Sacks full of cash for Handmade Christmas
THE HANDMADE CHRISTMAS CO, which makes personalised festive stockings, sacks, baubles and wrapping paper, has landed a £1.5million deal to supply Target, America’s second largest retailer, writes Maisha Frost.
More than 418,000 of Handmade’s items will be stocked in the store chain’s 78 top performing outlets. The British SME’s crafted products have become keepsakes and tap into the highly popular personalised gift trend, a market now worth over £1billion in the UK.
Founded by IT expert Louis Porter and former Foxtons’ employee Tom Coleman in 2014, Handmade’s annual turnover topped £1 million last year and its products have been sold at high street stalwarts John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Hamleys.
Initially, Handmade was a sideline business for Porter and Coleman, aimed at raising money for an auction website they were planning to launch. “We began with just a second-hand printer and 500 hessian sacks, completely maxing out Tom’s credit card,” recalled Porter. “That season we ended up selling 42,000 sacks and had to outsource the operation when it became too much for us alone.”
While Coleman continues to manage its British business from London, Porter has relocated to Florida to oversee Handmade’s US arm. “Cracking
America was always a key goal of ours,” he said.