilian meat shipped here and they just put on a label and call it Irish. Irish meat would be of a higher quality so farmers are rightly a bit p!ssed.

There's all sorts of loopholes depending on the amount of processing and packaging that's done here.

E.g. "smoked Irish salmon" is salmon caught in Ireland, smoked. "Irish smoked salmon" could be caught anywhere and smoked in Ireland. Both come under the heading of "produced in Ireland".