Dunlop Sport

Short description: Sports equipment manufacturer

Dunlop Sport

Type| Subsidiary
Industry| Sports equipment, textile, footwear
Founded| 1910; 116 years ago (1910)[1]
Headquarters|

Leatherhead

England [2]

Area served

| Worldwide
Products| Rackets, strings, balls, shuttlecock, sportswear, sneakers, accessories
Revenue| approx. $650 million[3]
Parent| SRI Sports
Website| dunlopsports.com

Dunlop Sport is a United Kingdom sports equipment manufacturing company established in 1910 that focuses on racquet sports, more specifically tennis, squash, padel and badminton. Products by Dunlop Sport include rackets, strings, balls, shuttlecocks, and bags. Sportswear and clothing line includes t-shirts, shorts, skirts, jackets, pants, socks, caps, sneakers, and wristbands.

In most of the world, Dunlop Sport is operated by SRI Sports, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Rubber Industries, which acquired the Dunlop brand in 2017.[4] Spartan Sports have the rights to the brand in Australia and New Zealand.[5]

In the past, Dunlop also manufactured golf equipment.[6]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Sponsorships
* 2.1 Tennis
* 2.1.1 Male
* 2.1.2 Female
* 2.1.3 Retired players
* 2.2 Squash
* 2.2.1 Male
* 2.2.2 Female
* 2.3 Former players
* 2.3.1 Associations
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## History

Dunlop advertisement for its golf balls, 1922

Dunlop was established as a company manufacturing goods from rubber in 1889.[6] The company entered the sporting goods market in 1910, when it began to manufacture rubber golf balls at its base in Birmingham.[1] The company introduced the Maxfli golf ball in 1922.[7]

Dunlop extended into tennis ball manufacture in 1924.[8] In 1925, F A Davis was acquired, which had tennis racket manufacturing expertise.[9][8] Dunlop opened acquisition discussions with Slazenger in 1927, but without success.[8] In 1928 the sports division became a subsidiary of Dunlop Rubber named Dunlop Sports.[6] Headquarters were relocated from Birmingham to Waltham Abbey in Essex.[7]

The Dunlop Masters golf tournament was established in 1946.[10] It was sponsored by Dunlop until 1982, and is now known as the British Masters.

In 1957 Dunlop acquired the golf club manufacturer John Letters of Scotland.[11] In 1959 the Slazenger Group was acquired.[6] The Dunlop "flying D" logo was introduced in 1960.[10]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Dunlop was slow to adapt to the new materials that tennis rackets were increasingly being made from, believing that wood would remain the dominant material.[6]

Tennis (left) and squash balls by Dunlop

In 1983 the John Letters golf club business was sold back to members of the Letters family.[12] One year later, the sports businesses were merged to form Dunlop Slazenger.[13]

In 1986, the parent company, Dunlop Holdings, was acquired by the industrial company BTR for £549 million.[14] BTR cut marketing spending to just 8 per cent of sales and reduced investment in grass roots sponsorship and research and development.[15] Steffi Graf's sponsorship money was cut so she defected to a Wilson racket.[15]

In 1996 Dunlop Slazenger was acquired by the private equity firm Cinven for £330 million.[6] To save money, Cinven moved production of Dunlop tennis balls from England to the Philippines. Slazenger Golf and Maxfli were sold off to reduce debt.[16]

Sports Direct International bought Dunlop Slazenger for £40 million in 2004.[17]

In December 2016, Sports Direct announced it had agreed to sell the Dunlop brand to Sumitomo Rubber Industries for £112 million ($137.5 million).[18] Sumitomo already owned the rights to the sports as well as the rubber industries brand in most of the world. The sale is due to be completed by May 2017.[19]

## Sponsorships

### Tennis

Dunlop advertisement featuring John McEnroe in 1981

More tennis Grand Slams have been won with Dunlop rackets than any other brand.

Dunlop Sport is the current supplier for the Australian Open as well as the ATP World Team Championship in Düsseldorf. It is also the official supplier for all three clay court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, which includes the Monte-Carlo Masters, the Rome Masters and the Madrid Masters. As for ATP World Tour 500 tournaments, it is the official supplier for the Barcelona Open.

Additionally, Dunlop is the official supplier for ATP World Tour 250 tournaments at the BMW Open in Munich, the Portugal Open and the Open de Nice Côte d'Azur. Dunlop Sport is also the official supplier of the WTA Tour Volvo Cars Open in Charleston, South Carolina.

Notable present and former players that have used Dunlop tennis rackets (and switched sponsorships) include:

#### Male

* Jürgen Melzer
* Tommy Robredo
* Jamie Murray
* Jack Draper
* Philipp Marx
* Kevin Anderson
* Sanchai Ratiwatana
* Bjorn Fratangelo
* Donald Young
* Max Purcell
* Roberto Marcora

#### Female

* Wang Qiang
* Xu Yifan
* Heather Watson (to 2021)
* Misaki Doi
* Yui Kamiji
* Kurumi Nara
* Zarina Diyas
* Luksika Kumkhum
* Ann Li
* Taylor Townsend

#### Retired players

* Pat Cash
* Evonne Goolagong Cawley
* Lew Hoad
* Rod Laver
* / Alicia Molik
* Tony Roche
* Pat Rafter
* Mark Philippoussis
* Tiago Fernandes
* Nicolás Almagro
* Amélie Mauresmo
* Cédric Pioline
* Jaroslav Drobný
* Ross Hutchins
* Helen Jacobs
* Jonathan Marray
* Greg Rusedski
* Virginia Wade
* Marc-Kevin Goellner
* Steffi Graf
* Sjeng Schalken
* Tom Okker
* Agnieszka Radwańska
* Wayne Ferreira
* Dominika Cibulková
* Thomas Johansson
* Danai Udomchoke
* John McEnroe
* Martina Navratilova

### Squash

Notable players who use Dunlop squash racquets include :

#### Male

* Ali Farag
* Nick Matthew
* Grégory Gaultier
* Diego Elias
* Eain Yow Ng
* Victor Crouin

#### Female

* Nour El Tayeb
* Alison Waters

### Former players

* Jonathon Power
* Amr Shabana
* Lee Beachill
* Stewart Boswell
* Simon Parke
* Alex Gough
* Sarah Fitz-Gerald
* Tania Bailey
* Madeline Perry
* Natalie Grinham
* Nicolette Fernandes
* Sarah Kippax
* Aisling Blake

#### Associations

* Professional Squash Association – Official ball
* Women's Squash Association – Official ball

## See also

* Dunlop Sport (Australia)
* Dunlop (brands)
* Slazenger

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Growth and Performance of British Multinational Firms before 1939: The Case of Dunlop Geoffrey Jones The Economic History Review , New Series, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Feb. 1984) , pp. 35–53 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Economic History Society Article Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2596830
2. ↑ "Terms & Conditions". https://dunlopsports.com/terms/.
3. ↑ "Dunlop » IBML". http://www.ibml.co.uk/brands/dunlop/.
4. ↑ Wood, Zoe (2016-12-27). "Sports Direct sells Dunlop for $137m". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/27/sports-direct-sells-dunlop-for-137m.
5. ↑ "Pacific Dunlop ditches Australian icons". Asia Times. 29 April 1999. http://www.atimes.com/oceania/AD29Ah01.html.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Klaus Schmidt; Chris Ludlow (2002). Inclusive Branding: The Why and How of a Holistic Approach to Brands. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 183–9. ISBN 978-0-230-51329-7. https://archive.org/details/inclusivebrandin00klau_0.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Jones, Stephen G. (1992). Sport, Politics and the Working Class: Organised Labour and Sport in Inter-war Britain. Manchester University Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-7190-3680-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=sSHpAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA51.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Grieves, Keith (1989). Sir Eric Geddes: Business and Government in War and Peace. Manchester University Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-7190-2345-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=MUW8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA112.
9. ↑ "Dunlop And F. A. Davis, Limited." Times [London, England] 29 January 1925: 18. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 16 January 2014.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Archived copy". http://www.dunlop.com/gb/heritage.
11. ↑ "Archived copy". http://luxor.acadiau.ca/library/ASAC/v27/content/authors/m/McGovern, Tom/DOMINANCE TO DECLINE A CASE STUDY OF THE DEMISE OF DUNLOP.pdf.
12. ↑ John Letters – History & Heritage
13. ↑ The Guardian (London) 17 November 1984 Dunlop divides into seven 'profit centres' BYLINE: By MAGGIE BROWN
14. ↑ Dunlop sold in BTR re-focus – Business – News – The Independent
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 BTR eyes overseas sites to cut losses
16. ↑ Dunlop back on form after golf sale | The Sunday Times
17. ↑ Osborne, Alistair (5 February 2004). "Game, set and match for Dunlop Slazenger". The Daily Telegraph (London). https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2876059/Game,-set-and-match-for-Dunlop-Slazenger.html.
18. ↑ Wood, Zoe (27 December 2016). "Sports Direct sells Dunlop for $137m". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/27/sports-direct-sells-dunlop-for-137m.
19. ↑ Butler, Sarah (29 December 2016). "Pension expert call for scrutiny over Sports Direct sale of Dunlop". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/29/pension-experts-call-for-scrutiny-over-sports-direct-sale-of-dunlop-slazenger.

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