The Direct Soccer Story
Direct Soccer this year celebrate 20 years in business and in the past two decades have come a long way to being a part of your weekend! Check out our brand film we made to celebrate this milestone:
Founded in 1997 under the name Sportstyle by husband and wife team Bryce and Joyce Gibson, our company has gone from strength to strength since rebranding to be one of the industry leaders in the United Kingdom.
From originally running a traditional retail shop in Forfar, Bryce and Joyce bought two further stores (Dundee and St.Andrews) to extend their presence in the Angus and North East Fife area. The new millennium saw a boom in online retail and the couple seized upon this opportunity by moving away from the bricks and mortar part of the business to become a solely independent online retailer, specializing in football team kit and customisation.
We are now recognised as one of the top teamwear specialists in the country, supplying football team kit and training wear from all the major brands in football such as adidas, Nike, Mitre, Joma and Stanno. Through Bryce’s research and customer feedback and recognising the financial squeeze on teams at grassroots levels, we introduced our own brand of footballs and training equipment that offer excellent value for money without compromising on quality.
As the business grew, we were able to expand our customisation departments to offer a complete embroidery and printing service, all done in-house which has led to us reducing lead times and controlling quality.
In the fast paced world of online retailing, we have had to adapt to changes in the way our consumers shop, making sure we are at the sharp end of the league table when it comes to offering a full online ordering experience, where we were one of the first to allow customers to fully customisise their team kit and training wear online, all in the one transaction. Embracing technology has also allowed us to develop our social media channels, enabling us to engage directly with customers through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Trustpilot.
But we couldn’t have got to here without you. Our ever-increasing customer base is one of the reasons we have been so successful and made the last 20 years a pleasure! We’re proud to be associated with so many clubs and organisations and helping you enjoy your weekend playing our favourite sport! We love hearing about how well our clubs are doing, winning games (though just taking part is enough for us to consider you winners!) and tournaments to seeing the looks on the kids faces’ as they see their new football kit!
From kitting out teams taking part in grassroots leagues up and down the country, to helping clubs take their players to Barcelona, we’ve come a long way from selling tracksuits in the world famous Barras!
