Prestige Textiles

A group of entrepreneurs in Keighley have developed a track and trace technology which could put paid to the damaging counterfeit trade in the world of designer clothes.

Prestige Textiles has created and patented a unique woven label containing invisible data which can only be revealed under a special ultra-violet light scan. With this new invention each label identifies garments like a passport, giving place and date of origin as well as where the stock is destined to end up.

Now UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is helping the company get its invention recognised in the international market with support locally through the Business Link and with staff based overseas in the British Consulates.

Says Zahir Ahmed, Managing Director: “Together with my colleagues at Prestige Textiles, I have many years of experience in research and development within the industry. As everyone knows it’s a sector which is particularly vulnerable to counterfeiting which effectively steals millions of pounds from the industry every year. We all felt that more could and should be done to protect brand security and that’s what triggered our research. Our labels will allow manufacturers to keep precise track of their products from factory to point of retail and we are refining them all the time.”

Brian Aungiers is an international trade adviser based at Business Link West Yorkshire in Batley and he has been working with Prestige Textiles to see how UKTI’s export services can put the company on the international map.

Says Aungiers: “Prestige Textiles is a great example of the spirit of entrepreneurialism in the region which is giving us a competitive edge on the world stage. The company has come up with a fantastic product which is bound to get a lot of interest from manufacturers overseas and we needed to identify the best way forward for them. UK Trade & Investment’s Passport to Export programme was an ideal starting point.”

A support service for local companies new to exporting, Passport to Export also helped Prestige Textiles go out to New York where they had talks with the international trade advisers based at the British Consulate on 7th Avenue.

Adds Ahmed: “The Passport programme really put us on track. We have found Brian to be a terrific resource as he helps us tap directly into UK Trade & Investment’s international network. Thanks to him our visit to New York was hugely successful as we not only met people at the consulate who were prepared to look at our product and advise us of its potential in the US, but they even gave us names and contacts. Now that we have discovered UK Trade & Investment it is definitely going to play a major role as we unfold our export plans.”

The company is also working with Lorraine Ellison, who is the textiles regional sector specialist with UKTI. With her support the company is planning to have talks with trade advisers in the British Consulate in Milan who are well connected to the top designer manufacturers in Italy.

Meanwhile the company is hard at work constructing a website with support from the Passport to Export programme.

Adds Aungiers: “It’s good to see a company demonstrating that there is still room for innovation in such a traditional industry as textiles. I’m looking forward to seeing the new website which will give them the international profile they need for their launch into overseas markets.”