Last Updated on: 28th January 2022, 04:25 pm
Pendle Sportswear is a football kit supplier who has always put the interests of the team first. Running an amateur football club is a difficult and costly business. We strive to provide top quality, low prices, and fast delivery. This means you’ll have one less thing to worry about.
Where it all began
Everyone deserves a decent origin story and we like to think ours sets us apart from the rest. Pendle is the brainchild of Phil Hall. In the 1970s, Phil started his own grassroots football team, Charterac FC. When it came to buying kit, he found the whole process to be frustrating. It was difficult, slow, and expensive. He vowed to find a better way, even if that meant creating it himself.
So, in 1977 Pendle Sportswear was born. The idea was a simple one: to cut out the middleman and supply kits directly to clubs. This meant Phil was able to offer the best quality, delivery, and price to clubs. It is the same model that Pendle continues to build on 42 years later.
The Pendle Family
Our headquarters are on Little Lane in Ilkley but, in the early days, Pendle was run out of the Hall family home. It was the base for all operations and was generally filled to the rafters with stock. So much so that Phil’s son, Steve, still has vivid memories of almost drowning in football kit.
Our home quickly became our warehouse and office! As Phil’s son, I remember not being able to open a cupboard at home or veer recklessly up to the loft without the fear of being hit by a mass of falling football kits. The first team kit ever sold was actually cut and sewn by Phil himself and delivered on a motorway layby. How things have changed!
Of course, it wasn’t just Phil who helped Pendle become the business that it is today. Whilst he was juggling the burgeoning company with his day job, his wife, Mary, was managing Pendle. And, obviously, his childhood didn’t lead to a deep-rooted fear of football shirts as Steve joined the family company years later. Pendle really is a family business.
And, over the years, the Pendle family has continued to grow. More of the Hall family’s relatives joined the business as well as friends and members of the local community. This means Pendle has never lost that feeling of being a family business and is a big part of the local community.
Total Control
As the business began to grow, it became clear that changes would have to be made. The focus was always to keep offering the best service and product possible. 15 years ago, we made the decision to bring all of our customisation in-house. This meant we could take control of the quality and offer the fastest turnaround for printed football kit in the UK. Thanks to our set up, we are able to despatch all printed kit 48s hours after the artwork has been approved. No matter how big the order! Whilst we try and remain humble at all times, this is the fastest nationwide delivery on printed team kits and something we’re incredibly proud to offer our customers.
Always Evolving
Grassroots football has changed a lot since Pendle started. Over the years we have gained a great deal of experience and insight into the business and have been able to grow accordingly. However, we have never lost sight of what is most important to us: fulfilling your needs. We offer a full range of kits, training wear, and training equipment in a wide range of designs, sizes, and colourways. This means that we are confident every club can find something that suits their needs.
But it’s not just team wear that we can offer you. We have a wide range of extra services that we offer our clubs for free that can take some of the hassles out of running a club. Each club who orders from us is able to set up a free personalised club shop that makes it easy for managers and players order kit. On top of this, we have our player registration platform SignOnline that will make signing up players a breeze. Finally, because we think every grassroots team should have their own club website, we offer a free Club+ site for each team. This is the definitive platform to manage, communicate and interact with players.
Quality Guaranteed
Of course, we aren’t the kind of company that is happy to rest on their laurels. We are always pushing ourselves to get better and better. We are always pushing ourselves to make sure we are offering our clubs the best products and experience that we can. Over recent years we became the only supplier direct to football clubs to be awarded ISO 9001 certification. This relates to our quality management systems and something you can find out more about in our past blog post.
Additionally, we have been given the privilege to stand as the official supplier to the English Schools’ Football Association. This means that Pendle goods are worn by all teams in the ESFA. You can read more about it on our blog or check out find out more about the ESFA on their own website.
Join the Pendle Family
So, that’s our story. For 42 years, Pendle Sportswear has been supplying top quality football team kits to grassroots clubs and offering the best possible deals. Now we want to hear your story. If you are interested in telling us your story then simply leave a comment or get in touch with us via our social media channels. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
