ZebraHosts Sporting Success

FORMER Falcon’s star Richard Metcalfe is celebrating after his firm landed its biggest ever contract.

The former Scotland rugby player launched Orion Teamwear in Cramlington, Northumberland, after injury prematurely ended his sporting career.

Since then the business, which supplies bespoke branded sports kit for schools and sports clubs, has grown and now employs 13 staff at its Nelson Park Industrial Estate site.

Now the firm has signed a seven-figure, three-year contract with Trutex, the UK’s biggest independent supplier of school and team-wear with a 1,200 school customer base.

Richard, who was the world’s tallest rugby player at 7ft 1in, landed the deal after teaming up with Newcastle data centre ZebraHosts to provide IT hosting and technical support.

He said: “We are very reliant on the technology we use in terms of our website presence and the hosting and support of our IT systems.

“Before I enlisted the help of ZebraHosts I had been very disappointed with the level of service from the technology industry in general.

“Finding a business like ZebraHosts and experiencing their excellent service levels and advice has allowed Orion to focus on what we do best – producing high-quality bespoke branded sportswear. We invested heavily in state-of-the-art equipment that produce bmotifs for our sports items, which gives us a real edge over our competitors.

“By removing any headaches relating to IT I have been freed up to win new business, so you could say ZebraHosts has indirectly had a hand in Orion Teamwear, securing its biggest ever contract win. I now expect to treble the size of the company year on year over the next three years as a direct result of Trutex.”