Drew Brady socks it to overseas buyers

A BOLTON sock business has been hailed as one of the North West’s leading Export Champions by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).

Drew Brady was established in the 1950s as a yarn trading company, and became a member of the Ruia Group’s hosiery division in the 1980s when they began importing socks.

Today it is an export business with customers across the world including America, Canada and most of Europe.

It has an office in Toronto and agents in Germany and France, and this year business in North America is expected to reach up to £2m.

UKTI’s regional director for the North West, Clive Drinkwater, visited the firm yesterday as part of Export Week.

He said: “We are keen to harness the expertise and enthusiasm of the region’s many companies who are already successful exporters, and so I am delighted to be able to announce that Drew Brady will be one of our new ‘Export Champions’ who will become a beacon to inspire non-exporters to get started and to new exporters to do more.”

He added: “Our inaugural Export Champions are all businesses who will inspire and motivate those new to international trade, both by promoting the benefits of export via their own successes and by sharing knowledge and experience for the benefit of other firms in the North West.”

Drew Brady is one of the largest hosiery importers in the UK and has a thriving export business, selling branded goods including Pringle, Elle, Kickers and Jeep to markets worldwide. In 2007 the company developed a thermal sock called Heat Holders and has sold 10 million pairs.

Shane Doughty, buying director at Drew Brady, said: “The importance of exporting in our business cannot be overestimated. We source our products from overseas and then sell them all over the world from our headquarters and distribution centres in Greater Manchester, and we are currently working with UKTI to explore new markets including South America, Australia and New Zealand.

“One of our great successes has been the Heat Holder range which my father David Doughty decided to develop after getting cold feet at a rugby match. We asked our suppliers to come up with some ideas, and an Indonesian company got in contact and said that it would make a change to its machinery that made socks in such a way that would enable them to trap more warmth.”

Export Week is hoping to increase the number of British exporters by a quarter, adding a potential £36bn to the economy.