Sports clothing brand Dunlop in Japanese hands

British sports store chain Sports Direct sold has sold its sports clothing brand Dunlop to Japanese Sumitomo Rubber Industries for 137.5 million dollars (132.3 million euro). Sumitomo already had Dunlop’s rights in Japan and Taiwan.infamous

Bad year for Sports Direct

Sport Direct, which also owns Slazenger, Everlast and Lonsdale, decided to sell Dunlop because it “currently does not have the bandwidth to develop and manage international brands simultaneously”. The company, which belongs to infamous Newcastle United Football Club’s owner Mike Ashley, acquired Dunlop in 2004 for 40 million pounds (47 million euro) from the Royal Bank of Scotland, which had bought the brand from its investors.

Sports Direct has suffered this past year, with a 50 % drop for both its profit and its share price. One of its warehouses was also accused of terrible labour conditions, with employees earning below minimum wage. The company now has to pay one million pounds to its employees as part of this revelation.