Case Study - Corgi Hosiery Ltd
Corgi Hosiery Ltd
Ammanford-based Corgi Hosiery Ltd has been able to build upon its export portfolio with help from Swansea Bay Partnership’s Trade Missions, while recognition in the form of awards from the organisation has helped promote the company on a local level.
Corgi Hosiery traces its roots back to 1890, when a Pembrokeshire trader, Rhys Jones, opened a small warehouse in Ammanford’s Wind St. From this humble background Corgi Hosiery has gone from strength to strength, and is now a highly successful, family-run manufacturing business, employing a significant number of local people at its Ammanford headquarters.
The company, which produces high quality knitwear, ladies wear, children’s wear and hosiery, has worked alongside Swansea Bay Partnership and its partner organisation International Business Wales for a number of years, attending trade missions in order to expand its export portfolio. Corgi Hosiery’s owners credit these missions as vital to the company’s expansion and growth.
Chris Jones of Corgi Hosiery said:
“We’ve attended various trade missions. The only really effective way to build relationships – and therefore business – in the export market is to actually visit the places you are looking to export to, meet the people there you want to sell to and make real and lasting impressions and connections.
“Without the help of Swansea Bay Partnership we would not have been able to successfully undertake many of these trade missions, so in that sense the organisation has been hugely beneficial to Corgi Hosiery as a business.”
Corgi Hosiery, which has been run by the Jones family for generations, has received recognition on a national scale over the past thirty years. Highlights include the company being awarded a ‘Royal Warrant’ in 1989 by HRH the Prince of Wales, an accolade signifying a standard of excellence and quality as well as receiving the ‘UK Fashion Export Award’ in 2001 for its impressive record of exporting 70 per cent of its production to countries around the world.
On a local level, Corgi Hosiery’s Lisa Wood, sister of Chris Jones, was the first to receive the accolade of ‘Swansea Bay Woman of the Year’ in the successful and high profile awards scheme run by Swansea Bay Partnership.
Chris Jones commented:
“We were delighted when Lisa was awarded the title of the first Swansea Bay Woman of the Year, not only because it was a fantastic achievement for Lisa personally, but also it was great for the company to receive the local recognition which, as a company that is focused on exporting, we don’t get very often.
“Swansea Bay Partnership is a very important organisation in the region, and not only helps businesses raise their profile amongst trade partners but also helps promote companies on a local level. The management and staff at Corgi Hosiery always enjoy to see that our hard work is recognised and appreciated by the region that is home to our company, and Swansea Bay Partnership certainly helps make this possible.”