Show Notes
Gordon and Ger are joined by Paul Sherratt, CEO and Founder of gloveglu, to talk about making goalkeeping gloves grippy and sticky. Is it cheating? (No, it isn't.) Is it innovative? (Yes, it absolutely is.) You'll learn how Paul came up with the idea, what went into developing gloveglu, and how he used the power of a teenage TikTok producer to tap into a global market for a product that didn't exist before. Paul also talks candidly about balancing a multitude of sales channels, including marketplaces (Amazon alert!) and retailers. A gloveglu product is sold every two-and-a-half minutes somewhere in the world. Listen to hear the whole gripping tale.
More from Functional and Fabulous
Ger once paid €100 for a t-shirt. Willingly. In this episode, you'll find out about Represent, the company that made the t-shirt in question, and how it has grown from a garage operation in Manchester (UK) to a £100 million company with a flagship store in Hollywood (USA). Joining Gordon and Ger to tell the story is Liam Shannon, former head of marketing at Represent, now an independent fashion marketing consultant, who joined Represent as employee number 11. You'll hear how becoming a self-taught marketing Swiss army knife helped Liam build an effective marketing team with a focus on long-term customer relationships rather than short-term sales. You'll also hear how Represent cracked America and how brand, story and world-building are fundamental to growing organic reach online, now that paid is losing its potency. Above all, Liam talks about how bravery in all aspects of your business is the key to growth. If you've ever wondered how a company manages to charge €100 for a t-shirt, you'll want to hear this episode.
Join Gordon and Ger in an information-packed episode with Kevin McCullough, eCommerce Director with Kukoon, an Irish homeware brand specialising in rugs. It’s been a phenomenal few years at Kukoon, who were able to take full advantage of the opportunity offered by the pandemic to grow sales significantly, but then faced the challenges of exuberant overstocking when the 2022 online retail downturn hit. Learn how the company rebranded and repositioned itself. The bold move to embrace a clear identity, how that paid off in spades and made it easier to talk about the business and its products. This all happened while taking the even bolder decision to leave Amazon and adopt a DTC model. You’ll hear how Kukoon escaped the ‘Amazon Trap’. More success followed as the company started using influencers to promote its rugs. But the influencer landscape has changed in the past year. What was once a surefire marketing strategy has lost its potency. That required another bold step: celebrity endorsement. But how do you keep it authentic? Kevin tells you. But brace yourself. Just like Kukoon had to overcome challenges to flourish, so does this episode of the podcast. The tech turns against us and the outro turns chaotic, leading to our most dramatic ending yet.
In this episode, recorded live at StudioForty9’s Excellence in Ecommerce 2026 event, retail multi-CEO Ciarán McCormack (Select, DID Electrical, Blink 24) talks to Gordon and Ger about his journey from magician to merchant. Ciarán reveals the leadership skills he learned as a performer, and how he juggles being both an Apple partner and an Apple competitor. He discusses difficult times (€22 million in stock locked away in closed stores during COVID), brave decisions (being part of a management buyout that many questioned) and how Amazon can be beaten outside the cities. He also talks about how he learned to harness his ADHD superpower to keep his businesses constantly evolving, while making sure his teams are able to keep up with the need for constant change. That’s just a taster. There is an entire season’s worth of learning in this episode alone. Unmissable.
Are you ready for a crash course in customer retention? You’re about to get one. Meghan Frazier, retention lead at Heights, joins Ger and Gordon to deliver one of the most densely packed episodes we’ve ever produced. It’s wall-to-wall insight and practical advice from the get go. If you want to keep the customers you’ve got, this episode is a playbook that will help you do just that. From meeting customers where they are in their journey with you, rather than meeting them where you think they should be, to reducing cancellations, to honouring customer milestones, to using discounts correctly (which is to say, ‘sparingly’), it’s all here. And more. Is WhatsApp the customer retention app you should be using? Yes. Should you be sending customers personalised video messages from your company founder? Obviously. Can you run a business that doesn’t allow customers to only buy once? You can. How? Listen to find out. Have you ever considered how your customer acquisition affects your customer retention? No? Meghan has. Let’s not even get started about why you should ghost some of your customers forever. Get ready for a masterclass in retention.
Join Gordon and Ger as they step into a tornado of conversation with Dave Morrissey, growth and culture consultant, ex-Meta, ex-TikTok, current author and pre-Scéal. Tie yourself down, because the insights come thick and fast about mindset, generative AI, leadership and why Ger should never be allowed to write another hard-rock song prompt again. Dave tells you why most companies fail to scale, and talks about the massive head start Irish companies and brands have over their international competitors, but rarely use to their advantage. He also discusses how companies and executives talk a lot about using generative AI, but don't actually do so or even encourage its use. Is fear of AI holding everyone back? He advocates immediate top-down AIction. And all that is just the delicate breeze before the hurricane...