Walking through the noisy weavers in Blackburn, to the cutting floor of Nelson – we learnt how William Turner’s ‘Made in the UK’ stamp begins and ends. From the recycled yarn to the hand-cut patterns – each aspect of a William Turner tie comes straight from England.
We spoke to Sales Director, Andy Smith, about everything from his day-to-day routine to the sustainable future of William Turner.
Can you walk me through a normal day-to-day?
I’m often traveling to see customers that are not often in the factory. I tend to encourage customers to visit our factory for a tour, as it really enforces our ‘Made in the UK’ name.
What are the biggest challenges your sales team faces in today’s market?
In an increasingly competitive market, William Turner is in prime position with our unique ability to offer great value offshore production whilst also having our amazing UK factory – giving us the ability to respond to our customers in peak-season with tie production, at times, as quickly as two weeks – no one else can offer that.
In terms of sustainability, how are you working on making the process greener?
I’m not sure we can get much greener! 95% of our ties are made from recycled yarn. The process is interesting – we use recycled bottles that are then converted into eco yarns, they are then spun and dyed in factories across Spain and Italy. These yarns are then trucked to the two weavers we use in Blackburn and Skipton, which are only 10 miles either side of our factory in Nelson. Not only are they eco, but our carbon footprint is a lot lower than our competitors who fly and ship their products from China.
We also ensure that any waste fabric from our factories is collected and recycled into items such as underlay and car mats.
How do you foster collaboration and communication within your sales team?
We still have a working-from-home policy, however, we recently relocated to Banner’s modern head office in Altrincham. The office has great transport links to Manchester city centre, but we still promote flexible working hours and locations. This new move will help us attract the best staff and offer a modern way of working that will, in turn, offer greater customer service.
How do you approach sales forecasting?
This is a good question! Since COVID-19, the Uniform Bill, and the cost-of-living crisis – we’ve not had a ‘normal’ year for over five years. We tend to do our main forecast for the following year, after Back-to-School and we regularly check and adjust our products throughout the year.
What can we expect to see in the coming months from William Turner?
We’re continuing with much of the same when it comes to our range of badged and plain schoolwear items. What is exciting is our new range of generic accessories – Roamie! This is a developing project that we are working on with the marketing team in Altrincham!