Momentous summer for Kukri Sports at Commonwealth Games 2022

Kukri Sports, the market’s leading bespoke teamwear provider, partnered with some of the competition’s top nations, including Team England.

Kukri Sports delivered an unprecedented service to partnered teams and athletes at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 as the competition’s leading bespoke teamwear provider. 

The games were a major success not just for the participating teams, but also for Kukri, who partnered with Team England, Team Canada, Team Barbados, Team Guernsey, and Team Isle of Man, as well as supporting Northern Ireland Netball, Scottish Bowls, and Scottish Wrestling.

With innovations such as sustainable teamwear ranges, direct collaboration with athletes to create more focused sportswear, and overcoming logistical barriers imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the global sportswear brand hit various milestones in preparation for the competition. 

Josh Beal, Sales Director at Kukri Sports, said: “The Commonwealth Games is a flagship competition in international sport, and we are proud of the partnerships we have had at the Birmingham games this year.

“Whilst the business has partnered with teams in previous games, this year’s had some significant hurdles for us to overcome, due to the Covid pandemic. 

“Our projects started on 17^th March 2020, meaning a lot of work needed to be completed during; various lockdown’s, travel and freight restrictions plus ongoing social distancing – all of which meant the businesses needed to adapt.

“We held up to 90% of meetings virtually, whilst making sure our kits perfectly matched the partner requirements for over 2,500 athletes and staff and over 96,000 individual items of kit – across 19 different sports.

“Having these obstacles to overcome didn’t mean it affected the development and innovations in our offerings. For the first time we introduced a sustainable range of teamwear, made from recycled plastic bottles, whilst ensuring 100% of our packaging was both recycled and recyclable. 

“We also worked directly with Team England athletes to make sure that the bespoke kit they received had their direct input, on fit and fabric, but also crucially the design.

“Throughout the whole project our team provided over 10,000 man-hours and 100% of the kit requested was provided in time for the games – it was some achievement!”. 

Lou Pullan, Head of Kit Operations at Team England, said: “Over the past two and a half years, we have been working with Kukri to design and develop our most Athlete focused kit range ever. 

‘The time, care and attention to detail provided by Kukri across our Delegation and Competition wear has been outstanding and really showed in the final product range in terms of both functionality and design.

“Our kit design was heavily influenced by the city of Birmingham, the rich history, culture and architecture that it has become known for. The opportunity to celebrate the home games through the kit design really underpinned the project, we were delighted to return to the red and white and a design inspired by the St Georges flag.”

Watch our short documentary on the development of the Team England teamwear. Kukri Sports are a global sportswear supplier offering superior quality bespoke garments, across multiple sports, from grassroots to elite level. To find out how we can support your sportswear needs contact us.