BLK (sportswear)
 | |
| Company type | Private Company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Textile, Sportswear, Clothing |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founder | Kim Brant |
| Headquarters | 16-18 Kingston Drive , Helensvale |
Area served | Oceania, Europe, North & South America Asia and UAE[1] |
Key people | Company CEO Tyron Brant[2] |
| Products | Sportswear |
| Parent | WRS Group[3] |
| Website | blksport |
Beyond Limits Known, generally styled as BLK (pron: "B-L-K"), is a sportswear clothing company which was established in 2011 in the city of the Gold Coast.
The overall but now heavily transitioned company has origins as far back as 1999, but evolved from the Australian arm of the brand KooGa. Australian founder and current chairman, Kim Brant, re-branded KooGa Australia to "BLK" (Beyond Limits Known) in 2011.
BLK's primary business is in Australia with a sizeable portfolio of sport's in Queensland.
With the organisation's headquarters based in the Gold Coast, BLK manages local NRL and AFL sides the Titans and Suns respectively as well as the Queensland Reds and Brisbane Lions. Overall they kit close to 1,000 sides in the wider geographic area, part of what is now a 10,000 strong team family across the world.
In a short space of time BLK has become the largest apparel supplier to the AFL, now partners with six teams and a host of state leagues as well as the referees division.
BLK also has apparel agreements with the top three netball teams in the world, Australia, New Zealand and England while being the official partner with the ANZ Championship.
Rugby Union is a major market for the company with BLK boasting five Super Rugby teams and some of the biggest European club outfits.
Stade Toulousain, Connacht and Opsreys are essentially managed in their entirety by independent global distributors, as our Canterbury, Wellington, Tasman and Manawatu in New Zealand.
The company has a network of suppliers in France; Ireland; Japan; Malaysia; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Solomon Islands; South Africa; United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and United States to maintain a growing worldwide footprint.
BLK's headquarters in the Gold Coast features its own fully operational warehouse that famously opens its doors twice a year while they have production facilities in Fiji and China.
The offices in Helensvale house the Australian senior management team including extended members of the Brant Family, with eldest son Tyron Brant the company CEO.[4]
Partnerships
Major teams and associations partnered with BLK worldwide are:
Adelaide Crows- Brisbane Lions
- Gold Coast Football Club
- Greater Western Sydney Giants
- Richmond Football Club
- Western Bulldogs
- AFL Umpires Association[5]
- Big Bash League teams
- Queensland Cricket[6]
Club teams
National teams
England
New Zealand- Rugby Football League referees
Club teams
National teams
- Australia[9]
Olympic Games
At the 2016 Rio Olympic games BLK joined an elite list of sportswear manufacturers by supplying kit to the National Fiji team and the USA Sevens Rugby team.[10]
A part of the Fijian Team was the historic Fiji Sevens team that won against Great Britain 43 to 7 to take home Fiji's first ever Olympic gold medal[11]
References
- ^ http://www.blksport.com/stores
- ^ "Money in Sport". MIS.
- ^ The CEO Magazine
- ^ "BLK Sport Website". BLK Sport.
- ^ http://www.afl.com.au/umpires/uniforms
- ^ "BLK Sport | Quality player tested apparel and accessories". BLK (Beyond Limits Known). Retrieved 12 September 2016.
- ^ "Saracens team up with BLK".
- ^ "Liam Gill unveils the new St.George Queensland Reds 2016 home jersey".
- ^ "BLK Sport | Quality player tested apparel and accessories". BLK (Beyond Limits Known). Retrieved 12 September 2016.
- ^ "Insane BLK Fiji 2016 Olympics Kits Released". Retrieved 12 September 2016.
- ^ "Fiji's Olympic champion sevens team return home to heroes reception". Fox Sports. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.