Our business goes through some well-established cycles throughout the year.

Product ideas, development, sampling, ranging, more sampling, tweaking, marketing and launch plans, purchasing stock, receiving stock, launch, sales drive.....and the cycle then starts all over again.

Coronavirus has thrown in some considerable challenges during this process but also some interesting opportunities.

More time spent in isolation has meant more time spent thinking about product innovations and ideas. More time spent looking at competitors and gaps in the market and more time thinking about product launches.

The downside is that, with factories closed and/or working at much less capacity, the ability to sample and tweak has become much more challenging and has affected potential launch timescales.

This, coupled with the fact that many retailers and brands have high inventory levels, will mean for many businesses that new product launches will simply be delayed for, perhaps, 6 months or more.

At gloveglu we have taken the opposite approach and will be heading full steam into a mammoth product launch programme during the latter half of the 2020.
We've been working incredibly hard on a line of products to help with all aspects of goalkeeping, not just glove care, and to enhance the ability of keepers.

Isolation has, arguably, given us the opportunity to think about brand development like never before and, over the coming months, we can't wait to share with you the launch of a new sister brand and associated products.

But, in the meantime, we working hard on launch plans and timings - the latter being determined by so many different factors that it's hard, at this stage, to provide an accurate launch date.

Suffice to say as soon as we have an idea we'll let you know through our social media channels.

Until then stay safe and keep lovin' your gloves.

Its May 1st and, in the UK, we've been in lockdown due to the Coronavirus since March 23rd.

The impact on the gloveglu business, like many businesses throughout the globe, has been significant and, upon lockdown, we immediately moved to skeleton staffing and more measured social distancing.

The office is deserted (apart from "Dave" our resident showroom dummy) but it's given us all a chance to concentrate, not least, on the future development plans and strategy for 2020 and beyond and a chance to reflect on every aspect of the operation.

In production, we have invested in a new bottling machine to increase production levels and turnaround times and to ensure that stock levels are high when we come out the other side of lockdown and thus are able to react to any business upturn.

In marketing we have reviewed social media strategies, our email databases, pop-ups and looked generally at ways to connect with our customers. Social media advertising has also been increased to further deepen our relationships.

In new product development, we have been working hard on an exciting new project, planning the launch for later this year and ensuring that our factories can deliver ready for the start of a new season (whenever that may be) but more importantly for Christmas. In fact, Christmas planning has been at full speed with some new and exciting bundle packs in production alongside some additional gift items.

The website continues to have more content added as well as the introduction of our gluBOT to help customers choose the right product -something that has been a huge success and well received.

In customer care we have installed zendesk to ensure that queries are answered in a professional and timely manner.

Our amazon business has been overwhelmed, particularly in the product categories that support solo training such as Responseballs and cycling gloves.

For many, this has been a particularly tough and challenging time, and our hearts go out to those that have lost loved ones. We salute the front lines staff, the doctors, nurses and carers and we look forward to the day that football (and indeed all sport) begins again.

But until that time we wish all our customers the very best and thank you for your support. 

Many of us have suddenly found ourselves with time on our hands and, perhaps, looking for things to do.

So we thought we'd launch a colouring competition for kids and adults alike. Mindful colouring for adults has been recognised as a great stress reliever and for kids everyone loves colouring!

You can enter by simply downloading the image above from our google drive by clicking here

and save (by right clicking and downloading) and then print.

Once you have the artwork feel free to customise in any way you like and show us your creative genius!.

The competition will have two age group categories is open to the following age groups:

Under 12
12+

Once you have finished your colouring in take a photo (or scan) and email colouring@gloveglu.com with your full name, email address and age.

ENTRIES:

Entries must be received by April 30th 2020. Winners will be announced during the first week of May by email.

PRIZES:

1st prize : £75 of gloveglu products
2nd prize: £50 of gloveglu products
3rd prize: £25 of gloveglu product

Good luck!

Our Founder and CEO, Paul Sherratt, was recently invited to the headquarters of KEEPERsport in Austria to discuss our latest product launches and to feature in the KEEPERcast podcast series.

Interviewed by Martin Krenn, Keepersport CEO, Paul spent time talking about the idea behind gloveglu through to the evolution of the brand and future product launches.

Martin and his team gave Paul a guided tour around the highly impressive Keepersport HQ before sitting down together to record the KEEPERcast.

Throughout 2020, and beyond, gloveglu will support We Love Football Academy (WLFA) as its charity partner of choice.

Taking disadvantaged children from the Cape Town Townships, WLFA aims to provide life skills, as well as football skills, for girls and boys and to create a pathway for the future for these children.

The gloveglu support is based on two levels;

Firstly a range of products carries the WLFA logo, and a donation from the proceeds of the sale of these products will go to support the charity.

Secondly, to celebrate his 50th year, our CEO, Paul Sherratt, is embarking on a running challenge - running 5km a day for 50 days to £5k - to finish on his birthday.

The combination of these activities looks set to raise a substantial sum for the charity over the coming years and we are excited to further develop our links and programmes to benefit the WLFA members.

To find out more about We Love Football Academy click here 

To make a donation, and support Paul's run, please visit 

https://www.givengain.com/ap/paul-sherratt-raising-funds-for-we-love-football-academy/#timeline

To follow his efforts on his 5 for 50 for 5 blog visit

http://www.50thingstodoat50.com/

A few weeks ago, our CEO Paul Sherratt had the pleasure of meeting Eugenio Monroy host of the much-acclaimed Alone + Insane podcast

Eugenio was keen to find out more about the brand, where it came from, what we did and how we did it, and more importantly hear it from the mouth of the man behind it all, our CEO.

In this episode, Paul talks extensively about not only the inspiration behind the gloveglu brand but also some of his wider influences, his family and working background.

Its a true insight into what goes into building a successful brand and business and some of the wider challenges that businesses face.

Click the play button below to listen or search within Spotify.