p42,43 wicked printing:Layout 1 16/02/2010 14:33 Page 42
COMPANY PROFILE
Sister are doing it!
Here come the girls! Left to right: Nikki, Marie and Hazel Heracleous
The Heracleous girls grew up with printing ink in their veins. From an early age, they learned how
to screen print, gaining valuable hands-on experience at their parents' school uniform firm,
Uniform Leisurewear. These days, the girls have not only taken on the family business, but have
taken it down a new path, with the launch of Wicked Printing Stuff.
Debbie Eales went along to find out more.
S
creen printing suppliers are ten a penny, but family business. "Our parents had the uniform The name stuck.
Kent-based Wicked Printing Stuff (WPS) are business from when we were quite small," says Over the years, the company had welcomed work
breaking the mould. For a start, the company Nikki. "I grew up learning to screen print and they experience students and the penny began to drop
is run by three young women – sisters Marie, 32, have really supported this side of the business." that these creative young people, pursuing a fashion
Hazel, 29 and Nikki Heracleous, 27. Adds Hazel: "Someone mentioned to me that it was career, needed a low cost means of producing
The company designs and manufactures its own very odd for women to be doing this in a very male- professional print.
tabletop screen printing machinery. What's more, orientated environment. Nikki and I joke about it, So Wicked Printing Stuff was born – helping
WPS are cornering the market in supplying but Nikki has her own fan club. As our inks and customers turn creativity into reality.
affordable start-up packages for everyone from screen printing expert, she handles a lot of the The girls' early experience came into play when the
schools and colleges to crafters, casualties of the queries. She's the main voice for us and a lot of company began designing its own printing presses.
recession, or to those who just want to diversify into people are surprised that she does have that level "We know what works," says Nikki. "One of our
something different. of experience." strengths is the micro registration on the presses
And they are bucking the trend. Business is very Being women has actually been a benefit rather themselves. That's invaluable when you are printing
good indeed – not just here, but on the continent than a barrier, they believe. multi-colour jobs. The quality of our product is
and further afield. "When women call, it's easier for them," says reflected in the garments that our customers
"We progressed and just expanded over such a Hazel. "You do get women screen printers and they produce."
short period of time," says Hazel. "We have had an love Nikki. Women feel so much more comfortable WPS has concentrated on manufacturing a tabletop
excellent year," says Nikki. "In a recession, people asking a woman questions." range of one, two, four and six colour presses,
want a career change – they may have a passion Adds Nikki: "Customers who are beginners which require very little space.
for something like this but maybe they never had sometimes say they feel silly about asking such Says Hazel: "One of the reasons for that was
the opportunity. obvious questions – but I do my best to make them because we were getting requests for screen
"In the UK we are actively expanding our customer feel comfortable. After all, if they're starting out, printing products from customers who didn't have a
base into schools and colleges but because of the why would they know?" press. They didn't have the space.
pound, we sell to the European market as well – When their parents retired, and the sisters took over "They needed something they could do from their
sometimes to crazy places! We get a lot of people the day to day running of Uniform Leisurewear, they garage, or if it was a school, they wanted to put five
asking if we send to Spain or France, but I have were increasingly being asked to source screen or six presses in a classroom."
even shipped one of our bigger kits to the printing materials. A variety of platen sizes are available, including a
Seychelles." "We noticed a gap in the market, more to supply new babywear platen, introduced last year. "That's
And while the shipping costs might be high, it is still students," recalls Marie. "We started life on eBay another selling point of our machines," says Hazel.
cheaper for customers outside the UK to buy from two and a half years ago." "You can print onto small clothing, sleeves or really
WPS, the girls say. The company's original eBay name was big garments, and we have an extra large platen for
Adds Hazel: "We have recently seen a huge growth Grundelfinger (German for "little battle machine"). big fabric prints."
in inquiries from schools and colleges." Today, WPS presses have dual branding as Wicked These days, WPS is not the only company selling
All three girls have good degrees. Technical expert, Printing Stuff and Grundelfinger840. tabletop presses, but they claim to be one of the
Nikki, has a media degree and Hazel studied "We decided to expand the uniform business and only companies to build their presses in-house.
performing arts, while Marie did politics and began selling inks. A lot of people had been asking "We have tried to price our presses so that they are
international relations. 'how do you get into this?'. And it was a customer accessible to everyone, but we don't compromise on
None of them felt pressured into taking over the who actually said to us 'this is wicked'." says Hazel. quality," says Hazel.
| 42 | March 2010 www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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