Briers team up with HemingwayDesign to meet demand for fashion in gardening and leisure
Leading gardening gloves and footwear supplier, Briers, has teamed up with the British designers, Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway MBE and their award winning HemingwayDesign team to create four exciting new ranges of gardening wellies, gloves and rainmacs.
Designed by the Red or Dead founders exclusively for Briers, the ranges fulfil Briers’ commitment to make fashionable clothing and accessories a genuine option for stylish consumers. All four collections – along with other new Briers products - will be launched at today’s Glee exhibition.
The HemingwayDesign product ranges comprise:
- Pop Splash, inspired by the pop art movement that emerged in the UK and the US in the 1950s
- Grid, inspired by the table tops in 1950s caffs and early lino floors
- Tulips, a collection inspired by the wide variety of colours seen in tulips, from mustard and grey to blue and green
- Typo, giving some of the HemingwayDesign team’s favourite fonts an airing in the form of words about wellies
Briers believe there has long been a gap in the market for design-led ladies gardening gloves, footwear and accessories. As well as providing high levels of protection against hazards in the garden, excellent functionality and durability, quality products can also be colourful, stylish and contemporary.
“Colour and trend matter in retail,” says Jackie Eades, Managing Director of Briers. “Products that stand out and attract the consumer’s attention are those that shout, ‘I’m fashionable and modern.’ This is as true for gardening products as it is for any other type of clothing and accessories. And it’s why trend prediction publications, market research and attendance at trade shows play such an important role in product development for manufacturers of on-trend products”
Paying attention to trends is essential to excite the consumer whose tastes are constantly evolving. Women, who are particularly in tune with changing fashions, are very trend-conscious buyers.
Festivals are an increasingly central part of the British summer - and what would a festival be without mud and rain? One thing consumers always prepare for is the unpredictable British weather, so waterproof footwear is an essential festival item.
Also vital is comfort. At events such as Glastonbury, which catered for over 175,000 attendees in 2013, and T in the Park which hosted some 70,000 attendees in 2012, festival-goers are constantly on their feet. Many consumers will head to garden centres for a good value, high quality welly that meets their needs in terms of practicality and style.
Summer seasons see many festival-goers plan their important wardrobes for these events well in advance. Highly fashion-conscious, they see festivals not only as music and entertainment spectaculars, but as hotspots of new trends too. Getting the right look is of utmost importance.
For many, one pair of wellies will simply not be enough. This means that a good selection of styles and colours in a range is an important factor. Leg shape and potential weather conditions are also important considerations. Wider cuts give more generous calf room and provide the option to tuck jeans in.
Retailers who take steps to understand - and meet - the needs of their customers will be best placed to profit from the growing market in festival footwear.
The Hemingways’ influence on design can be seen in fashion, urban planning, housing, consumer products and graphics. As fashion designers they founded Red or Dead in 1982. After selling their successful brand to Pentlands Plc in 1996, Wayne and Gerardine established HemingwayDesign, which specialises in affordable and social design. HemingwayDesign has won several awards for projects ranging from regeneration to festival design.
Wayne is on the trustee board of both The Design Council and The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.
Commenting on the new Hemingway designed products, Jackie Eades said, “Working with the Hemingways’ on the creation of these new products has enabled us to couple high quality materials and production with designs that are distinctive, original and fun. We look forward to presenting these exciting new designs to retailers at Glee today.”
Briers will be exhibiting on Stand C40-D41 in Hall 5 at Glee, which takes place from 15 - 17 September at the NEC in Birmingham.
Ends
For more information contact:
Maria Bretti
redheadPR
Tel: 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.
