Briers will be holding two photocalls at their Glee 2013 stand on Sunday 15 September 2013

HemingwayDesign showcase new ranges for Briers

Photocall Date: Sunday 15 September 2013
Photocall Time: 12:45 pm
Photocall Location: Stand C40 – D41 in Hall 5 at Glee 2013, NEC, Birmingham

Red or Dead founders Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway MBE will be on the Briers stand helping to showcase the new HemingwayDesign for Briers product offerings from 12:45 pm to 1:30 pm on Sunday 15 September 2013.

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 rain macs, exclusively for Briers.

Join Wayne, Gerardine and the Briers team on stand C40-D41 for wine and canapés.

Magic Light Pictures celebrates upcoming 2014 anniversaries of The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child at Glee 2013

Photocall Date: Sunday 15 September 2013
Photocall Time: 2:00 pm
Photocall Location: Stand C40 – D41 in Hall 5 at Glee 2013, NEC, Birmingham

Daryl Shute, Brand Director and Associate Producer for Magic Light Pictures will be present on the Briers stand from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm. He will be promoting the Briers Gruffalo® Range at a very exciting time. In 2014 The Gruffalo celebrates his 15thanniversary and The Gruffalo’s Child will be ten!

Magic Light Pictures is a London-based, independent company, which produces and distributes high quality films, and builds and manages childrens' brands. The company is responsible for the licensing and merchandising programmes of its key brand The Gruffalo, from the best-selling picture books by author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler. Magic Light also produced the award winning half-hour animated films, The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child. 

Other activities on the Briers stand from Sunday 15 to Tuesday 17 September 2013

Bethan Garton, Senior Brand and Retail Manager from The Licensing Company will be present on the Briers stand on Monday 16 September from 9:30 am until 3:00 pm alongside the exclusive licensed Gruffalo® Range for Briers. Bethan will be representing The Licensing Company, who license the Gruffalo® Range for Briers. She will be available to discuss the opportunities that licensed products can bring to retailers.

The Licensing Company is an independent global brand licensing agency formed in 1996 by Melvin Thomas and Angela Farrugia. The Licensing Company represents some of the biggest brands in the world. 

In addition to Briers spectacular “HemingwayDesign for Briers” collection Briers are excited to be launching a variety of other fabulous new products and will also be offering a number of “Show Deals”. In addition, Briers merchandising expert John Hawkins will be on hand on all three days to present a range of new merchandising concepts and to explain how they will increase sales for retailers.

Briers look forward to seeing you at Glee in Hall 5, stand C40/D41.

Please let us know if you will be sending a representative along to any of the photocalls mentioned by replying to Maria Bretti at maria@redheadpr.co.uk or by calling on 07854 819 213

If you require any further details or background information, please contact Maria Bretti as above.

ENDS

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.