Fast growing e-retailer ONTHEGO strikes customised apparel venture with Workwear Group
- Written by Aprille Lim
Mick Spencer, CEO and founder of ONTHEGO
ONTHEGO (OTG), a leading e-retailer of customised uniforms and sports apparel, has today announced that the Workwear Group (WWG), a subsidiary of Wesfarmers Industrial & Safety, has acquired an equity stake in its business and formed a joint venture relationship.
Mick Spencer, CEO of OTG, said the capital raise would help the Canberra-headquartered company secure its position as the disruptive leader in the uniform and sports apparel industry.
“This deal demonstrates that the market sees value in OTG’s digital disruption model. By bringing the OTG platform to the Workwear Group we will be able to offer customisation and on-demand manufacturing, leading to an enhanced retail offer for their customers,” Mr Spencer said.
Doug Swan, CEO of Workwear Group, said, “This is a great opportunity for the Workwear Group to disrupt itself and further enhance its position as Australia and New Zealand’s leading uniform provider.”
The first phase of this relationship will be a joint venture between OTG and the Workwear Group. The Workwear Group have a strong heritage of leading edge technical uniform design and textile expertise. Leveraging the digital experience of OTG will enable the Workwear Group to enhance its customer proposition and extend into new product categories.
This venture will see a new platform created for Workwear Group customers and branded as “NNT Customised”.
“This joint venture gives us volume, scale, and access to the Workwear Group’s extensive network, “ Mr Spencer said.
“While sportswear apparel will continue to be a core part of OTG’s business, we are maturing as an organisation and expanding into many other verticals, including uniforms, workwear and corporate wear.”
David Baxby, Managing Director of Wesfarmers Industrials, said, “The investment in OTG will allow the Workwear Group to bring its market leading uniform business to a new SME segment. OTG has built a lean business model that allows us to be responsive to a new group of customers.”
In five years, OTG has grown to in excess of 30 staff in Australia, along with staff in the Philippines and India. OTG has secured contracts to outfit major sports teams such as Hockey Australia, NRL, AFL, World Rugby, Cricket Australia, IRONMAN, Cricket NSW, English Premier League (Sheffield Wednesday FC) as well as LinkedIn, The Iconic, YOUI and UNICEF.
ABOUT ONTHEGO
ONTHEGO (OTG) is a global e-commerce company that enables users to design and manufacture custom apparel and accessories. OTG boasts a highly reputable customer base locally and globally, including sporting names such as Hockey Australia, NRL, AFL, World Rugby, Cricket Australia, IRONMAN, Cricket NSW, Sheffield Wednesday FC as well as corporate brands such as LinkedIn, The Iconic and YOUI, and charity organisation, UNICEF.
ABOUT WORKWEAR GROUP
The Workwear Group have a portfolio of market-leading brands across apparel and footwear including King Gee, Hard Yakka, Totally Workwear, NNT and Incorporate Wear.
The Group adopts an end to end, solution-focused approach to managing every phase in its customers' workwear cycle. Workwear Group caters for small businesses to multi-national organisations with teams in place across the globe delivering the best workwear solutions.
