Pictured from left, Richard Brand, Terry Sands & Chris Lawrence

The Samurai Sportswear brand was founded by Terry Sands, former manager of The England Rugby Sevens Team, in 1998 some 2 years after he had created the Samurai Rugby Sevens team, that took part in the Amsterdam Sevens tournament in May 1996.

The Samurai Team won the Amsterdam tournament and immediately became crowd favorites due not only to their flair and ability but also due to their unique and distinguished playing kit – Two stars were therefore born that weekend. Samurai Sportswear and Samurai International RFC.

Samurai Sportswear operate at the high quality end of the sports clothing and equipment market, manufacturing and supplying a wide range of functional Teamwear to enable clubs, schools and universities to create their own identity. Alongside this is an excellent stock holding of on and off-field apparel, that satisfies the demands of those customers that need a fast turnaround.

Samurai Sportswear’s growth has been carefully planned and has enjoyed tremendous success. With an initial focus on grass roots and schools rugby in the early days, Samurai then moved into the semi pro and professional Rugby arena where the brand has been very well received.

For six years Terry managed Samurai Sportswear on his own from premises in Bildeston, Suffolk. A major change took place in 2002 when he joined forces with Marquesman Sports Services of Norwich. Although seemingly in competition with Samurai Sportswear the two companies specialized in different sporting areas. Samurai was strong in the clubs market and specialised in clothing. Marquesman had close links to the schools markets and concentrated mainly on equipment sales. The combined operation was to cover all bases and cover them well. The Samurai brand name helped to carry the businesses to the next stage in its development.  

In 2006 Samurai Sportswear invested heavily by building their own factory in Dong Guan City, China and now employ over 200 people manufacturing solely for the Samurai Brand. Having their own factory has brought further control over lead times, quality, consistency and guaranteed delivery lead times. Providing Samurai with a real competitive edge.

In 2008 (New Zealand) and 2009 (Australia) Samurai Sportswear took on overseas licensees and moved into the Multi Sport apparel market providing custom made teamwear for Cricket, Netball, Hockey and just about every other team sport you can think of.

The company headquarters of Samurai Ultimate Sportswear Limited are located in Long Stratton, just south of Norwich where there is a total workforce of 35. – but as brand recognition gets stronger and sales continue to grow rapidly, it is obvious that both the real estate the company occupies and the number of people it employs, will only increase.
On December 23rd 2009 an MBO was completed with the new management team of Terry Sands (Managing Director) Richard Brand (Sales Director) and Chris Lawrence (Financial Director) now running the company. The new management team have a very clear strategy for future growth and with the brand now being one of the UK’s major players in the U.K multi sport Teamwear market the brand is now well placed to progress into the Global Teamwear marketplace.