How a Welsh jeans firm became a cult global brand
With a look of concentration on her face, a worker guides thesheet of denim through the sewing machine, and a pair of jeansstarts to take shape.
As the needle goes up and down in a blur of movement andrattling noise, a line of stitching starts to form a neat trouserleg.
When most people think about the global fashion industry it issafe to say that a sleepy town in far west Wales does notimmediately spring to mind.
Yet Cardigan, on Wales' Irish Sea coast, has for the past fiveyears been home to a high-end jeans-maker - the Hiut DenimCompany.
Beloved by a growing number of fashionistas from New York toParis, and London to Melbourne, Hiut ships its expensive jeansaround the world.
As orders arrive via its website, Hiut's workforce of just 15people gets to work hand-cutting and sewing the trousers from giantrolls of indigo-coloured denim that the company imports from Turkeyand Japan.
Despite only making around 120 pairs of jeans a week, founderand owner David Hieatt has big ambitions to expand.
While it may seem a little incongruous that a posh jeansbusiness is based in west Wales, Cardigan (population 4,000)actually has a long history of jeans-making.
For almost 40 years the town was home to a factory that made35,000 pairs of jeans each week for UK retailer Marks &Spencer. But in 2002 the facility closed with the loss of 400 jobswhen production was moved to Morocco to cut costs.
Fast forward 10 years, and when Mr Hieatt - a proud Welshman -was looking to open a factory to start making jeans, he choseCardigan. The company name is a combination of the first twoletters of Mr Hieatt's surname and the word \"utility\".
\"Where better to locate ourselves than in a town with a historyof jeans-making, where the expertise remains?\" he says.
Employing machinists who had previously worked in the oldfactory and not lost their years of jeans-making skills, Mr Hieattsays he was confident that Hiut could be successful if itconcentrated on selling directly to consumers around the world viaits website.
\"Without the internet we'd have been dead within 12 weeks,\" hesays. \"But the internet has changed only everything. The internetallows us to sell direct and keep the [profit] margin... it enablesus to compete.\"
Now exporting 25% of its jeans, it takes Hiut about one hour and10 minutes to make one pair, compared with 11 minutes at a highlymechanised jeans industry giant.
And rather than staff doing just one part of the manufacturingprocess, such as sewing on the pockets, each machinist at Hiutmakes a pair of jeans from start to finish.
Mr Hieatt refers to the workers as \"grand masters\". This is inreference to the fact that some of them have more than 40 years ofjeans-making experience, and new joiners have to train for threeyears before they can start making jeans for customers.
In running Hiut Mr Hieatt and his co-owner, wife Clare, havebenefited from their experience of previously owning a clothingfirm called Howies, which they sold to US firm Timberland for £3.2min 2011.
But what has also been invaluable is Mr Hieatt's previous careerworking in advertising.
This advertising nous has enabled him to very effectively marketand promote Hiut, from its snazzy website, to its extensive use ofsocial media; both adverts in people's Facebook feeds and artyphotos of people wearing its jeans.
\"The interesting thing about social media for me is that upuntil Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and SnapChat you had to have ahuge budget in order to tell your story,\" he says.
\"In effect you were locked out of telling that story because thecosts [of advertising and wider marketing] were too high. Butsocial media has actually allowed the smaller maker [small firmsthat manufacture things] to go and tell his story.
\"And actually, if David wants to beat Goliath, the best tool inthe world is social media.\"
Mr Hieatt also sends out free jeans to what he calls\"influencers\", either fashion bloggers or famous people, in thehope that they will write or talk positively about the brand.
Successful examples of this have been an increase in orders fromDenmark after Hiut sent a pair of its jeans to celebrated Danishchef Rene Redzepi, and also UK TV presenter Anthony McPartlin ofthe duo Ant & Dec tweeting about the company.
As Hiut continues to win overseas orders for its jeans costingup to £230 ($300) a pair, Mr Hieatt admits that one negative issuethe company has to deal with is a return rate of \"about 14%\" -people sending them back because they don't fit.
To counter this problem Hiut is exploring using technology thatcan accurately tell from a photo a person's perfect jeans size.
Dr Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas, fashion marketing course leader atLondon College of Fashion, says that if Hiut wants to expand itsoverseas sales it needs to \"have the website in differentlanguages\" and consider partnerships that will see its jeans listedon other websites.
Back at Hiut's small factory on the edge of Cardigan, Mr Hieattsays the long-term aim remains to recreate 400 jeans-making jobs inthe town.
\"Our aim is to get 400 people their jobs back. If you ask mewhen is that going to happen, the honest answer is I don'tknow.
\"But I believe in compound interest. Small things over timegather huge numbers.\"
QUESTION:
What international marketing strategy would yourecommend to the firm?
