Pictured: Harry, Cathal & Owen Hughes of Portwest
Harry Hughes is CEO of Portwest, the workwear company headquartered in County Mayo. He is the Business Person of the Month August 2022, in association with KPMG.
Harry Hughes is CEO of Portwest. Founded by Charles Hughes in 1904, Portwest is an industrial safety distributor that specialises in fire-resistant and high-visibility workwear, as well as personal protective equipment. They produce protective clothing for the mining, building and security industries. The company is one of the fastest-growing workwear companies in the world.
Hughes runs the company with his two brothers, Cathal and Owen. In an interview with the Irish Times, Mr. Hughes said: “I get on exceptionally well with them and there has barely been a cross word between us in 30 years. We’re lucky that we’re friends as well as being family and have different personalities and skillsets that complement each other.”
He currently employs over 4,500 people across the globe. The company operates global distribution from a network of bases in Ireland, the UK, Poland, Dubai, Australia and the USA, as well as manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh, Myanmar and China, and customer support staff in over 120 countries.
On average, Portwest has approximately 1,200 products for sale per year. The brothers helped increase revenues from approximately €200,000 in 1979, to more than €140 million in 2016.
In 2020, Mr. Hughes and the team at Portwest led the response to COVID-19 crisis by shoring up the shortages of PPE clothing for frontline workers.
Portwest won the Circular Economy Award at the inaugural Business & Finance ESG Awards for extending control of operations across the supply chain and innovating in materials and products without compromising safety, comfort and brand. Henry Hughes, Director of Pricing and Planning at Portwest accepted the award on behalf of the company.
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Business & Finance, Business Person of the Month
