Hotter Comfort Concept looks overseas for growth
INTERNATIONAL expansion is on the cards for North West shoe maker and retailer Hotter Comfort Concept.
Managing director Stewart Houlgrave, whose parents launched the Skelmersdale-based company 50 years ago this year, said Europe and the US are “obvious and attractive” markets for Hotter.
He said: “We have invested heavily in out IT and infrastructure to give us a platform for growth – and we will be running a test soon to evaluate the opportunity.”
Hotter, which is backed by Gresham Private Equity, is also planning to buck the trend of retail closures, by quadrupling its number of outlets from five to 20 in the coming years.
Growth will be measured and sustainable, Mr Houlgrave insists: “We are very discerning in terms of locations, we look very careful at the demographics of where our customer live and then look for the locations.
“I think 20 is a number we’d be comfortable with. We have five now, we are opening two more this year, a minumum of two next year, probably more. We’re not going to go at it in a crazy fashion though.”
Hotter, which targets the active over 50s market, makes more than 1.3 million pairs of shoes a year. The company employs around 350 people and recently revealed a 20% hike in sales for the first six months.
Last year the company turned over £37.5m and made profits of £5m, and Mr Houlgrave expects sales to get to around £45m if the growth of the first half is maintained.
