Canterbury New Zealand opens in Bangkok

Sports brand Canterbury New Zealand, established in 1904, has opened its first Thai flagship store in Bangkok.

Located in the Phayathai Building, the 70 sqm shop offers 120 products in four major categories: men’s training, women’s training, on-field accessories and a British-Irish line. The retailer has kitted out some of the top sporting teams in the world.

Silver Fern Holdings, the exclusive distributor for Canterbury in Thailand, has set a three-year expansion plan. This includes standalone stores in major tourist cities such as Chiang Mai, Hua Hin and Phuket, plus shop-in-shop outlets at major shopping malls in Bangkok including Emporium, Siam Paragon and The Emquartier.

“We aim to increase annual sales of Canterbury products in Thailand from the Bt15 million [US$1.7 million] expected for this year to about Bt60 million in three years,” says Silver Fern Holdings MD Mark Bennett.

The investment for standalone outlets will be about Bt1.5 million a store, each with about 70 sqm of retail space. Pop-up and shop-in-shop stores will have about 30 sqm of retail space.

Canterbury claims to be the world’s original rugby brand, and is official kit supplier to a host of rugby teams globally. It says its clothing is designed for training, workouts and general fitness.

“We see Thailand as a potential market for Canterbury sportswear products thanks to a growing middle class and the health-and-fitness trend,” says Bennett.

The company will introduce its latest Control Gear and Compression Gear technologies into Thailand. Control Gear is engineered to optimise training performance, while the Compression Gear range provides graduated levels of constant compression in key zones to optimise sports performance.

Canterbury products are also available through distributors in Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.