ImagesMagUK_August_2021

www.images-magazine.com AUGUST 2021 images 35 IS DECORATOR PROFILE I thought there must be an easier way of doing this hopes to step back from the hands-on side in the future. “I’ve always admired workmanship. I really like watches and cars. That’s made me really interested in the manufacturing process as a whole, learning how a finished product comes together and what it requires from how the fabric is milled to how it’s cut, how it’s sewn, how it’s branded, how it’s packaged, but I’m not a huge fan of being hands-on. I would much rather be focusing on the business. The plan is, in the next three to six months, to hire more people to deal with that. I enjoy going to the meetings and talking to customers and selling the service. I can sell ice to an Eskimo!” Bespoke manufacturing The white-labelling side of the business draws on a broad collection of blanks kept in a separate storage facility, presented in a digital catalogue listing not only material specifications, but also suggested retail prices and potential margins. White2Label rarely sources from stock apparel brands unless a customer specifically requests it, preferring instead to work with manufacturing partners in south-east Asia and Europe. “We mill our own cotton, we dye our own products in Leicester, we manufacture from scratch, we do everything ourselves. Everything is tested in-house before we offer it to customers.” This model proved useful in spring last year when the pandemic interrupted the supply chain. “A lot of brands just needed stock – it didn’t matter what it was. We were ready to go. We got a lot of clients because of that and we have been able to keep them.” Alongside minimum order quantities of 25 pieces per style and colour, White2Label is able to promise faster turnaround times. “The average concept-to-market time on a bespoke basis is around three to six months but for us it’s 10 to 14 working days,” Anthony says. “Not only does this appeal to start-ups just getting into the industry, but it also appeals to larger businesses that want to test new styles without having to wait and need to be really agile with the market.” White-labelling accounts for about 80% of the company’s workload but in terms of revenue, it represents just 15% to 20%. The bulk of revenue comes from providing retailers with full customisation, creating unique garments from scratch through White2Label’s 30 manufacturing partners around the world. “This is where a client will come to us and say they want a product that is completely custom, so they want fabrics, composition, the weight, the trims, everything, and we do that large-scale for brands. We will instruct a supplier and whichever best suits to create the product from scratch.” Anthony believes that White2Label does not compete with traditional print shops because of its focus on the higher-end fashion market. “When we manufacture garments bespoke, we do so with the mindset that we will always quote the most premium material The Inbro four-head embroidery machine in action stitching Fitseekr tops Anthony Mellor set up White2Label Manufacturing in 2018