Mitre Sports International
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Sportswear Sports equipment |
| Founded | 1817, Huddersfield, England, UK |
| Headquarters | Finchley, England, UK |
| Products | Sports Equipment Footwear Sportswear |
| Website | www.mitre.com |
Mitre is a British sportswear and equipment supplier based in England. Established in England in 1817, Mitre is the world’s oldest manufacturer of footballs.
History
In 1817 Benjamin Crook opened his tannery in Huddersfield, England. In 1888 when the world's first football competition 'The Football League' was founded, the factory was already stitching footballs.
By 1949 the name changed to Mitre, producing footballs and rugby balls for clubs all over the world and in 1959 Mitre expands into cricket, soft leather and bags. Sports footwear followed a year later.
Denis Law became the first official Mitre spokesman in 1964, in the same year he also went on win the prestigious European Footballer of the Year award, the only Scottish player in history to do so.
2 years later Mitre went on to become the first choice for the English FA, and for the next 40 years the FA Cup Final was to be played with a Mitre ball.
Muhammad Ali wears Mitre in his 59th professional fight against Leon Spinks in New Orleans and Stuart Pearce of Manchester City and England wears Mitre football boots in 1977.
In 1986 the leather ‘Mitre Delta 1000’ became the official ball of the Football League, the Football Association and the Scottish Football League, meaning all UK Cup, League and international fixtures played at home played using a Mitre ball. This achievement has never been repeated since.
Mitre was the official ball supplier to the 1987 Rugby World Cup which was the first, it was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
In 1992 Mitre becomes the official ball supplier to the newly formed FA Premier League, introducing the Ultimax – the first Professional League synthetic football, and leather balls became a thing of the past.
2001 saw Mitre replace its 20 year old Delta logo with the new Comet device. In 2003 the Mitre ball was used in The Netball World Championships held in Jamaica, The England Netball Team also appeared at the tournament wearing Mitre apparel.
Football star and UNICEF goodwill ambassador George Weah teamed up with Mitre in 2004 to donate 5,000 footballs to underprivileged children in Liberia and 5,000 footballs to Iraqi children.
In 2006 another endorsee joined Mitre, Australian cricketer and record breaking test wicket taker Shane Warne was signed to endorse Mitre footwear and protection.
2007 saw Mitre launch its new revolutionary Revolve football to the Football League, where each club plays with its own club coloured and badged ball. This was the first time this had happened. Mitre also re-entered the apparel markets with kit deal with Ipswich Town and Huddersfield Town FC.
In the year of 2008, Mitre signed All Black player Luke McAlister to be the figure head of its rugby range.
Products
Revolve Ball
The Mitre Revolve is an association football ball made by Mitre Sports International, a British sports equipment manufacturer. It is the official ball of several football competitions, including The Football League, the Football League Cup, the Football League Trophy and the Scottish Premier League. Balls used by teams in the Football League Championship, Football League One and Two and the Scottish Premier League are all given club-specific colour schemes and the club badge is featured.[1][2] A generic version of the ball is used for clubs in Football League Two.Since 2009, a variation of the ball with a black-and-gold design has been used for the Football League Cup final. In the Scottish Premier League, the champions from the previous season use a gold-coloured ball in recognition of their status as champions.[2] Mitre- the creator of the original High Visibility ball – the Fluo Flare- also created A high-visibility version of the Revolve in Fluo yellow material with red pattern which is now used also in snowy conditions.[3]
The ball features an outer layer made from Clarino microfibres and composed of 26 panels, as opposed to the 32-panel designs used by Adidas and Nike amongst others.(Adidas use 14 or 8 panels). It is claimed that the 26-panel design allows the ball to maintain its spherical shape longer and better, with the seam pattern also allowing for more accurate control over the flight of the ball.[4] Mitre also claim that this control is further enhanced by the ball's embossed polyurethane coating – which keeps the ball dry and provides better grip between boot and ball in all weather conditions– and its 5 ply inner layers – which transfer the momentum from the player's foot to the ball with greater efficiency.[3] The design on the ball's surface is based on thermal images of global wind patterns.[5]
Sponsorships
Football
Clubs
National teamsOficial Ball
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Rugby
Netball
Player EndorseeFootball
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