Decorator Profile


Itʼs essential! G


the Spice Girls.


eorge Georgiou always credits the end of his career in belt manufacture to the popularity of


Quite an odd statement to make, but when you realise the influence that the Spice Girls had on the fashion industry with their cropped tops and low waisted trousers you can see why Georgeʼs belt manufacturing business may have fallen by the wayside.


This was back in the late 1990s. By 1998 George had to make a decision to take his career in a different direction to support his young family. It was a tough choice between opening up a McDonaldʼs franchise or purchasing an embroidery business. Thankfully, to the benefit of the garment decoration industry George chose the latter option and founded Essential Embroidery Design along with his wife Nicki, who although now only works part time in the business, was very much a driving force in the beginning. Now known as Essential Embroidery Design & Print or simply Essential, the business began with just one six-head embroidery machine and operated out of a 1,000sq ft unit in Luton, which is tiny in comparison to the 19,000sq ft one now based in Dunstable, but it did the job.


Steadily but surely


Over the years Essential has grown steadily, but surely, with George acquiring working relationships with many of the worldʼs biggest blue chip organisations and creative agencies along the way. In 2005 after many years of getting to grips with, and growing, the embroidery side of the business, George took his first


| 68 | March 2019


step into digital printing with the purchase of a Kornit 930. “This purchase led the way to us becoming a full garment decorator as opposed to just an embroiderer,” explains George. Georgeʼs son Louis, who works as the companyʼs marketing manager, explains that this purchase opened many doors for Essential and paved the way for the company to purchase


its first


automatic screen print machine a few years later.


Branching out in different areas allowed Essential to offer its customers a multitude of


An example of garment embossing


garment decoration techniques and branding solutions. Itʼs Georgeʼs drive to be the first in the UK to try out new technologies and techniques, which also led Essential to becoming one of the first in the UK to offer laser engraving for clothing and to develop a garment embossing machine. Garment embossing is done by firstly having a metal stencil made of the logo to be embossed onto the garment. Both a male and female version of the logo are made, which the fabric is then pressed


The Essential team


It all started with the Spice Girls… Intrigued? P&P editor Melanie Attlesey speaks with the team at Essential Embroidery Design & Print to find out how the business grew from one embroidery machine to one that is now a leader in garment decoration.


between. A combination of heat and pressure transform the fabric so that the logo is permanently embossed into the fabric. The process works best on polyester garments where the embossed logo will last forever. On cotton garments the fabric is treated with a hardening agent which will then hold the embossed logo in place forever. This machine is bespoke to Essential and was developed in partnership with a machine supplier in China. Itʼs during the last three or four years that growth has really accelerated for Essential. In 2016 Dorian Tranter was employed as the


companyʼs sales and


marketing director and a year later Tony Palmer joined as the companyʼs production director. Having a solid management team in place has allowed Essential to enjoy year on year growth of 30% in recent years. “This has really helped to catapult the business forward,” explains Dorian. “Tony and I know our areas of expertise well. We have focused our core values on our core clients.”


The addition of Dorian and Tony to the business has allowed George to free up his time a little bit to focus on how best to expand and grow the business for the benefit of staff and customers alike. Earlier this year, Essential added a 1,500sq ft extension to its premises, bringing the total square footage up to 19,000sq ft. This extension houses increased office space, two new showrooms, a new boardroom and a bigger canteen, which is very popular among the 58 staff members.


www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk


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