 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Sports equipment,textile, footwear |
| Founded | 1881; 144 years ago (1881) |
| Founder | Ralph and Albert Slazenger |
| Headquarters | Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England ,United Kingdom |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products |
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| Parent | Dunlop Rubber (1959–85) BTR plc (1985–99) Frasers Group (2004–present) |
| Website | slazenger.com |
Slazenger (/ˈslæzəndʒər/) is a Britishsports equipment brand owned by theFrasers Group (formerlySports Direct).[1] One of the world's oldest sport brands, the company was established as a sporting goods shop in 1881 by entrepreneurial brothers, Ralph and Albert Slazenger, inCannon Street, London.[2] Slazenger was acquired byDunlop Rubber in 1959. Dunlop was acquired byBTR in 1985. Sports Direct acquired the business in 2004.
Frasers Group offers a range of products under the Slazenger label, including equipment forcricket,field hockey,golf, swimming, andtennis, and a clothing line. Slazenger produced theofficial football match ball for the1966 FIFA World Cup.[3]
Slazenger has the longest-running sporting sponsorship in the world, thanks to its association with theWimbledon Tennis Championship, providing balls for the tournament since 1902.[4][5]
In 1881, Ralph and Albert Slazenger, Jewish brothers fromManchester, established a shop inLondon's Cannon Street, selling rubber sporting goods.[2] Slazenger quickly became a leading manufacturer of sporting equipment for golf and tennis.[2] Four years after theAll England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club held its first-ever championships in 1877, Slazenger produced 'The New Game of Lawn Tennis' (tennis rackets and balls) complete in a box.[6] In 1883, Slazenger filed a patent for a net fortable tennis.[7]
Their plant inBarnsley, South Yorkshire manufactured tennis balls and exported them round the world.[8] The plant closed in 2002, and production is now based in the Philippines.[8]
In 1902, Slazenger was appointed as the official tennis ball supplier to The Championships atWimbledon, and it remains the longest unbroken sporting sponsorship in history.[4][8][9]
In 1910, apublic company was incorporated to acquire Slazenger and Sons, "manufacturers of sports equipment, india rubber, gutta percha and waterproof goods, leather merchants and dealers",[10] which floated on the stock market.[2] In 1931, Slazenger acquired H. Gradidge and Sons.[11]
During the Second World War, Slazenger, like most manufacturers of non-essential items in the UK, redirected its production to manufacture a wide variety of components for military purposes, utilising their expertise in wood and rubber manufacturing.[12]
On 15 September 1940, duringthe Blitz on London,incendiary bombs fell on the Slazenger factory and on the Gradidge factory inWoolwich.[13] The competing William Sykes Ltd factory atHorbury was undamaged by the bombings.[12] Slazenger and Gradidge were able to continue production at other facilities but began a series of mergers with competing companies. In 1942, it acquired William Sykes Ltd to broaden its wartime production facilities.[14] Around 1940, Slazenger acquired F. H. Ayres.[15] Founded in 1810 by Edward Ayres, the firm manufactured a range of sporting equipment but was best known as a high-quality manufacturer ofarchery equipment and in particular the bow (orlongbow, as it is more commonly known).[15]
The following lists a snapshot of some of the company's larger contracts completed for theUK Government between 1939 and 1945, as recorded by Slazenger, Gradidge, Sykes and Ayres in 1946:
| Rifle Furniture – No.4, Mark 1 | 858,500 sets. Each set comprising: 1 Butt, 1 Forestock, 1 each Handguard (front and rear) |
| 95,222 butts | |
| 150,000 forestocks | |
| 200,000 hand guard, front | |
| 200,000 hand guard, rear | |
| Lanchester SMG Machine Gun Carbine Butts | 80,000 |
| Stoppers, Leak - Wooden | 430,000 |
| Bayonet, No. 5, Mark 1, Grips, left and right hand | 466,500 |
| Stoppers, Leak - Wooden | 430,000 |
| Detonator Caps | 17,500,000 |
| Standard Snow andSandGoggles | 3,000,000 |
| Gloves, M.T (Motor Transport) | 280,335 pairs |
| Gloves, Workman U.S Forces | 122,450 pairs |
| Gloves,Boxing, 8oz, laced | 22,239 pairs |
| Gloves, Boxing, 8oz,elastic | 19,394 pairs |
| Machetes, 15 inch Blade Sheaths | 250,400 |
In Australia, Slazenger produced naval utility launches at Newcastle, New South Wales, for the country's war effort.
In its heyday, the Slazenger, Gradidge, Sykes and Ayres empire stretched across the world with either licensed distributors or agents and/or manufacturing operations with which the company had partnerships or licensing agreements. Distributors were found in New Zealand and Africa, as well as remote locations such asIceland,Newfoundland,Madagascar andBolivia.
In the days when wooden tennis racquets held no peer, brands such as Slazenger and Dunlop were dominant forces in the global market. However, with the rise in popularity of metal tennis racquets from the early 1980s and then the fast transition to even more popular composite materials such asfiberglass,graphite andKevlar, more brands emerged and became popular due to their ability to meet consumer trends and demand for the new technology. Slazenger, in contrast, was slow to react. The company could not re-gear its existing factories to produce products using the new materials and there was a major existing investment in plant and raw materials. The company tried to market its product against these new products using quality as its unique selling point, but the quality level of imports quickly improved and Slazenger lost popularity and fell from prominence.
The purchase ofDunlop Slazenger bySports World International (SWI) did not confer global rights to the brand. SWI chose not to diversify the brands it acquired internally, and thus strain its own resources and finances, but to license them globally. With Slazenger, this was achieved successfully, with the Slazenger name being seen on a wide range of products not previously associated with the brand, such as sunglasses, toiletries and bicycles.
In Australia and New Zealand, the Slazenger brand is owned and licensed byPacific Brands, with full and exclusive rights to sell and distribute throughout those territories. From the early 2000s due to poor management sales plummeted. Rather than investing in the brand, the Slazenger management began downsizing staff numbers, closing branches, cutting back long-standing sponsorship as well as stripping back costs elsewhere within the business. Despite these radical moves the Slazenger brand still ultimately offered no real return to Pacific Brands and in 2010/11 they sub-licensed it to Spartan Sports who had been operating in Australia since 2005 and is owned by Spartan Sports in Jallandhar, India (established in 1954).
Range of products under the brand Slazenger includes:[19]
| Sport / type | Products |
|---|---|
| Cricket | Bats,balls, team uniforms,helmets,cleat,gloves,pads |
| Field hockey | Sticks, balls,pads, gloves,goaltender masks |
| Golf | Clubs,balls |
| Swimming | Swimsuits |
| Tennis | Rackets,balls,shoes |
| Clothing (general) | T-shirts,polo shirts, jackets,hoodies,fleece jackets,sweaters,pants,shorts,leggings |
| Accessories (general) | Bags, watches, sunglasses |
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During its peak, many famouscricket players such asSir Don Bradman,Sir Garfield Sobers,Sir Viv Richards,Sir Len Hutton,Denis Compton,Rohan Kanhai,Mark Waugh,Jacques Kallis,Jason Roy,James Anderson, andGeoffrey Boycott used Slazenger's bats and products. ThePakistan cricket team wore the Slazenger kit in their winning campaign during the2009 ICC World Twenty20.[20] In tennis,Fred Perry switched to Slazenger tennis rackets in 1932 before winning his first Wimbledon title in 1934.[15]
There are also many famousgolf players who have used Slazenger products, such asJack Nicklaus,Seve Ballesteros,Tom Weiskopf,Tom Watson andJohnny Miller.[15] The first Slazenger golf clubs were manufactured by Gow of theGlasgow Golf Club in 1890, followed by their first golf ball, the 'Guttie', in 1891;Harold Hilton won the 1892 and 1897Open Championship using Slazenger golf balls.[15] Besides professional golf players, film-starSean Connery also wore the Slazenger v-neck jumper while playing golf in his free time.[21] Furthermore, in the golf scene in theJames Bond filmGoldfinger (1964) which took place atStoke Park Golf Club in Buckinghamshire, he wears a burgundy v-neck Slazenger jumper and the Slazenger brand of golf balls are shown on screen and mentioned several times in dialogue—Bond: "You play a Slazenger 1, don't you?"—as they play a key plot point.[22][23]
Part of the longest partnership in sporting goods history, Slazenger has been the Official Supplier of tennis balls to The Championships since 1902.
During World War 2, Slazenger was one of several sports companies to pool their collective resources in order to manufacture equipment for the war effort. When the other factories were damaged during the Blitz, the whole consolidated effort was moved to the Horbury Bridge Albion Mills in 1941.
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