Trendsetter Home Furnishings, an international supplier of duvets, pillows and mattress toppers, has announced its end of year results with sales reaching £23.3m. Last year the figure was £22.5m.
It has also reported a 23% increase in profitability that will be re-invested as part of its future growth strategy. Trendsetter attributes much of its success to its comprehensive re-investment programmes, which encompass extensive staff training and skills development at company bases in UK, China and Estonia. It invests heavily in mobility and secondment programmes to ensure operations remain fluid and creative, and supports retail customers in their own business initiatives with assistance and collaboration on everything from product training to point-of-sale marketing.
Its re-investment announcement coincides with the launch of a new website - www.trendsetterhomefurnishings.com - which showcases the firm’s century-old traditions combined with cutting-edge innovation, ethics and partnership to explain why the business continues to go from strength to strength.
The new website also lays bare how the fourth-generation family-owned and run business (with 100 plus years of experience) retains a hunger for improvement, passion for fair trade and appreciation of trusted business partnerships, careful craftsmanship, inventive technology and responsible processes.
While Trendsetter produces innovative products for many of the biggest names on UK high streets, it also has three retail brands within its portfolio - The Fine Bedding Company, Kings & Queens and Nimbus Emporium, in addition to the dedicated hospitality brand The Fine Bedding Company Hospitality Division.
The Junior Fine Bedding Company range and Kings & Queens - both of which have launched within the last six months- have already received a huge response from retail partners and consumers alike, while its dedicated hospitality arm, The Fine Bedding Company Hospitality Division, has enjoyed rolling revenue growth of 97% since February 2015.
Its culture of perpetual development has seen Trendsetter also adopt lean manufacturing techniques and wide-scale consolidation of logistics among other programs to ensure it remains highly adaptable, improvement driven and cost-focused – so profits can be re-invested into every area of the business.
“It all supports future growth,” according to MD Claire Watkin, who was named as a Top 100 Women in Business once again this year (ranked 29). “And the new Trendsetter website is the company’s way of “pulling the whole story together. Visitors to the site can learn about our six trademarked technologies – SonicSeam, Smartfil, Procool and Allergy Shield – that have established Trendsetter as the industry leader and forerunner in the sector, but they can also see the supportive work our company is involved in through a partnership approach to business across the board.”
“Technological breakthroughs and developments have put us at the forefront of our industry,” says Claire. “From our market-leading fibre innovations, such as Smartfil and Allergy Shield to moisture control, dual layer constructions and luxury fabrics, all products fuse innovation with comfort and luxury. And they were all developed with our customers in mind. The customer stays central to everything that we do.
“We tailor solutions for each of our retail and hotel partners. They get specialist support from us and they get trusted household branded names that are proven to drive sales. Logistics and distribution, marketing and manufacturing are all indulged with similar creative, customer-focused approaches.”
Trendsetter was recently named a UK ‘National Champion’ in the 2016/2017 European Business Awards that recognise and promote business excellence and best practice in the European business community. The shortlisted companies will now be put to a public vote with overall winners announced later this year.
This is not the first award received by the firm. Its fully-owned manufacturing facility in Estonia, Baltic Fibres, won the title of Estonian Environmentally Friendly Business of the Year in recognition of its achievements to date, which include eco-mapping and recycling 90% waste, energy reduction of 28% per unit produced from the energy baseline, and 30% of energy coming from renewable sources.
