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Interview
Highlander
Barry Martin, Highlander’s Marketing Manager, briefed SGB on the new
direction the company is taking, with a re-branding of its two distinct arms –
military equipment, and camping.
T
here’s plenty of crossover between military equipment and acquired on a five acre site in Livingston. The company now employs 30 +
camping, but with recent growth Highlander has decided to staff.
clearly mark the lines between the two fields. Moving forward,
the military side will be known as Pro-Force, while Highlander SGB: Has 2009 been a good year for you so far?
remains the name to know in the outdoor side. BM: We’ve done very well this year; in fact it’s the biggest year we’ve ever
had. It’s the first year we’ve had our dedicated marketing team and it’s
Barry Martin talked to SGB about the company’s growth, and where allowed us to manage the introduction of a new brand image for the core
they’re heading… Highlander brand and at the same time introducing the Pro-Force military
brand to the trade.
SGB: There’s some crossover in the two fields Highlander specialises in, isn’t The other key thing about Highlander is that we’re one of the few
there? companies in the trade that still provides a true wholesaling service to
Barry Martin: They work well retailers allowing them to use us as a ‘one stop shop’ for most of their
together on many levels and cover outdoor and military product requirements.
quite a lot of markets in between;
including countrysports like fishing, SGB: You say there’s a re-launch of the brand; where is the
hunting and riding, and then there’s brand coming from and what’s it become?
the festivals etc…In fact we probably BM: The Highlander brand has evolved
have one of the largest ranges in the outdoor naturally and was essentially an
industry when you take into account the two main outdoor brand developing from
catalogues; military & outdoor. the owners’ love for the
outdoors & climbing. As
SGB: How big is the company, staff-wise? students, they found that
BM: The company has continued to expand over the years and has had outdoor clothing and
several locations in Edinburgh. As the brand grew and turnover grew with equipment was all very,
it, it became clear that we needed to find larger premises to keep up with expensive back then.
demand. A new state of the art 80,000 sq ft. distribution centre was Walking gear and rucksacks
16 SGB OUTDOOR SEPTEMBER 2009
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