The company that was this week awarded the contract to supply TT merchandise has a strong record in that line of business.
Cube Partnership is a sports retail, e-commerce, licensing and merchandise business.
In 2022, the Worcester-based company, supplied official merchandise for the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, World Athletics, LIV Golf, Rugby League World Cup, Aston Martin and Williams Formula 1 teams among others.
The appointment was made by the Department for Enterprise (DfE).
The company that had the contract was Motorsport Merchandise, located in Duke Street, which had supplied the TT merchandise for the past 34 years. It has now closed.
As the licence holder for the official merchandise, Cube Partnership will be designing, sourcing, delivering, and retailing official licensed products at the Isle of Man TT Races official event shops, local retail outlets and via a dedicated online store that will launch in spring.
The company is looking into recruiting locally for staff to work on the event, and will be offering training programmes for sports industry retail.
A spokesperson for the DfE said: ‘In line with government wide policies for procurement, the department regularly reviews all commercial contracts and the tender for the licence of official TT merchandise went live in September 2022.
‘The tender received nine expressions of interest and two bids were then formally submitted.
‘After both compliant bids were evaluated in line with pre-defined scoring criteria, the contract was awarded to Cube Partnership for an initial period of three years to September 2025 with the option for the government to extend it by a further two years.
‘Under the contract, Cube Partnership as the licensee are committed to both a minimum guarantee and to pay a royalty to the Isle of Man Government for every item of TT merchandise sold under this licence for high volume apparel and accessory categories, in line with standard sports industry practice.
‘Cube Partnership will be delivering a range of merchandised products ahead of TT 2023.’
Andy Bough, Cube’s commercial director, said: ‘We are thrilled to have been appointed official merchandise supplier for the Isle of Man TT Races.
‘Being a major partner of such an iconic event, the ultimate “must see” event for motorsport fans worldwide, we’re looking forward to leveraging our global licensing, merchandise and retail experience and bringing to life the unique TT atmosphere through a world-class retail and merchandise programme for spectators and fans across the globe.
‘We will be looking to work collaboratively alongside the Isle of Man’s business and retail community and will be visiting the Isle of Man shortly to meet with local retailers who are interested in stocking TT merchandise ahead of this year’s event.’