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COMPANY PROFILE
invested in a state-of-the-art eight-head Barudan, quite common in the embroidery industry. “There is
the quality of which is second to none, says Ian. no conflict of interests as the work generated from
With this equipment Premier Embroidery is capable the website comes from all over the country, and is
of producing between 4,000 and 5,000 garments a always handled sensitively,” says Ian.
week, depending on the size of the embroidery – Quality control is important in any job, but
not bad going for a company of its size. because Premier Embroidery handles a lot of logo
work and uniforms with staff names on, attention
Quality control to detail is even more important. So all work goes
But even working flat out, Premier is careful to through a series of checks with different staff
ensure its standards are maintained, as the high members and the company’s mistake rate is
The new 8-head
Barudan
quality of the work carried out is central to the extremely low, says Ian.
company’s success. This is a lesson Ian learnt very Digitising is another important aspect of the
early on in the business, as he explains: “I was company’s work is carried out by the skilled team at
doing some caps for a customer, and at the time I Embroidery Design Services. Using a digitiser in the
was desperate for work. But the embroidery wasn’t UK rather than overseas helps simplify the
very good and I really should have stopped the job production process, says Ian – a simple phone call
and told the customer it wasn’t working, but I is all that is needed should something need altering
didn’t. We just thought we’d get it done and slightly. It also helps speed up turnaround times –
everything would be okay, but the customer wasn’t one of the reasons the embroidery industry is still
happy and I ended up out of pocket. alive in the UK today, adds Ian.
“That taught me a crucial lesson – that quality is Although the country is in the grip of an
key and if anything isn’t right you should stop economic downturn, Premier is still busy and the
straight away and resolve it. Needless to say, that orders are still coming in. Ian believes this is
wasn’t a lesson I’ll need repeating.” because people still recognise the high value of
Most of the work Premier does is contract embroidery, although he is realistic about how the
embroidery, but since re-launching its website about economic situation could affect things next year.
a third now comes from the end user. Some might “The Christmas to Easter period is traditionally its
see this as unusual, but Premier insists it is actually quietest, so if we are going to feel it we will feel it
then. In which case we will probably have to be a
bit keener on price, which would be a shame
because we are driven by producing high quality
work using the highest quality materials.”
But there’s no escaping the feeling of uncertainty
that surrounds most industries right now, and so,
like many other decorators, Premier is feeling the
need to diversify its offering. “For instance, we do
embroidery work for a cricket club and through a
contact there we have picked up an order for base
layer garments, which we will decorate using a heat
press,” explains Ian. “It’s not something we’d
normally do but if someone
asks us to do something
different we always say
‘yes’ where we can.”
Premier also has a few
customers in the or recommendation, but a lot of work is being done
schoolwear sector, which it to steer traffic towards the site. “We are working on
picked up when one of its boosting the rankings but at the moment we come
The stages of a design
customers, a schoolwear up first if you type in ‘commission embroidery’ to
supplier, retired. But, says Google, which we’re pleased about,” says Ian.
Ian, schoolwear is quite a specialised market and Whatever direction the business goes in, one
not one that Premier will necessarily be actively thing will remain the same, and that is the team’s
pursuing in the future. “It’s very competitive, approach to customer care and high standards, says
especially with the cheap uniforms on offer from Ian. “We are here to take away all the hassle of
the supermarkets,” he says. production from our customers. Whatever the
Instead, as Ian sees it, Premier’s future lies in the customer wants, we can sort it, whether it is
Internet business – building up its workwear embroidery or print and embroidery, whatever – just
customers and small businesses, and also send us the work and let the experts sort it out!”
continuing to build good relationships with printers
and marketing agencies. With no sales rep to drive Tel: 0115 9861988
business, much of this is reliant on word of mouth Web:
www.premierembroidery.co.uk
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk January 2009 | 55 |
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