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Woodstock Cricket
Alex Fordham speaks to Woodstock founder John Newsome, a company challenging cricket’s status quo.
K
ookaburra, Gunn and Moore, Slazenger, Grey Nicolls; the list goes on. Cricket is awash
with brands boasting of a rich and successful heritage within the industry. It would take a brave individual leave the sports industry after 20 years experience to set up his own bat making company. In 2010, John Newsome decided to do just that. Inspired to offer players the best possible equipment at the most affordable of prices, Newsome, formally part of the management team at Newbury, launched Woodstock Cricket from his purpose built workshop in his backgarden. In only two years, the company has won the coveted ‘The Don’s Pick’ in the Cricketer magazine for their Woodstock Tour de Force bat and now boasts of professionals Matt Spriegal, Steffan Piolet, Harry Gurney and Tim Linley on their books. So how have Woodstock captured the hearts and minds of the cricketing community in such a short space of time? “At the core of my business is
my love for the art of bat making,” commented John Newsome. “I wanted to create a product that really emphasised quality yet remained affordable for all cricketers. The majority of the bats I make are tailored to an individual customers specification.” In a sport that for the past few
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or brand recognition of other brands so I decided on a simple design that focused on traditional cricketing qualities,” said Newsome. Similar to brands in the fashion
world such as Abercrombie and Jack Wills, Woodstock markets themselves with a strong prep school image that airs exclusivity yet remains very affordable to the average cricketer. For instance their grade 1 bats retail at just over the £200 mark. This compares favourably with many other cricketing brands currently trading. Unlike many other cricketing
years has experimented with extravagant clothing colourways and striking bat graphics largely thanks to the success of the Twenty20 game, it may be that Woodstock has benefited from their simple yet traditional heritage appeal that they have chosen to convey. “When setting up the business, I
knew I wouldn’t be able to compete with the high specification graphics
other cricketing brands, Woodstock does not import any men’s bats from abroad and only import a select few junior bats, which are then finished off in their workshop
Unlike many
brands, Woodstock does not import any men’s bats from abroad and only import a select few junior bats, which are then finished off in their workshop. It is this bespoke approach to bat making alongside modern techniques to enhance bat profiles that has seen the brand grow considerably. Although originally favouring to sell directly to the consumer, recently Woodstock has decided to branch out to the retail trade. This obviously presents
opportunities for retailers looking to expand their cricketing portfolio. However Newsome is mindful of expanding the company too quickly. “We are looking to expand our
retail accounts but our growth has to be organic. If we look to expand too quickly we may well lose the essence of what has been our success so far which has been a high quality tailor made product.”
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