We are huge advocates for designing and producing sustainable sportswear for our clients. We hope sustainability becomes the “Norm” in the near future with all brands taking more care of our planet by managing how and what their sportswear products are made from.
We are huge advocates for designing and producing sustainable sportswear for our clients. We hope sustainability becomes the “Norm” in the near future with all brands taking more care of our planet by managing how and what their sportswear products are made from.
Many of our start-up clients approach us without a brand name or logo, or any foundations that are ready to be developed into a suitable brand.
Branding is critical to the success of the business, as consumers buy into brands, not just because of the products they offer, but also because of the tone, imagery, values, provenance and style presented.
Having the world’s best product is only one step of the journey to success, and whilst it is the backbone of the business, having a poorly executed brand will instantly dilute or ruin what the product has to offer.
Every touchpoint the consumer sees must be on point to win their attention, with the aim being for them to then spread the word to friends and family. A brand with a strong identity and values pulls at the heartstrings of the consumer, who then falls in love with the brand for life, coming back over and over again.
We create brands for our clients that are more than just a name and logo. It’s a tone and style that sets the foundations for everything the brand will create from thereon. The formula is set for social platforms, film, photography, tone and style. Guidelines are created to share with the team and adhere to, to make sure the brand remains a brand and not just a great product.
We design sportswear for our clients. We don’t design fashion, but we do design fashionable sportswear. Everything we design has an end performance requirement and our designs, therefore, need to be functional and perform to help the athlete train or compete.
We have designed for many brands since 1997 and have experience in creating gym & fitness, ski, outdoor, golf, equestrian, run, cycle, training, football, rugby, team-sports and sublimated sportswear.
Everything we design is bespoke, always starting with a blank page. We don’t offer “OFF THE SHELF” as this dilutes the USP and brand values our clients must protect. OFF THE SHELF white label has its place but if you want to create a strong brand, you must have a strong product.
At the start of the process, we spend time familiarising ourselves with our client’s consumer and their needs. This is paramount, otherwise, the product won’t live up to the brand’s consumer’s needs, be it style, quality, price and critically, performance. Only after we fully understand the brand and consumer can we start to design the product, this will be done with fabrics in mind, and an idea of the factory we will select, taking into account the necessary capabilities and equipment required to execute the finished product perfectly.
Knowing where the product will be manufactured, and the fibres and fabrics it will be made from right from the get-go is imperative to make sure the product lives up to the expectations of our clients. If we don’t have a factory and fabric in mind, all we are doing is creating a picture without an idea of the end goal.
Ever since the business was launched in 1997, we have developed sports bags and accessories to go alongside the apparel range. We have implemented this service to offer our clients a full range of technical design, development and production across all areas.
We design, develop and produce all sorts of technical bags, rucksacks, sports luggage, belts, gloves, socks and accessories. We have also developed performance equestrian horse blankets. You will find a more detailed breakdown of the products we work with for your reference below.
Hats & Caps – outdoor, ski, cycle, golf
Gloves – cycle, outdoor, ski and golf
Sports holdalls
Outdoor technical rucksacks
Hydration mini rucksacks
Running belts
Running hydration vests
Sports bags
Ball bags
Sports equipment bags
Sports luggage
Belts (leather and woven)
Baseball and trucker caps
Socks – outdoor, ski, run, gym, cycle, golf
Bottles – hydration water bottles
Bidons – cycle and run
Equestrian – Horse blankets and pads
Cycle musettes
Tote bags
Neck gaiters
Contact us today for more information.
We have a huge network of fabrics mills to select fabrics from, these now include recycled nylons and polyesters alongside more typical Cordura and natural organic cotton, as well as sustainable options such as hemp and bamboo.
If you are looking to produce a range of accessories to either run alongside your sportswear range OR want to launch a bags and/or accessories brand, please get in touch now for more information.
After the design stage, we create tech packs (specifications). The purpose of a tech pack is to provide the factory with clear instructions regarding the products so that the samples they produce are as close to the design and final product as possible.
We always produce samples in the factory that will produce the finished product to not only save cost but also to educate the factory, helping them to understand the item and why it has been designed a certain way.
Our designs may have specific features that require certain technologies and equipment to manufacture, we therefore, need to confirm that these can be executed by the factory before going into bulk production.
We usually produce 2 prototypes and one final sample before bulk production starts. The cost of these samples varies depending on the factory selected for the bulk. It also depends on the sample we are developing; simple styles using less expensive fabrics and components will cost less than a complex waterproof sailing jacket made from GORE-TEX.
The lead time to produce samples varies also, again this is dependent on the complexities of the garment but also the capacity of the factory’s sample room. Sometimes it can be a couple of weeks and in the worst case could be a couple of months depending on when we sample hits the sample room.
We work with many different factories from all around the world, including in Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, China and Vietnam.
We only work with quality factories that are audited, produce for blue-chip brands and focus on premium to luxury manufacture. We don’t work with clients chasing the last cent and who want to push down the cost of production by hard negotiation. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for and we strongly believe that the factory gets a fair price for the service they provide.
Nearly all of our factories don’t advertise, as they have a great reputation and repeat custom from established brands. Many of the brands request that they don’t promote their products for them to help protect their sources so watch out for factories that heavily promote what they make for XYZ brands. Chances are they have bought a couple of samples from the internet and then claim they have produced it.
After we have concluded the sampling stage and the order is in place with the factory, we finalise the products through a series of sealing and size samples to guarantee the factory has graded the patterns perfectly and have also adopted the tweaks requested during the development process.
We measure the size sets, before approving them for bulk production, during which we monitor the quality and processes, to ensure everything is correct and manufactured to the required standard.
Once manufacture is complete, we request shipment samples to finally approve the bulk production, we also occasionally visit the factory to oversee production taking place.
We can also organise third party QC and AQL inspections throughout the production process if required.
We have several factories that can produce the following products;
Merino wool
Polo shirts
Baselayers
T-shirts
Midlayers
Fleece
Compression wear
Seamless
Leggings
Sports Bras
Sweatshirts
Tracksuits
Bib shorts
Cycle jerseys
Waterproofs
Ski jackets
Sallopettes
Many of our smaller start-up clients require pre-orders via a crowdfunding platform to raise the capital to pay for bulk production.
We can help organise and manage this process from platform creation, pledges, photography, graphics, art direction and film.
Crowdfunding can be a great way to launch a brand, not only because it can provide the capital to go into production, but because it creates a database of customers for you to communicate with in the future when promoting new styles. If the campaign gathers some traction, it also exposes the brand to many more customers than a simple website launch.
We offer a full turnkey solution for start-up sportswear brands so that we can help manage everything from branding, product, website and marketing. By providing this complete service, we can maintain the brand language, tone, voice and quality across all the touchpoints the consumer has, guaranteeing consistency and strength.
Alongside the branding, product design, tech packs, sampling and production, we now offer our clients website & social media creation, online advertising, SEO and PPC.
When we work together with you, we get to know your brand just as well as you do. We probably know it better than you do as we live and breathe it every day, whilst we work on the design, samples and production. We touch, design, develop, discuss, approve, fit, critique your brand and its products every day for 10-12 months and this makes us the most suitable to then progress with the launch and marketing of your brand.
Understanding your brand, values, USP, tone, voice and customer is paramount to creating a successful launch campaign. Using a generic web builder or online agency that works on cornflakes one week and grommets the next just won’t cut it. Mistakes can’t be made as they can be costly, and mediocre just isn’t acceptable. You need to communicate to your customer precisely while understanding what they need and what they expect from your brand.
Because we live and breathe your brand, we understand your product, tone, USP, values and voice, whilst we are also able to relate to the consumer and their needs. We simply get it. We know how to communicate to your audience because we are that audience. The team all enjoy and actively participate in all types of sport and therefore we understand what drives your customer and what works for them in terms of message.
We assist many of our clients to create their online presence through a suite of services that include-:
Our website and marketing service are all in-house rather than outsourced, guaranteeing that we are truly aligned throughout the entire process, from branding to post-launch marketing.
If you are interested to find out more or get a free quote, please get in touch now.
Please note that our Sportswear Marketing service is only available to our clients and we don’t offer this service to brands that have not developed their sportswear with us.
All of our start-ups require advertising including targeted online marketing, to ensure that potential customers are aware of their brand. We support many of our clients to create this through a suite of services that include-:
Contact us today for more information.
When creating your online adverts, it’s paramount that these represent your brand language and message, working with us will ensure that this is maintained. We also REALLY understand sport and what the athlete feels, wears, looks like, thinks and suffers. Working with us on these aspects maintains authenticity rather than working through an agency that markets cornflakes one week and accountancy practices the next.
We frequently see adverts for sportswear brands using models with full makeup or wearing totally unsuitable accessories. We see models pretending to carry out the sport the brand stands for, but hasn’t ever tried this discipline before, due to their posture and positioning being completely wrong. Consumers buy into authenticity and this is why selecting your marketing agency is critical.
Having a continued brand eye on the final look and feel of the website and marketing collateral, feeds back to the importance of “Brand” and it’s in our interest to make sure your brand, product and launch is as perfect as possible, and that you succeed.
If you do well, then we do well.
Clo3D enables us to create sportswear in a virtual 3D format by creating the designs around a prescribed avatar. This avatar can be manipulated in terms of gender, shape, size, race, and height and designs are created by cutting virtual patterns, stitching them and then placing them onto the avatar to create the 3D garment.
Fabric types can also be specified in terms of weave, knit, weight, structure, drape, sheen etc, and the clever software interprets this into a realistic 3D rendering. By a click of a button, we can see how alternative fabrics may look, hang, drape or if we want to adjust the fit, we simply nip and tuck the virtual garment until were all happy.
We offer a full turnkey solution for start-up sportswear brands so that we can help manage everything from branding, product, website and marketing. By providing this complete service, we can maintain the brand language, tone, voice and quality across all the touchpoints the consumer has, guaranteeing consistency and strength.
Alongside the branding, product design, tech packs, sampling and production, we now offer our clients website & social media creation, online advertising, SEO and PPC.
When we work together with you, we get to know your brand just as well as you do. We probably know it better than you do as we live and breathe it every day, whilst we work on the design, samples and production. We touch, design, develop, discuss, approve, fit, critique your brand and its products every day for 10-12 months and this makes us the most suitable to then progress with the launch and marketing of your brand.
Understanding your brand, values, USP, tone, voice and customer is paramount to creating a successful launch campaign. Using a generic web builder or online agency that works on cornflakes one week and grommets the next just won’t cut it. Mistakes can’t be made as they can be costly, and mediocre just isn’t acceptable. You need to communicate to your customer precisely while understanding what they need and what they expect from your brand.
Because we live and breathe your brand, we understand your product, tone, USP, values and voice, whilst we are also able to relate to the consumer and their needs. We simply get it. We know how to communicate to your audience because we are that audience. The team all enjoy and actively participate in all types of sport and therefore we understand what drives your customer and what works for them in terms of message.
We assist many of our clients to create their online presence through a suite of services that include-:
Our website and marketing service are all in-house rather than outsourced, guaranteeing that we are truly aligned throughout the entire process, from branding to post-launch marketing.
If you are interested to find out more or get a free quote, please get in touch now.
Please note that our Sportswear Marketing service is only available to our clients and we don’t offer this service to brands that have not developed their sportswear with us.
All of our start-ups require advertising including targeted online marketing, to ensure that potential customers are aware of their brand. We support many of our clients to create this through a suite of services that include-:
Contact us today for more information.
When creating your online adverts, it’s paramount that these represent your brand language and message, working with us will ensure that this is maintained. We also REALLY understand sport and what the athlete feels, wears, looks like, thinks and suffers. Working with us on these aspects maintains authenticity rather than working through an agency that markets cornflakes one week and accountancy practices the next.
We frequently see adverts for sportswear brands using models with full makeup or wearing totally unsuitable accessories. We see models pretending to carry out the sport the brand stands for, but hasn’t ever tried this discipline before, due to their posture and positioning being completely wrong. Consumers buy into authenticity and this is why selecting your marketing agency is critical.
Having a continued brand eye on the final look and feel of the website and marketing collateral, feeds back to the importance of “Brand” and it’s in our interest to make sure your brand, product and launch is as perfect as possible, and that you succeed.
If you do well, then we do well.
We live and breathe sportswear, it's our passion and the team are all active athletes, so we get it.
BLUE ASSOCIATES SPORTSWEAR LTD, 1ST FLOOR, Greene Field Road, Berkhamsted, HP4 2AQ, UK
We’ve been creating brands and ranges of activewear for our clients since 1997 and being completely independent of our suppliers allows us to select the most suitable factory for your brand.
We’ve been creating brands and ranges of activewear for our clients since 1997 and being completely independent of our suppliers allows us to select the most suitable factory for your brand.
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