COMPANY PROFILE Cherry Blossom Premium Shoe Care
What’s the story behind the brand? Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish was launched in 1906 – brothers Dan and Charles Mason were so tired of having shoe polish rub off on to clothing that they decided to produce their own! With some clever marketing and a barrage of innovations, the brand quickly became a household name and continued to grow in popularity. Today, Cherry Blossom is one of four brands owned by Grangers International – a company dedicated to the protection of all apparel and equipment. Cherry Blossom Premium was launched in July 2011 to develop sales within the Footwear Specialist Sector and has enjoyed meteoric growth year on year. 2015 posted its strongest Shoe Care growth performance of 27%. Since the UK Footwear Industry Awards were launched, the Company has won the Best Shoe Care and Accessories Brand Category four times out of the last five years.
Is there a brand philosophy? Full product protection is right at the heart of everything we do at Grangers International, and by extension, at Cherry Blossom. Cherry Blossom products clean, polish, protect, and restore all footwear, while our range of accessories improve both performance and comfort. Our goal is to help you make a perfect first impression time and time again!
What sets this brand apart from the rest? Cherry Blossom was the first shoe polish to be manufactured in the United Kingdom – and we’re now the only shoe care manufacturer that still produces 100% of our polishes, proofers and creams in the UK. That heritage allows us to make products that have first class performance within the Global markets. Plus, as we continue to grow, our newer products all get the benefit of an incredible British history. In the UK, if you stopped a person in the street and asked them to name a Shoe Care brand, 68% would mention Cherry Blossom unprompted. Now that is consumer recognition for you! (Source: One Poll 2011)
Where is the brand assembled/manufactured? Every single one of our polishes and proofers are designed, formulated, produced, and packaged right here in our UK manufacturing facility. Based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, our factory and warehouses have great transport links to the rest of the country and the wider world beyond. About a year ago we launched our first Distribution Centre in the USA which has been a very exciting project and is fuelling growth in this major market place.
Who is the agent? We have a dedicated sales team – and all of them are passionate about both footwear and outdoor aftercare. Recently we restructured the Sales Division to become one Team covering all our Channels. Pam Turner and Vicky Orme handle our telesales needs, and check in with our customers over the phone as often as they can.
16 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • JUNE/JULY 2016
Meanwhile, Nick West – our National Accounts Manager – manages our UK Retail Multiples and large Distributors. Our Regional Managers Daniel Wood and Martin Cooper are the Granger’s Outdoor Experts and are responsible for the UK Outdoor Channel. Our most recent recruit Nick Poole, UK Sales Manager, who joined us in July 2015 now runs the complete National Sales Team. As the newly appointed Sales Director
(Paul Lister) for Grangers International which includes all of our corporate brands and Private Label Customers, I’m also very involved with Cherry Blossom due to my twenty three years history within the Shoe Care Retail Channels. I report directly into our intrepid General Manager Karolina Jones who has been with the business for over 26 years! You’ve probably met some of us at trade shows such as MODA, or at events such as the Footwear Industry Awards.
How is the brand marketed? Do you use social networking? We actually get a huge amount of interest and free advertising from simple word-of-mouth advertising. That said, traditional print adverts and social media have been huge for us too – they really let us talk directly to our consumers, and we can then use that information to develop our products. Other exciting ways we market our brand
include video production and other digital marketing. We’ve been working closely with FreshBritain – a marketing agency from London – to refresh our entire company, including our approach to marketing and we’re sure to see some of that reflected in Cherry Blossom as it cascades down in terms of visual language and brand guidelines… so watch this space!
Any famous customers? We recently took a big Cherry Blossom order from the Qatari Royal Family! Grangers International has also donated products to movie shoots – helping to polish, prepare, or otherwise protect pieces from the costume departments of films such as Gosford Park, the Harry Potter films, Alien and Mission Impossible One. We’ve also sent products to Pinewood Studios and Angels Costumes in London – so who knows what else our products have helped to create! On a historical note, Cherry Blossom shined
Military Shoes and Granger’s proofed Army Tents during World War Two. Granger’s products were also used to proof the Clothing and Tents for the first Everest Expedition! Thank you Sir Edmund Hillary for your endorsement!
Contact details for the Trade? The best way to get in touch with us is via our head offices in Derbyshire. You can email us at
info@cherryblossom.co.uk, or call on 01773 521521.
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