ImagesMagUK_November_2020

CUSTOMER PROFILE www.images-magazine.com 62 images NOVEMBER 2020 customer-base you are trying to reach, and what you are selling,” he says. “We also have a lot of customers buy our T-shirts, which is free advertising!” The price is good too, working out around £5.50 a T-shirt: “A crappy T-shirt out of Next is £6!” The T-shirts are all Gildan Heavy Cotton (5000), which Leigh says is a good quality T-shirt that irons well and holds its shape. “You can hang them and they will dry almost creaseless where they are quite weighty. I do iron them anyway, but if I am in a rush and I come down and there’s one been hanging up that my partner has washed, I put it on because it looks pretty good.” Another big plus for the T-shirts is more unexpected, but important to barbers, as Leigh explains. “Because we’re a barbers, we’re doing clipping rather than cutting, so we’re getting tiny little shavings all the time and they just stick to polo material, you cannot get them out. With these T-shirts, because they are quite a good, thick grade of I n the 25 years since Leigh Walker first opened Clippers Barbers in Harlow, Essex, he’s always understood the importance of branding and having customised garments, many of which he’s sold to customers over the years. When lockdown hit this year he decided to rebrand his business – it would be, says Leigh, a “fresh start”. Sam, the artist at Lost World Tattoos next door, designed a new logo for him to use once Clippers was allowed to reopen in July. As well as updating all his branding online and ordering graphics for the shopfront, Leigh decided to get some T-shirts printed as well. “I’ve always had branded stuff for the shop on and off over the years,” explains Leigh. The owner of Lost World Tattoos, Bianca, recommended garment decorators Red Oak Roller in Basildon, telling him that they were really good, and that the more T-shirts he ordered, the better the deal. “I think branding is very important – it says a lot about your business and the Barber Leigh Walker explains why quality T-shirts win over polos when clippering hair fabric, you can just brush the hairs off, it doesn’t attract them. “I can’t really wear wool jumpers in the shop either because it just itches you like mad – no matter how many times you wash them or tumble dry them or whatever you want to do, the hairs just stay in the fibre.” As the weather gets colder, branded hoodies or long-sleeve T-shirts made from the same material as the tees are looking appealing, he says. Leigh opted for a screen print for the tees rather than vinyl “because it lasts better and you can iron straight over it if you want, plus it’s able to withstand plenty of washing”. The process was simple, with Rowan Chuck from Red Oak Roller talking Leigh through what needed to be done. “He sent me some measurements that were really good; the communication was fantastic. They said that the actual original image that we sent across wasn’t good enough, we needed to send a better PDF, which we did. Then he said the DPI, dots per square inch, wasn’t good enough, so he contacted Sam and talked him through adjusting the DPI for what they needed.” They were really helpful, says Leigh, adding: “I would definitely recommend them. If I wasn’t going to recommend them I wouldn’t be going to order the hoodies, would I?!” www.clippersbarbers.nearcut.com A cut above The new T-shirts were printed by Red Oak Roller [L-R] Employee Mikey Sheekey with Leigh Walker of Clippers Barbers in their branded T-shirts