Three-wheelers pack for Perth
IN just three years Durban manufacturing duo Dave Bray, 46, and Trevor Britland, 60, have cracked the world retail market with thousands of their three-wheeler “trikes” now being shipped to four continents.
This week a 40ft container left the Durban port for Australia loaded with thousands of the three-wheelers which are a staple childhood memory in this country.
The brightly coloured scooters, which pack flat for easy transport, have recently gone on sale in New York, Cyprus, France and Turkey.
The next shipment leaves Durban next month bound for the UK, and orders are coming in from the United Arab Emirates.
Floodgates
As Network has followed the journey of the little trikes from the design phase three years ago, to the arrival of the tools for the moulds, to the departure last year of the first export container bound for China, this week Bray and Britland said the groundswell across the world for quality children’s toys that were not made in China had finally opened the export floodgates.
“This order that is going to Australia was because of our display at a toy fair in the East,” Britland said.
“A former South African living in Australia saw them there and has now placed the order.
“Some of them are for online stores, while others again are for retailers.”
Last year Britland said if demand continued to rise, the factory would start running on a 24-hour basis.
And now, as he predicted – and as result of the demand – the factory runs on 24-hour shifts, with another 20 employees added to the original 60 staff complement.
“We have really passionate agents based in each of the countries,” Bray said. “We have displayed at some of the most prestigious and largest toy fairs all over the world and now we are beginning to see the rewards. Good marketing has been our strength.”
Bray said that South Africa’s weak currency was a plus: “Our next order is for one of the biggest distributors in the UK and we are on the brink of a big order from France.”
A further stroke of inspiration was the costly and time-consuming application for CE and GE approval, meaning the toys were approved by the EU and the UK for import.