Hassle-free Growth
When visiting Trade Embroidery, we had anticipated seeing a flurry
of seaside rides, perhaps eating some ice cream or donuts, and looking
up to see the Blackpool Tower in all its glory (with the business being
situation in the heart of Blackpool); but we hadn’t anticipated seeing
two planes and a helicopter taking off.
This is due to the company’s premises being nestled next to a
private airfield, making for a relaxing and entertaining coffee break
spot in between production.
Managing director and founder of Trade Embroidery’s Jake Adams'
start in the print industry was, like many others, an accident. Adams
first discovered the possibilities of print whilst at high school at the
age of 14 when his graphics teacher encouraged him to print onto mugs
for a project. With his interest piqued, Adams convinced his parents to
buy him a heat press, and off he went.
Adams began producing promotional items such as mugs and coasters
for local charities and community initiatives. When he left school, he
continued doing this and invested in some more kit which enabled him to
offer smaller-format signage and graphics.
Under the brand Creative Print, Adams produced work locally and
began printing banners and large-format work in-house. With this came
demand for garments and Adams soon began outsourcing this work with the
smaller-format work cheaper and easier to get into initially.
This was Adams’ business model for around five-to-six years and at
the age of 18, he took a loan out to buy more equipment and in turn
began turning over profit whilst still outsourcing around 75% of print.
Adams then had the opportunity to bring embroidery in-house when
the company he outsourced to closed due to its owner retiring. As a
result, an embroiderer was brought over from the pre-existing company
who had years of knowledge and experience in that field. This was
beneficial as Adams wasn’t familiar with the ins and outs of this area.
Valuable Experience
Having always been entrepreneurial, Adams has never worked for
anyone other than himself and admits, at times, he didn’t know entirely
what this would look like.
Looking back at the company’s inception, Adams describes it as “all
happening by chance” and despite now producing work in-house, he says
outsourcing was a valuable experience for the growth of the company as
it showed him the pain points of outsourcing, which enables him to
remove these and have a greater understanding of the process for his own
clients.
Then along came the pandemic and with it came the busiest period to
date for Adams with business tripling. During this time, the company
saw a boom in demand for embroidery and as a result transitioned to a
trade-only model. This was also when the business transitioned to the
Trade Embroidery name, moving away from other printed products and
focusing solely on this area of the market.
The company has now been in its current premises for four years and
is almost outgrowing it. The site is also situated within close
proximity to around 20 print and garment decorating companies so it is
well placed in its current location.
Market Domination
To date, Adams explains that there are still only a small number of
companies offering trade-only workwear and garment printing within the
industry.
Instead of diversifying, Adams says the company plans to focus on
dominating the trade workwear and branded sphere. “You can’t do it all
effectively. We’ve done wide-format print in the past but we’ve
streamlined it now to be the experts in embroidery. Any tricky jobs
shouldn’t be a problem as customers can offload these onto us. Any
complex stuff tends to come Trade Embroidery’s way.”
Adams uses trade shows to educate the industry on the intimacies of embroidery and meet new clients
Learning from mistakes is something Adams says has happened a lot
over the years but has enabled him to get a strong grasp on what is a
particulary technical area of the industry. On this, Adams adds that his
“trial and error budget” grows every year. This budget covers designing
and implementing bespoke management systems with the company having to
adapt systems to meet its own needs.
“There is no off-the-shelf management system for embroidery so
everything we use has been built and designed for us," Adams explains.
"The systems we’re using today didn’t exist two years ago. We’ve had to
build a new backend site and CRM for management systems.”
According to Adams, customers tend to outsource until they have the
resources to bring embroidery in-house but often, they will continue to
outsource as it saves hassle and time.
In order to expand and grow, Adams recommends print service
providers bolt branding onto their offering by using Trade Embroidery.
“You do what you’re good at and leave us to take care of the embroidery
products and price it so it is viable and competitive,” he says.
Integrity and Education
The verification process to open an account with Trade Embroidery
is strict, but this enables the company to maintain its integrity as a
trade-only supplier. The company also offers a ‘try before you buy’
service to get customers used to the process during onboarding.
“Customers need to believe we won’t pick up the phone and poach
their customers,” Adams explains. To maintain this trust, Trade
Embroidery welcomes its customers and clients to its premises to enable
them to see how things work, which in turn makes it easier for them to
sell the products to their own customers.
Another big part of enabling customers to succeed is education with
designs needing to be digitalised and formatted with a lot of time
spent educating customers on what works and what doesn’t, and why. “This
is often done during the onboarding process so new customers understand
what’s best for their needs which saves time and going back and forth
later down the line,” Adams says.
For Trade Embroidery, industry events are beneficial for sharing
these education pieces with the company having had a presence at
Printwear & Promotion LIVE!, Sign and Digital UK, and The Print Show
over the past year alone.
This is because you can get in front of customers face-to-face and
explain any issues that aren’t clear and answer any questions they may
have, with the product in front of you to refer to if needed.
[L to R] Jake Adams, Michael Harvey, and Reece Gray exhibiting at Sign & Digital UK
At the recently wrapped Print Show 2023, the company had a busy
three days with the stand swept off its feet with sign-ups as the
business promoted its DTF gang sheet offering and embroidery services.
Adams also took part in a FESPA UK Next Generation Committee Panel
discussion at the event’s Knowledge Zone to talk about how he set up the
company from a young age.
Representation Within Print
Being such a young managing director and having come into the
industry from scratch, Adams is somewhat of an anomaly in the industry.
Despite being a humble and unassuming character, Adams has attracted
well-deserved recognition from the wider community and was awarded a
BIBAS Most Inspirational Young Person Award.
However, in true Adams style, he is quick to note that he would
prefer to be recognised for his work within the industry, and not just
categorised as a ‘young person within the industry’. However, it hasn’t
been easy launching a business as a young person with Adams having felt
pressure to prove himself.
“When you’re 18, it’s hard to sell to older people. You need to
know your stuff. Lots of people assume it’s your Dad’s business when
you’re starting out at a young age,” he says. However the support of
Adams' family meant he had the drive to continue to push on and as a
result, He has grown a successful business from the ground up.
Adams also has good relationships with other industry members such as
Tradeprint, Venture Banners, VB Media, and The Online Print Coach and
says collaboration is an important part of growing and succeeding as a
business as it enables you to lean on the strengths of those excelling
in their particular area.
When you hear the story of Adams’ entry into the industry as well
as the history and growth of Trade Embroidery in such a short time, it
is undeniable that he has achieved a huge amount starting out from a
young age with little to no expertise or guidance from those experienced
within the sector, and that has to be commended.
Adams is also doing a stellar job at showing other young people
coming into the industry that there are opportunities within any level
of a business within the industry and that managerial roles and
senior-level roles are possible.
Statistics
- 30,000+ – white label garments offered
- 22 – application positions available
- 11 – staff members
- 2016 – founded
- 2020 – rebranded to Trade Embroidery
- 3,000sq ft – size of premises
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