With consumers increasingly worried about the negative impact of fast fashion, Ken Price, Blake Mill CEO and co-founder, talks to Simon Cronin about how his company is expanding to meet the growing demand for high quality clothing.
Manchester’s proud textile tradition is being given a new lease of life by a company designing unique premium shirts for men in the heart of the city centre.
Blake Mill specialises in providing high-quality shirts for the discerning man. Operating from its new home in the Makers’ Quarter, which is part of the Kampus development near Piccadilly Station, Blake Mill has a team of independent artists creating shirt designs incorporating anything from volcanic lava flow to a Japanese garden.
With the business world moving away from the suit and tie as the default workwear, Blake Mill is meeting a desire for a high quality, unique shirt that cannot be found on the High Street. The shirts are designed to be worn anywhere from the boardroom to a cocktail bar.
Having established a highly scalable production and distribution capability as well as a strong customer base in the UK, Blake Mill has begun plans to triple sales in the next 12 months. While the majority of growth will be driven by new customers in the UK, it is expected that over 10% of sales will come from consumers in the United States and Europe.
The growth plans are being fuelled by a £1.5m Series A funding round which closes in August, supported primarily by the brand’s loyal customers who have so far made investments ranging from £1,000 to £500,000. Blake Mill’s longer-term ambitions are to build a global, premium fashion brand from its Manchester headquarters, selling garments with eye-catching designs to a wide range of international customers through a mix of online, wholesale and its own art-inspired stores.
Following a competitive pitch, Manchester-based Vega has been appointed to lead an integrated programme of Paid Search, Shopping, brand awareness and tactical activation across all media channels.
Speaking about the new partnership with Vega, Ken Price says: “After an intensive search, Vega emerged as by far the best partner to help us achieve our growth plans. Manchester was at the heart of the industrial revolution driven largely by textile production and is today an international hub for fashion, technology, and innovation. We are delighted to partner with a Manchester-based agency that shares our ambition to spearhead Blake Mill’s global expansion.”
Vega co-founder Alexia Harper adds: “Blake Mill appealed to our core values straight away, a hungry for growth Manchester start up with all right building blocks for success. Vega’s collaborative approach of being part of a client’s boardroom and allowing us to fully integrate into their business meant we quickly found a great fit together. The growth journey of Blake Mill to date is really impressive, and with fantastic products, an engaged community, their passioned and clear objectives as a brand, we're confident that with our skillset and track record of growing businesses we can help realise their ambitions.”
Blake Mill investor and advisory board member Samy Zekhout, CFO, Nomad Foods, formerly CFO of Global Grooming including Gillette at Proctor & Gamble, Blake Mill customer, says: “I invested in Blake Mill 18 months ago as they initiated their first capital round. As a long-standing customer loving the product, I felt that it was a great opportunity to put my money where my mouth was.
“The product and the concept are great. I have bought a lot of Blake Mill shirts and found the designs distinctive, creative and unique, the fabric is of high quality, the cut is truly perfect, and the customer service experience is outstanding. All ingredients are there to make Blake Mill a great success story. They will become a big player in the clothing industry.”
In the future, Ken Price hopes Blake Mill’s that a portion of their shirts will not only be designed in the UK but manufactured here as well.
“There’s a definitely a market for British-made clothes,” he explains, “You only have to look at the demand there is for the Manchester-made shirts from our partner Dooley & Rostron who cater mainly to the bespoke shirt and suit market. The challenge is finding people with the right skills here to produce premium quality shirting at scale, however there’s a great textile heritage in Manchester and young people want to join the industry.”
If you are interested in investing in Blake Mill email Ken at ken.price@blakemill.com or if you would like to order a shirt, visit www.blakemill.co.uk.
