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Sport for Business
Sport for Business
Kit, Pride, and Team Ireland - The Sport for Business Daily
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What if the kit an athlete wears truly began with the athlete? We pull back the curtain on a partnership built around performance, comfort, and identity—then show how a Craigavon factory turned that ideal into everyday practice for Team Ireland on the road to Brisbane 2032.
We trace the journey from a founder’s small home office in 2004 to a thriving operation producing up to 2,000 garments a week, all while keeping production on Irish soil.
There’s more across the Irish sports landscape. We spotlight Goal Jersey Day and the families embracing the spirit, preview the domestic basketball season with streaming options for fans who can’t attend arenas, and recap the first Sports Technology Alliance gathering in Dublin.
If you enjoy smart stories from the commercial world of Irish sport—told with access, context, and clear takeaways—tap follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find us. Got a story we should cover? Email Rob at Sportforbusiness.com and join the conversation.
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Hello and welcome this morning to the Sport for Business Daily. I'm your host, Rob Hartnett, and thank you for joining us for this audio blast of the content that we produce on sportforbusiness.com each morning and evening, Monday to Friday. Get in touch if there's something that you'd like us to be covering, or if you've got any thoughts on the content that we produce, you can reach me at Rob at Sportforbusiness.com. The agreement cements a relationship that began in 2019 and has been driven by an athlete-first approach. From concept to completion, Irish athletes are involved in every step of the design process, ensuring that the kit reflects both comfort and identity. They have a state-of-the-art factory in Craigavon, which, as we learned through a one-to-one interview with Porry McKeever yesterday, which again is published on thesportforbusiness.com this morning, was bought by the company bringing in-house the production that enables them to be flexible, but also based here on the island of Ireland. Twenty-three-year-old Daniel Wiffin, an Olympic champion and Craig Afford native, was actually at the factory during the week, putting his own bespoke jersey together with contributions into the design process and the manufacturing. The company is very much a homegrown success story. It was founded in 2004 by Portug McKeever from a small office in his home. Now it has grown into a thriving enterprise, producing up to 2,000 garments per week and employing more than 90 people. Its expansion has mirrored Ireland's growing confidence on the international sporting stage, and the Olympic Link provides both visibility and pride. It is an immense honour for us to dress Team Ireland for the Olympic journey through to Brisbane, he's told us yesterday. As an Irish brand with deep roots in Craig Avon, we take huge pride in ensuring our athletes feel both comfortable and inspired in their kit. The spirit of collaboration has been a cornerstone of the partnership, according to the OFI. Peter Sherard, the Team Ireland CEO, said that the relationship is thriving because of McKeever's ability to put athletes first. They're a partner that listens, adapts, and works closely with us, he said, to make sure that every item of kit supports performance, comfort, and pride. There was a big celebration last night. Finton McCarthy and Philip Doyle, fresh from World Championship success. Likewise, Ava and Lisa O'Rourke, both world champions in boxing and in hierarchs. Hurdler Thomas Barr was there as well as rugby international Eve Higgins, coming back from the England Rugby World Cup victory, and hockey captain Katie Milan, who of course played in her own World Cup final. We've got interviews with a number of those coming up on Sport for Business over the coming days. Elsewhere on the site this morning, we looked at the upcoming week of Goal Jersey Day, which culminates next Friday, October the 10th. We have a story about David Gillick and his family getting right into that and wearing a variety of jerseys. We also have a story, we have an interview with Paury McKeever, one-to-one, conducted as he took his mind off getting the stage right and putting the story of how he created this business and where it is now very much into the spotlight. The rest of the stories this morning, we've got a preview of the Basketball Ireland domestic season, which is kicking off this evening and over the weekend. You can catch all of that on basketball island.tv unless you can make it to one of the games. And we're also looking back on the first sports technology alliance gathering, which took place in Dublin this week as well. Plenty then to get your teeth stuck into, including a speculative piece about Alex Dunn's split with McLaren, whether that's a setback for the young awfully native or whether it could be a sign of the Formula One career moving just a little step closer. You can catch up with all of the content from the commercial world of Irish sport on sportforbusiness.com. And today's Sport for Business Daily is brought to us with the support of the Olympic Federation of Ireland, one of the 330 organizations with whom Sport for Business works. It's been a pleasure to share these five minutes of your morning, and I hope you have a great weekend. We'll see you back on Monday.
