Over the last few weeks we conducted a series of case studies with clients who bring ethical, localised manufacturing to the forefront of their businesses. This week we speak to Yve from the English Stamp Company, which was founded out of a small workshop in Dorset in 1992. Yve talks about the company’s commitment to sustainability, including a company run allotment! 

Can you tell me a bit about the English Stamp Company, and where the idea to build a business around a creative studio came from?

The company was first founded back in 1992, so we’re in our 26th year now. Sasha and John, the owners of the company had been to India, and had seen all the block printing that was being made over there. They thought that it looked really cool and wanted to see if they could do a similar sort of thing for home décor- walls, fabric and things like that. They set the business up from home to start with and then branched out to a garage, then to an office.

26 years later here we are, still making stamps but more so for stationary and businesses now. Though recently our company has started moving back to making stamps for fabrics and walls again. For example, if you have a blank painted wall you can use our stamp with paint or with ink to stamp a design onto the wall – one of our clients has put gold bees all up her staircase and along her hallway, they look incredible. In the early days, Sasha and John were featured in home and garden magazines and country living and things like that, and they stamped out an alcove in the living room and put an arm-chair with cushion covers that they’d stamped designs on and had it sat in the corner for a photo shoot.

I was really amazed by your company’s ethics, all the information on your website about sustainability and how being ethical and locally manufactured is really important to you. Could you talk a bit about that?

From day one, Sasha and John have both been very conscious of the effect that the company has on the environment. When you’re manufacturing you’re always going to have an impact- it’s been something that they’ve looked at from day one, which was quite ahead of the game really. Since we are in a based in a very rural location they were able to plant a lot of trees, and over the years we’ve developed a business to use less and less energy. We’ve made changes wherever we can; the light bulbs have all been swapped for energy efficiency, we are heated here by a wood-burning stove, and because of all the trees they’ve planted we are able to source that ourselves.

Our packaging is completely recyclable – that’s where we came to find your boxes actually, because we didn’t want to use any plastic for our packaging, and we use shredded paper to fill it. We’ve just recently switched to compostable plastic envelopes that go on the front of our packaging to put the invoices and address on. Apart from the plastic casing of the ink pads that we sell, we are plastic free which is great. The handles that we put on our stamps are all sourced from a sustainable, UK forest as well which makes a real difference. Sasha is very into her gardening and growing and they’ve passed that onto their daughter who runs our little allotment out at the back of the office, which is really nice! The staff have potatoes, leeks and garlic and all sorts of things growing in the allotment, which we can help ourselves to and take home or use for lunch.

That’s really inspiring! Can you tell me what you are most proud of and what’s the next chapter in your story?

I think the next step is a continuation from stretching out towards businesses in order to make their logos – there’s a lot of those business stamps and office stamps that are very quick to use but there’s also a lot of waste in that product. It’s really great to know that businesses are choosing to work with us and use something more ethically and sustainably produced.

Also, keeping up with trends has got to be something that we’re very proud of. From switching from being very interiors and business based, we’re now hitting the wedding market very hard, and successfully as well which is great! It’s such a nice touch for brides and grooms to be able to put their own personality on their wedding stationary. We can design that for them here – if they’ve got something completely bespoke, for example initials, then they can use that for the rest of their lives. We frequently get panicking brides or grooms phoning up because something vital has been left off from their wedding stationary – and we can generally match the font that they have printed with so that they can stamp a little insert in, which changes the wedding stationary completely.

Stamping is so versatile, and I think going forward it’s just making sure that we keep up with that. Our in-house team is very creative, and we’re lucky that when we come up with an idea we can have it made and photographed within 24 hours really, which is very unsual for businesses I think.

Yes it is, what about your business do you think allows you to do that?

I think it’s a very fluid sort of business here, so if we come up with an idea there’s no stopping at making it happen. It’s discussed within the whole team and there’s no kind of hierarchy that brings it down. It’s a family business and it’s grown very naturally. It’s able to evolve very naturally as well which makes everybody here feel welcome to contribute.

Your Experience With Stitched Boxes

What features do you love most about Stitchedboxes?

They’re so simple and we really love that, it suits our branding perfectly. Also the quality – we’ve literally given you millimetre dimensions and you’ve made something that fits. We measured out two stamps that we wanted to fit in the box and you guys made the box to a perfect measurement, and I think that bespoke quality teamed with the fact that it’s so no frills is perfect. There’s no waste in it, it does what it needs to do, it looks great, they’re really sturdy, and the flexibility of what you can create to suit our needs is perfect.

Would you recommend us to other businesses?

Definitely!

Your Back Story

Who are Tom Pigeon and where did the idea to build a business around a creative studio come from?

Your Experience So Far Using Stitched Boxes

Your packaging experience before finding Stitched Boxes

Kirsty and Pete were previously using standard mailing packaging. However they found that this did not suit their carefully designed and unique products, this combined with a packaging need for a new jewellery line led to an internet search where Kirsty and Pete were led to the Stitched Boxes website.

What are the features you love about our product or service?

We especially love the fact that the Stitched Boxes are handmade in Sheffield, working with UK companies is extremely important to us, as we love to be able to pass this heritage onto our customers alongside our products.

What specific problems we addressed that other business of your size might be able to relate to?

Originally our boxes were made from Grey Board, and we were having problems with bits of the board flaking onto our products, so we discussed this with the Stitched Boxes team who designed a new box to better suit our products, this personal service was over and above anything we expected and anything we would receive anywhere else.

Did you experience any direct “big win” business results for your company?

Not as such but our customers love that our packing has such history behind it and the fact that is handmade in the UK. It reduces the pressure we face when dealing with orders to know our boxes will arrive on time whenever needed, allowing us to focus on our own products and customers.

Would you recommend us to other businesses?

Most definitely! We have done in the past and will continue to do so.

What is the single biggest reason you would recommend/why you like working with us?

A fantastic product and excellent customer service.

Finale

What are you most proud of and what is the next chapter in the story?

We are especially proud of working with the bigger galleries such as the Barbican on bespoke pieces, in the future we are hoping to do more print pieces, and also develop our own homewares collection.

Your Back Story

Who are Threadster and where did the idea to build a business around bow tie sales come from?

In 2012, Andy Evans was seriously ill and undergoing treatment for Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when he had a chance meeting with Lianne Hill, who had been running her own textile products business for many years, mainly focusing on Bow Ties & personalised Christmas Stockings. Andy believed that the bow tie sales could be sold more effectively via a brand new website with the aim of using social media and targeted SEO to drive sales. As new business partners, they launched Threadster’s first label, Mrs Bow Tie, in October 2012. Since then, the company has grown to employing over 20 local people; moved into larger premises three times and is currently manufacturing and selling thousands of bow ties to over 190 countries worldwide.

Your Box Buying Experience Before Finding Stitchedboxes

Andy’s background has always involved branding and a vintage look was envisaged for the style of box, with a Kraft paper finish chosen. Presentation is important and our customers often take photographs of their bow tie in the gift box and comment on the packaging. We initially used a company that offered Kraft boxes from stock that were made using recycled paper. They were not able to customise the boxes with our logo so we purchased labels to stick to the boxes which was time consuming and the finish was not ideal. However, the biggest problem was reliability. Orders were placed by us with the promise of specific delivery dates that very rarely actually happened and we always had to make numerous telephone calls chasing deliveries and we were not kept informed of progress. Points of frustration you faced before you started to use Stitchedboxes. How have we specifically addressed those problems?

Another big problem for us was that as the supplier did not manufacture the boxes, we were restricted to the sizes they had on offer and tried to adapt our products to fit.

What was the big a-ha moment when you found us and decided to work with us?

Andy and I spent many hours trawling the internet looking for box manufacturers until finally he stumbled across Stitchedboxes and I still remember the time I made the initial telephone call to enquire about the services offered. It was a eureka moment as someone was telling me that the customisable boxes could be made for us to our specific sizes, quickly and at a reasonable cost. Samples were despatched to us very quickly and our first pallet of boxes (which seemed huge at the time) delivered promptly to our deadline.

What alternatives did you try before you started using Stitchedboxes? What were the results?

We tried many alternatives during the search for our ‘perfect box’ but it became apparent that most suppliers source their products from China, although they ‘imply’ that they are made in the UK with long lead times and this was unsuitable for an initially small business to be able to pay for and stock vast quantities of boxes, particularly when offering numerous items requiring different sizes – totally impractical and not cost effective to have funds tied up in so much stock.

Your Experience So Far Using Stitchedboxes

Andy and I both feel that we have a strong bond with Stitchedboxes, particularly our two points of contact – Rob Andrews and Kate Syrat. We were welcomed to the factory in Sheffield when we asked if we could visit in January 2014 and they also visited our studio earlier this year. Both visits gave a greater understanding of our needs and was really useful. Email and telephone contact has always been very good and we have always received a high level of customer service from the company as a whole.

What are the features you love about our product or service?

I could make a much longer list but main features are quality, the fact that the product is made from recycled materials in the UK, quick turnaround from when the initial order is placed to delivery and general customer service levels.

Results

What specific problems we addressed that other business of your size might be able to relate to?

The ability to have samples made quickly and have mixed sizes delivered to us on a pallet. As we have continued to grow our business and order larger quantities on a regular basis, Stitchedboxes now keep the more popular sizes partially made up for a faster turnaround which is really helpful in assisting with storage and cash-flow.

Did you experience any direct “big win” business results for your company?

Not as such but we do get trade orders on a regular basis and our customers think the packaging is unique and like the fact that it is made in the UK. It is reassuring to know that when a large trade order is received we can then order the exact amount of boxes required and be confident that they will be delivered to us on time so we do not lose trade customers with missed deadlines.

Would you recommend us to other businesses?

Without hesitation. Our experience in dealing with Stitchedboxes has always been positive and we look forward to growing our business alongside theirs. We have already recommended them to other trade contacts and will continue to do so in the future.

What is the single biggest reason you would recommend/why you like working with us?

Reliability!

Finale

What are you most proud of and what is the next chapter in the story?

We are proud to be making products in the UK, being able to offer employment locally and growing really quickly but sustainably in the relatively short period since inception. The next chapter is building our new brand and website – www.thechristmasstockingcompany.com and developing new products. We have recently moved into much larger premises which should accommodate our growth over the next 5 years and hopefully longer. No new moves planned!