schoolwear - Images magazine

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SCHOOLWEAR
67099 360 Communications A4 64pp+C 20 Front 2015/09/16 15:20:09
The Coatbridge store in its new location at Mackinnon Mills shopping centre
A full range of clothes is on display, and held in stock, for all the schools
there’s nice pictures, then they may well buy more garments from me
than they would if it was just ticking a box. So we’re hoping that we get
the revenue back that way. We always try to make ourselves slightly different from what everybody else does.”
It’s a strategy that’s clearly working, as Peter reveals: “I would say my
proudest achievement is that we’ve been doing schoolwear for 13 years
now and we have never lost a school contract to another supplier.”
It has all been word of mouth. We’ve never really
pushed ourselves.”
Peter adds that the decision to open shops rather
than sticking to the more usual method employed
by schoolwear companies to send out catalogues all
over Scotland followed the realisation that by doing
the same as everyone else, the company could only
compete on price. By offering schoolwear in shops
along with embroidery, workwear and clubwear,
the business had more revenue streams to rely on
and a strong point of difference to its competitors.
The first shop in Coatbridge proved popular and
in 2006, with people starting to come from Airdrie,
the next town along – a place with 38,000 people
and 20 primary schools – Peter decided it was time
to open another shop. A further shop followed in
Alva in 2007. He reveals that any town he targets
must have a population of at least 35,000, and he
expects to spend £30,000 to stock a smaller shop,
and around £45,000 to stock a larger store.
This year Scotcrest has opened its fourth shop,
this time in Cumbernauld, and has moved the
Coatbridge shop to a nearby shopping centre,
Mackinnon Mills. Peter has definite ideas as to
where the next two shops will be, and has just
started offering dancewear, football strips and
personalised hoodies as well as traditional school
uniforms. Schoolwear continues to make up about
80% of his business, however, and while it’s a family business – his wife does the accounts, his sister is
the production manager and his nephew works on
one of the embroidery machines – he’s always on
the look out to expand that bit further.
A number of the other schoolwear companies’
owners are in their 60s, he notes, adding that if
an opportunity came up to acquire one then that
would be preferable to opening up in a town already serviced by a schoolwear supplier and fighting for the business. “We’re an ethical company,”
he says. “I don’t want to stand on anyone’s toes.
We’ve got a bank balance that allows us to expand so if acquisitions
come along we would certainly be happy to do it.”
The company still does a lot of commission embroidery for smaller
workwear companies, but Peter admits: “I would imagine if we hadn’t
have fallen into schoolwear then we would have struggled. We try to be
different from everybody else and it’s working well for us.” i
w www.scotcrest.co.uk
Parent power
The Scotcrest shops aren’t on high streets because rents and rates tend
to be too high, but the lack of footfall hasn’t been a problem. “If you
open up in a town and you’re the only schoolwear shop you don’t have
to be prominent. As soon as people get to know where you are, then
whether you’re driving to the high street or driving to an industrial estate – it makes no difference.” Indeed, the parking that comes with being on an industrial estate works in the company’s favour: “Most of our
customers have either got toddlers or small children.”
We did everything to suit the parents
”
Before Scotcrest began its schoolwear shops, schools in the area were
used to ordering stock once or twice a year, with parents only seeing
the items a few days before school started and children not able to try
the clothes on. “The parents really didn’t like that,” reports Peter. “Our
growth is all down to the fact that we did everything to suit the parents
because then the parents would go back and say to the school, ‘Well,
we like what Scotcrest are doing. Can we not give them the contract?’
Scotcrest currently operates nine embroidery machines, with 49 heads in total
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