North East clothing supplier announces £3.5m investment doubling turnover

A North East-based leading supplier of personalised workwear, uniform and promotional clothing has announced a £3.5m investment to spearhead major plans for growth.

Workwear Express, located at Belmont Industrial Estate in Durham, plans to more than double its turnover from £22m to over £50m by 2023, with a 30 per cent projected year-on-year growth.

To support its expansion plans, the company has purchased an additional 40,000 sq ft building on the site, which will link with its existing 25,000 sq ft premises and house advanced new machinery and modern office space.

It demonstrates Workwear Express’ continued investment into County Durham and the wider area of the North East.

It is also set to support the creation of more than 30 jobs in 2018, increasing its team of 170 to more than 200.

Currently growing by 1,200 new customers every week, Workwear Express has more than 100,000 active customers across its three divisions across e-commerce; key accounts and international, including sectors such as healthcare, industrial and hospitality.

Managing director, Andrew Ward, commented: “Workwear Express is set to become the biggest modern facility of its kind in the UK and this multi-million pound investment is a strategic decision to support our exciting growth plans.

“We recognised a need to expand our premises in order to increase capacity to meet the demand for our products and services, particularly as we expand our operations further overseas.

“Our sales and marketing team have already moved into the new site and we’re looking forward to the new machinery being installed and getting up and running in the next few months.”

Workwear Express was founded in 1990 when Andrew began selling work clothing to the trade and public from the back of a van. The company moved to Belmont Industrial Estate in 2005.

A full-service company offering services including embroidery, print and transfer on one site, Workwear Express is committed to customer service and efficiency. The investment will ensure continued high levels of service and its key selling points of 24-hour delivery and top quality products at competitive prices.

It also means the company can continue to invest in its people, with many long-serving members of the team and a commitment to training and development.

Andrew continued: “We have a great team spirit at Workwear Express and a number of staff who have been with us upwards of 10, 20 years and more.

“This investment is about giving our people more opportunities to develop and grow their careers with us as we look forward to an exciting future.”

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →