Briers’ new licensed kids’ ranges of gloves

Gardening gloves and footwear supplier, Briers, has today unveiled two new exciting ranges for children at Glee 2013. The licensed Cookie Cat and Dylan Dinosaur gloves, will make gardening fun for young children and create opportunities for retailers to win lifetime customers from an early age.

Colourful, comfortable and manufactured in quality materials to the same exacting standards applied to all Briers’ products, the new licensed ranges put the emphasis on letting children have fun outdoors, whatever the weather.

Jackie Eades, Managing Director of Briers, said, “The Cookie Cat and Dylan Dinosaur ranges follow the great success of the Gruffalo® range. They will capture the imagination of young gardeners everywhere and prove that gardening and other outdoor activities can be fun all year round.”

Launched in 2011, the Gruffalo® range by Briers is an exclusive collection of children’s outdoor clothing and gardening accessories based on the popular character created by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. The 2011 GIMA (Garden Industry Manufacturers Association) award-winning range became an instant hit and sales have grown rapidly since.

Cookie Cat and Dylan Dinosaur product ranges

Cookie Cat Gloves RRP £2.75

• Quality jersey and cotton comfort gloves

• Knitted wrist

• Funky patterns

Dylan Dinosaur Gloves RRP £2.75                   

• Quality jersey and cotton comfort gloves

• Knitted wrist

• Funky patterns

Keep an eye out for new Cookie Cat and Dylan Dinosaur products launching soon.

Briers is exhibiting on Stand C40 – D41 in Hall 5 at Glee 2013, which takes place from 15-17 September at the NEC in Birmingham.

For more information, visit www.briersltd.co.uk.

Like Briers on Facebook www.facebook.com/Briersltd
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The Gruffalo word mark and logo are trademarks of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler and used under licence. Licensed by Magic Light Pictures Ltd. See the Gruffalo online at www.gruffalo.com.

Ends

Editorial contacts:
Maria Bretti
redheadPR
07854 819 213
Email: maria@redheadpr.co.uk

Briers Backgrounder

Briers is a specialist gardening gloves and footwear brand. The company is also the licensee behind the GIMA (Gardening Industry Manufacturers’ Association) award-winning Gruffalo® range of children’s gardening clothes and accessories.

In the last three years, Briers has launched Stardust Wellingtons, Floral patterned gloves with matching kneelers, Boppers and High Heeled Boots. This period has coincided with a steady rise in turnover – including a 50% increase in 2012 - despite pressures on consumer spending. Retail customers of Briers have also reported a growing demand for the brand.

A willingness to create bespoke ranges for retailers and unrivalled customer care are major contributory factors in the growth of Briers. Also significant is the influence of Founder and Managing Director, Jackie Eades, who provides a female perspective into what has traditionally been a male-dominated sector. Jackie has led Briers through a series of ground-breaking developments in gardening product retail. The Gruffalo range, for example, has proved a highly successful product licensing initiative, leading the way in its sector. Demand for wellington boots, meanwhile, continues to grow, helped by Briers’ appealing designs and innovative marketing.

Looking ahead, Jackie has also built excellent relationships with manufacturing partners in China to ensure best practice in production in the years ahead.

Briers customers

Briers’ target audience is made up of people typically aged 40 plus and falling within the ABC1 socio-economic group. Customers choose Briers because they want fashionable design without compromising functionality or quality of manufacture. Briers’ products are in the mid-market price range and enjoy broad appeal.

Briers products

The current Briers product range comprises:

Gloves – over 50 SKUs, RRPs (recommended retail prices) from £9.99

Leather gloves, washable gloves, children’s gloves, ladies’ gloves, all rounder and seedling gloves and workwear gloves.

Footwear - over 20 SKUs RRPs from £39.99 - £49.99

Garden clogs, ankle boots, adult and children’s wellington boots, high heeled boots, Boppers and Stardust ankle boots.

The Gruffalo® range for children.

Fleece jacket, pack-away rain mac, wellington boots, wellington boot warmers, gardening kneeler, watering can, umbrella, gardening gloves, gardening rake, fork, trowel and hat, glove and scarf set.

Brand profile

Briers’ flair for retail and merchandising has attracted extensive editorial coverage in several high circulation consumer and trade publications. These include GTN (Garden Trade News), Horticulture Week, FE Magazine (Fashion & Footwear Extras), Daily Mail Weekend Magazine, Garden News and Kitchen Garden. In September 2012, Woman and Home magazine, which has a circulation of 350,000, published a profile on Jackie Eades.

Briers retains the services of the specialist public relations consultancy, redheadPR, whose clients in the gardening sector also include Stewart Garden and John Woods Nurseries. The consultancy is headed up by Sara Tye, an award-winning and top 500 international PR, who has also worked with major consumer brands such as Green & Black’s, Nokia and Frangi Tie Rack. Sara has extensive experience of managing client relationships with celebrities. She has worked closely with many well-known figures, including TV presenter, comedienne and psychologist Ruby Wax and grow your own specialist and regular broadcaster Pippa Greenwood.

Briers’ ethics

Wherever possible, Briers uses manufacturers that are members of Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange). Sedex is a not-for-profit membership organisation that drives improvements in ethical and responsible business practices in global supply chains. Briers also operates ethical policies on the environment, human rights and animal welfare. 

Briers is a member of the British Boot, Shoe and Allied Trades Research Association (SATRA). SATRA is the world’s leading research and technology centre of its kind and a leading authority on international legislation and testing.

Briers is also committed to the wider gardening industry. Matt Jackson, Sales Director serves on the council of GIMA, the trade association that promotes and protects the interests of UK and EU businesses supplying the UK garden industry.

Briers stockists

Briers products can be found at major outlets across the UK. These include Wilkinsons, B&Q, Dobbies, The Garden Centre Group, Blue Diamond and Garden and Leisure as well as independent garden centres, DIY stores and fashion retailers. Briers also supplies to major national wholesalers such as Decco.

For more information visit www.briersltd.co.uk.