When I met with Nicci Persey, Managing Director of Solutions Apparel, she summed up the company’s short but respectable history by saying, 'We've moved a long way in quite a short time.’

The company has recently rebranded with a new name, encompassing the niche brands that it now offers alongside the existing bespoke design and production service that was its previous sole focus.

Launching around a year ago under the name PenCarrie Solutions, a bespoke service for existing customers of the Exeter-based distributor, the company began as a sourcing agent and bespoke manufacturer for customers whose needs were not catered for by the existing brand offerings.

Today, the service still continues and moves from strength to strength with the company offering the specially made pieces that are supplied direct to decorators for them to sell direct to their customers. Nicci explained that this way of producing the garments allows the decorator to design the garments to their customer’s specification, while they can also recommend further enhancements to increase the finished quality.

These enhancements can then raise the final price of the garment for the end user, meaning a higher margin is earned by the decorator. However if the decorator does not want to design the pieces themselves, the company has an in-house service that will complete the garment from beginning to end.

With bespoke production, it is important that the finished piece is of the best quality and of a satisfactory condition to the end user, therefore Nicci explains that the strengths the company focusses on are, ‘Very high quality, working with high quality manufacturers, provision of a very good service and delivering on our promises.’

With contacts gained from working within the promotional clothing industry, this has allowed Solutions Apparel to work with the factories who are producing the best quality garments for the major name brands in the industry. Rather than working with brands for production, the company is able to go direct to the source and use local representatives to audit and qualify the factories.

The company has produced all types of garments so there is no limits to what can be produced, in terms of product design and style or additions such as side tabs, labelling and zip tags.

Nicci said, ‘We are very much the one stop shop, we can produce anything you want and supply exactly to your needs as we target all ends of clothing. Also working with us means that if you want a co-ordinated range of clothing that is exactly what you will get.’

Along with the bespoke service, Solutions Apparel have also launched three brands that are available through nationwide distributors. Nicci said that the reason for launching the brands were to add value to product areas currently offered by distributors and not to compete with existing brands.

Therefore, the three brands are extremely niche but have seen large sales since their launch this year, and distributors are reporting an excellent response from customers.

Garment brand The Tour Collection has been a brand well highlighted by distributors in 2005. A range of garments that feature national flags in an alternative decorative styles, this has brought a whole new identity for sporting fans and resurrected an old style from the past.

Nicci explained that the idea for this range came from spending time in Australia during the 2003 Rugby World Cup, where she saw a number of fans wearing flag-style garments and realised the potential for a promotional range using flag colours in a creative fashion.

Featuring T-shirts, lady fit T’s, pique polos, bags and baseball caps, there is currently six flag styles available - England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Union Flag and England in a navy. Nicci describes the Tour Collection as ‘A garment that is almost finished being decorated. Not much in this industry is really new or different but this is.’

Nicci said, ‘Sales of the Tour Collection are going really well and we expect it to be really busy all year round. The demand has really surprised us as we ran out of T-shirts in the first two months! Needless to say distributors are well stocked for the future as a result.’

With a potential attraction for all sports, as well as for sporting use and pub and drink promotions among many ideas, The Tour Collection could be - and is so far proving to be - the surprise package of 2005. As a result, further expansions are anticipated for the range in both styles and garment options for the future.

Also available from Solutions Apparel is the Splashmacs poncho, which considering the unpredictability of the British weather in the summer has been another successful range. Again this is a niche range that is now available to the promotional range, with a huge area for decoration and potential for branding, this is another style with year-round interest.

For the ultimate promotional incentive, no supplier should be without a range of teddy bears. The Mumbles range of plush bears has allowed Prestige Leisure and Ralawise to stock a bear option for the first time in their respective history and customers have shown huge interest in this new brand.

Mumbles consists of a wide range of bears of different colours, shapes and sizes that end users of all ages will love. A collection of clothing for the bears is also available, with decoration space available on both the clothing and bears themselves. More development is planned for the Mumbles range in the future too.

With a new name and new brands, not to mention a rapidly expanding bespoke service, the solution you desire to solve your dilemmas could well be resolved by Solutions Apparel.

For further information on the bespoke service contact Solutions Apparel on 0117 900 1656. The Tour Collection and Mumbles are available from PenCarrie, Prestige Leisure and Ralawise in the UK.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---