Images Digital Edition March 2019

IS BRAND PROFILE www.images-magazine.com 44 images MARCH 2019 supplying retailers with school ties. The business has thrived and grown over that half-century by expanding its range within schoolwear and accessories and diversifying into corporatewear. It now employs 125 people and occupies a brand new, purpose-built factory in Lancashire. At the start, however, it was just Bill Turner who, in 1969, began providing school ties to the trade in the north-west of England, fulfilling the orders of his employer, which had suddenly folded ahead of the start of the school year. After a year, he was joined by his son, Keith, who gave up his job as a schoolteacher to run the office, operating out of the back bedroom of a council house in Wythenshawe in south Manchester. Working with factories in Yorkshire, the father and son team was able to provide retailers with smaller minimum orders of ties than other suppliers. It proved a successful recipe, allowing them to move to premises in Reddish in Stockport, with Bill’s wife, Hilda, brought in to work in the warehouse. “Each year, they were fortunate that the business was able to grow just through word of mouth, keeping customers happy and having O nly one in 10 Britons still wear a suit to work, with nearly half of people believing the tie is dead, according to a poll last year by hotel group Travelodge. But it is a very different story in schools. For children, ties are still very much in demand, both in the UK and abroad. That’s good news for the team at William Turner, a leading manufacturer of schoolwear. “At a fashion level, ties have diminished in terms of people wearing them at work generally, but that hasn’t affected our business as we are selling ties as part of a uniform,” explains managing director Daniel Turner. “It has been a growing area for the past few years, partly due to the growing school population, but also because of the academy programme.” The growth of state-funded academies has contributed to more than 90% of British schools now using some kind of uniform, according to the Schoolwear Association. “Where there’s lots of investment in developing standards, a lot of heads and governors are choosing uniform as a signal to illustrate that they mean business,” Daniel adds. “The tie is a very cost-effective way of introducing a more formal element.” Fifty years in business This year marks 50 years since Stockport-based William Turner started Managing director Daniel Turner tells Mark Ludmon how tie and accessories manufacturer William Turner is still innovating after 50 years in business strong relationships with suppliers,” Daniel says. “My grandfather said it was a good time in the early 1970s when school uniform was becoming a little bit smarter so there was a growing market for ties.” Complex patterns A significant development for William Turner was the switch to jacquard weaving machines that made it easier for the factories to manufacture textiles with more complex patterns. “This enabled the business to offer motif ties, or logo ties,” Daniel explains. “Prior to that, they had just been plain or striped.” Bill and Keith now also extended the range to other woven textile products such as scarves, badges and hats. In the late 1990s, the company bought both of its main factories in Skipton in North Yorkshire and Colne in Lancashire. A few years later, it extended its range to offer schoolbags, either plain for decorators or bespoke. For this, it entered into a partnership with a factory in China – a relationship that continues to this day, with the six- storey unit manufacturing exclusively for William Turner. “We have a very Daniel Turner, managing director of William Turner A Chinese factory manufactures schoolbags exclusively for William Turner