Hotter Comfort Concept Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Released on: November 13, 2009, 10:55 am
Author: Hotter Comfort Concept
Industry: Apparel & Fashion

Hotter Comfort Concept, which manufactures 1.3 million pairs of comfortable women's shoes and men's shoes in the UK each year, celebrates its 50th anniversary.

In five decades Hotter Shoes has grown from being a producer of moulded slippers to become one of the biggest comfort shoe manufacturers in the UK, making some of the most technically advanced Women's Shoes in the world. The brand, which turned over £37.5m and made profits of £5m in the last financial year, announced 20 per cent growth in the first six months of this financial year.

The company owes its longevity to an innovative strategy which has seen it diversify from its manufacturing roots to incorporate direct selling, online selling, branded stores and independent retailers into its marketing strategy. Indeed the company has a 100 seater call centre sited next to its factory and warehouse in Lancashire.

Managing Director, Stewart Houlgrave, whose parents set up the company in 1959 said: "It's our 50th birthday in 2009 and we are aiming for 20 per cent growth. In the past six months we have invested in a state-of-the-art website which revolutionises our customer shopping journey, tested our first TV advertising campaign and we are actively looking to boost our overseas presence.

"Over the past six years we've invested £6m in our shoe making company and now have one of the most successful production facilities anywhere in the world. We have a ground-breaking marketing model which helped secure £21m of private investment in 2007 - and we have been placed in the top 100 of the Times Profit Track 100 for the past two years.

"We have sold our shoes via iconic photos of the Calendar Girls wearing nothing but Hotter women's shoes and our monthly factory tour is fully booked until 2016 purely by word of mouth."

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Notes to editors:

About Hotter Comfort Concept:
As one of the last bastions of shoe manufacturing in the UK, the 380 staff of Hotter Comfort Concept are flying the flag for home-grown footwear talent with an innovative strategy which includes selling its wide fitting women's shoes, ladies boots and comfy men's and women's shoes direct to its customers via its on-site 100-seater-call centre, through five branded stores and selling through 200 independent UK retailers including garden centres.

The company targets the active over fifties market where thousands of shoe shoppers are indulging their feet in the hidden comfort of Hotter shoes - designed, manufactured, packed and shipped from the Lancashire factory which just ten years ago employed 57 people.

For more information contact:
Melanie Killilea
Hotter Comfort Concept
2 Peel Road
Skelmersdale
Lancashire
WN8 9PT
01695 712720
www.hottershoes.com