With sports at the core of Millfield’s educational offering, it’s vital that we provide our pupils with sportswear that empowers them to achieve their potential. Supplying the product is just one of the challenges: with 28 sports to cater for, we needed a supplier that could adjust to our seasonal demands from such a wide range of sports.
To ensure that we worked with the right supplier, we asked an independent consultant to conduct the tender process on our behalf, assessing all of the suppliers on agreed criteria. It was a lengthy process, but invaluable in finding the right supplier for Millfield.
Having chosen our supplier for the coming years, we began a long consultation with Kukri, setting out agreed parameters in a service level agreement, which included minimum service levels expected from both parties. We worked closely with Scott Robinson, a Sales Manager at Kukri, to ensure that our expectations were realistic and agreed in advance.
Our relationship with Scott is invaluable: he visits the school on a fortnightly basis, meeting with our Heads of Sports to ensure that our requirements for upcoming tours or new seasons are met in good time. By establishing these clear parameters and working closely with Scott, we are able to ensure orders are processed efficiently and the needs are met from all sports.
It’s important to note that when dealing with totally bespoke products as we do, errors can occur, but agreeing these clear service parameters and matching our expectations with those of Kukri have kept these to a minimum.
With over 1,500 pupils across our Prep and Senior schools, participating in 28 sports, it was difficult to find a provider who could cater for most of our sports offering across a wide age range. Kukri supply us with leisurewear, training wear and competition wear for over 80 per cent of these sports, allowing us to maintain a consistent look whilst protecting the school’s brand.
The uniform style line was developed as part of the consultation process with Kukri. We met with their product team, who presented their initial concepts to us. These included fabrics, styles and the range of the products they could offer. After consultation and consideration we agreed on a style line that not only represented the school’s colours, but also ensured our pupils had a professional, unified look and stood out when participating in games, fixtures and tours.
Kukri’s rich sports heritage and commitment to a wide sporting offer felt like an alignment of our brands and we’re really pleased with the quality sportswear and professional service they continue to provide.
David Faulkner is Director of Sport at Millfield School.
Contact www.kukrisports.com
