“I cannot see how I could have successfully introduced our brand to the Japanese market without this assistance and the UKTI’s Overseas Market Introduction Service report.”
Julia Gash, Bag It Don’t Bin It (BIDBI)
Founded by Julia Gash in July 2007 – and rebranded this year from Bag It Don’t Bin It to make the name easier for the international market – the award-winning company has three strands.
BIDBI works fair-trade partners in India to make sustainable cloth bags for companies as an eco-friendly marketing tool or an ethical fashion accessory. Doodle-Bag is an online transactional web site that enables people to design their own bag and have a short number printed and turned around very quickly. Talented Totes is a creative bag art with collaborative that is an outlet for Gash’s creativity as well as serving as a springboard for British design talent.
Encouraged by Japanese interest in her “quirky and whimsical style of illustration,” Gash commissioned the UKTI team in Tokyo to produce an Overseas Market Introduction Service to introduce her brand to buyers and distributors in Japan.
“The OMIS report brought in a staggering amount of interest,” she said. “I followed up on the leads from the OMIS report, which resulted in us obtaining a large order from a big fashion retailer and signing up with an established fashion distributor.”
“I believe that we have the opportunity to triple our business through our work with Japan over the next five years.” Gash has ambitions for her brand to become the “It Bag” for the Japanese market in the years to come.
And Gash has nothing but praise for the assistance she has received from the UKTI team : “The OMIS report, in which they contacted retailers and distributors about our product and warmed up the leads, was key in opening the market for us,” she said.
“The work was well worth the cost and has brought in sales of over £30,000 within three months of receiving the report.”
Please visit http://www.bidbi.co.uk/ for more information.
