Hunter Apparel
wears its 77 years well
Simon Hunter of Hunter Apparel, a clothing manufacturer based in
Derry~Londonderry, answers some quick fire questions about the business
and its plans for the future.
How long has Hunter Apparel been in
existence?
Hunter Apparel Solutions Ltd was
formed in Belfast in 1936. The
Company became a manufacturer in
1952 and uniquely still offers its own
manufacturing unit in Northern Ireland
to complement what has become a
global sourcing operation for all aspects
of uniform and PPE clothing. We source
product across South East Asia, North
Africa, Eastern Europe and other parts
of Western Europe as well. The company
currently has 45 staff.
Who are your clients?
Hunter Apparel supplies across a very
wide variety of sectors which include;
work-wear, PPE, corporate wear and
formal uniform wear, taking in clients
in retail, financial services, hospitality,
food, agri, industrial, post, transport,
airline, airport, and blue light sectors.
Our clients have included John Lewis,
Waitrose, British Airways, and HMRC,
and today include the Metropolitan
Police, An Post, Canon, Body Shop,
British Airports Authority, Royal Flight
of Oman, Emirates, Kuwait Airways, and
the UK Fire Service. Locally we supply
Hastings Hotels, NI Ambulance Service,
HSCNI, the Merchant Hotel, NI Fire,
Robinson Services, and our local airports.
Have you won any significant contracts
recently?
The most recent wins include a multimillion pound contract for postal
operative’s Gore-Tex boots for An Post,
a contract for the supply of bespoke
corporate clothing both tailoring and
work-wear for the Hastings Group of
hotels, some specialist work-wear for
Agri, the UK’s leading bio-diesel recycler.
We have also recently won some
framework contracts for PPE, managed
services, and uniforms with managed
service options across the whole of the
UK.
What does the future hold?
We believe that the UK economy will
remain challenging for at least another
several years but that a strong set of
finances, an excellent reputation, and a
high level of staff and IT capability will
help provide our company with global
opportunity. Our client base is not
restricted to the UK, we have a successful
business in ROI, and the Middle East and
we are exploring business opportunity in
Africa currently. We have a track record
of supplying global businesses and have
supplied across UK, EMEA and in the
Pacific Rim countries.
We have just signed a new licence
with W.L. Gore the owners of the GoreTex brand to allow us to enter a highly
technical new market niche. We are one
of only four UK companies licensed to
provide technical apparel items to the
growing UK utility market sector.
How are you investing in the business?
We have really reinvented ourselves
as a business during the period of
this recession and are now a stronger
business in all regards than we were
before the start of the recession.
We are one of the very few businesses
in our sector who are without medium or
long term debt. This means we have the
cash available to invest in strong levels of
stock which then allow us to provide agile
customer service.
We have strengthened the skill base
within our Company in the last 12
months. Having downsized staffing
during the early part of the recession we
have rebuilt our skills base with new staff
that have the best possible skills suited to
today’s market. Our new staff are IT savvy
graduates with an excellent work ethic
who are helping transform our business.
Hunter Apparel has always invested
heavily in IT and continues to do so. We
have recently redeveloped our critical
path system, our stock forecasting system,
and our QC system all of which enhance
Simon Hunter
the speed at which we carry out daily
processes, this has helped us reduce cost
and become more customer focused.
We are starting to see resurgence in
demand for our NI factory production.
Increasing prices in South East Asia,
coupled with decreasing flexibility offered
in those countries is starting to bring
production back closer to home. We have
begun hiring staff to help us manufacture
more products at home for the first time
in many years.
What are you most proud of?
We are proud to have survived for 77
years in business and still remain a
profitable, cash generative business
despite facing the toughest recession in
living memory. We are one of only two
businesses in the UK in this sector that
have remained in the same ownership
structure for the last twenty plus years.
There is good reason for this success,
and it is essentially down to sensible
sustainable business practices allowing
the business to invest at the appropriate
times and grow when the opportunity
permits.
Hunter Apparel Solutions Ltd
Unit 9, Springtown Industrial Estate, Springtown Road, Derry~Londonderry, BT48 0LY
Tel: +44 (0) 28 7126 2542
www.hunterapparelsolutions.com