NEWS


Cornish Company Wins Prestigious Queens Award for International Trade


Giving SoleLutions An award winning Bristol retailer has


returned from Africa after helping to fit shoes for 300 under privileged children in Kenya in just two days.


Founders of Celtic & Co, Nick and Kath Whitworth are thrilled to announce that their Cornish company has been awarded the Queen’s Award for International Trade. It was officially announced on Her Majesty’s birthday - Saturday 21st April with a reception held at Buckingham Palace later this year. Based in Newquay, the couple have been running the business for nearly 28 years, originally trading as The Original UGG®


Deckers Inc in order to purchase the factory and warehouse space at Treloggan Industrial Estate where Celtic is still based to this day. The business began trading as Celtic Sheepskin Ltd, and expanded into a


premium womenswear, menswear and homewares brand, specialising in natural fibres, from the finest cashmere and merino to British sheepskin boots and slippers, still manufactured by hand in our workshop in Newquay. Operating as a direct to consumer retailer, through our website


www.celticandco.com and our dedicated call centre, we now sell to over 90 different countries, but have most recently seen a significant boost in sales since growing our international presence in the United States, Canada and Australia.


Overall Growth Strategy Nick Whitworth states - “Since 2014, our strategy has focused on profitable growth to protect the business in the long term by building up our equity. We are still aiming to grow between 5-10% of our turnover year on year but focusing on a wide range of markets and opportunities to ensure we are not over reliant on one market or territory. A key part of this strategy is international growth. This is demonstrated


Kath & Nick Whitworth


by our growth from 1% of total turnover being through exports in 2014/15 to 12% in 2016/17. Business to Business (both in the UK and international) is another area of growth and diversification for Celtic & Co. We have recently partnered with trade agents in the UK and the US to drive this area of the business forward and are delighted to have secured our first major US trade customer with a $44k order.”


The Benefits Brought to the UK Kath Whitworth explains - “Currently our business model is to run all overseas operations from our UK based head office here in Cornwall. We utilise the knowledge and experience of our logistics partners to ensure that we are exporting goods in the most efficient and cost effective way for our customers and the business. By operating in this way we are keeping employment opportunity and supplier partnerships in the UK - supporting our local economy. As we grow our international business we will continually look at


innovative ways to use natural fibres to create long lasting, timeless pieces that help transform us from a throwaway society into one that values sustainability. The manufacturing part of the business definitely has its heart in Cornwall and that's where our boots and slippers will always be made.”


6 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • MAY 2018 T Owner


anya Marriott , SoleLution


In 2017 SoleLution shoe shops in Portishead High Street and Boyce’s Avenue, Clifton, collected hundreds of donations of unwanted but wearable pairs of school shoes. The shoes were split between Educate the Kids which runs the Jolaurabi school near Mombasa, Kenya and the Za Foundation, a locally based charity that runs an after school facility for children affected and often orphaned by AIDS in South Africa and helps them to get an education. When shop owner Tanya Marriott heard that the pupils at the


, before selling the rights to


Jolaurabi school would receive the shoes in January this year, she self funded a trip to take her and her 10-year-old son George over to Mombasa to help fit the shoes. Tanya said: “It was the most amazing trip. It was a very different way


of fitting shoes as we didn’t have the luxury of a sorted stock room and measuring gauges, although I am donating a couple to make things easier when they need new shoes for the children in the future. We laid the shoes out in rough size order, and the kids who needed shoes were lined up to be fitted.” Tanya trained two of the local teachers and a volunteer, explaining it


was important to give some growing room and between them, over two days they fitted more than 300 pairs of shoes and gave each child at least one pair of clean, new socks. Tanya added: “The state of some of their old shoes was horrific –


some with barely a sole. Shoes protect the children’s feet from many diseases and make the long walk to and from school more comfortable. Education could be the step up these children need, to help them escape from poverty and have hope for their future.” Tanya, a mum of two, is now keen to continue to support Educate the Kids and would like other footwear stores to join the campaign to help these children who are desperate to better themselves. There is a shoe collection point in-store at Tanya’s shops and for


each pair of school shoes in wearable condition that are given in to the shop, SoleLution gives a £1 voucher towards a new pair of school shoes purchased at the shop.


Find out more at www.educatethekids.com or contact Tanya at enquiries@solelution.co.uk


www.footweartoday.co.uk


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