Sports Direct is a UK sports retailer founded in 1982 by Mike Ashley, who opened his first shop selling sporting and skiing goods in Maidenhead. It sells sports clothing, footwear, accessories and equipment in store and online, from brands such as Nike, adidas and Slazenger. It has hundreds of stores across the UK, Europe and Malaysia and is part of Frasers Group.
Same category, HQ in United Kingdom
SLSlazenger is a sports brand founded in 1881, first known for tennis and golf equipment and later expanding into clothing and footwear. The brand says it has supplied Wimbledon with its official tennis balls since 1902, a partnership it describes as the longest-running in sports sponsorship. Slazenger has been part of Frasers Group since 2004. The dates and ownership are stated by the group; its ranking of the partnership is a company claim.
Specialist sports equipment
CACanterbury of New Zealand calls itself the original rugby brand, with more than 120 years of history and roots in rugged army uniforms. It launched the Invincibles All Blacks kit in 1924, has been official kit partner to Ireland Rugby since 2014 and to the British & Irish Lions since 2017, and makes rugby teamwear, training kit and clothing for teams at all levels. Canterbury of New Zealand is owned by Pentland Brands, which says the brand joined its group in 2012.
Rugby apparel and footwear
CACastore is a British performance sportswear brand founded in Liverpool by former athlete brothers Tom and Phil Beahon. It engineers precision athletic and hybrid apparel for athletes around the world and supplies kit through partnerships with professional teams and elite athletes.
Professional team and performance apparel
HUHUUB Design makes wetsuits and apparel for triathlon, swimming and cycling, designed around hydrodynamics and athlete performance. It was founded in 2012 by Dean Jackson, who had three decades of experience across the swim, bike and run industries, and the brand takes its name from human movement specialist Professor Huub Toussaint. HUUB's history highlights its signing of the Brownlees.
Specialist sports equipment
INInov-8 is a sports brand making footwear and apparel for trail running, hiking and functional fitness, including shoes such as the F-LITE MAX. It was founded in 2003 in the fells and mountains of the English Lake District, and says it aims to support the world's physical and mental fitness through pioneering products that keep athletes in the flow, balancing design between the body and the environment.
Sports apparel and footwear
MOMontane makes lightweight, breathable outdoor clothing and equipment for the trail and for racing, designed for a life spent outside. For more than 30 years it has aimed to create cutting-edge outdoor kit, backed by expeditions to hostile corners of the planet, athletes who push limits, and long-standing partnerships with some of the world's toughest endurance events. It says it works closely with mountain professionals in hostile conditions as a proving ground for its gear.
Sports apparel and footwear
SKSKINS is a compression-sportswear brand whose first Australian company was established in 1998, after compression-for-sport concepts emerged in 1996. Its first black garments with yellow stitching launched in 2002, followed by later SERIES ranges for training, competition and recovery. The brand says new owners took over in 2019 and a new team relaunched the line in 2020; its claims about compression benefits are brand claims, not independent medical findings.
Sports apparel and footwear
SPSpeedo is a swimwear and swimming-equipment brand born in Australia in 1928, according to Pentland Brands, whose family it joined in 1991. It makes competition and training swimsuits, goggles and other pool equipment, and its history traces products from the Racerback suit to Fastskin racing suits. Speedo's own historical page notes athletes wearing its suits at past Olympic Games; those historical results do not imply that the brand currently sponsors every swimmer mentioned.
Swimwear and swimming equipment
