Disclaimer

School Trends specialise in the embroidery of school logos onto a range of garments including sweatshirts, knitwear, PE wear and polo and T-shirts. The company, which was established in 1987, employs 100 people has a turnover of £6m and is now a market leader, supplying 31% of the UK’s primary schools.

Dr Rick Norris, School Trends operations director said: “Thanks to the impartial advice of REACT and the on-going support of its consultant, Richard Dennison, we have just completed the installation of an optimum ICT solution. This will enable us to run all our operations and processing systems efficiently, with the minimum of maintenance problems.”

REACT also signposted the company towards the Invest for Growth scheme (IFG), managed by Yorkshire Enterprise Managers, to access a grant towards the cost of the project. European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) was also accessed to support a full-time Technician into Industry (TII), Gary Simpson. Through REACT, Gary has received ‘Dreamweaver’ training to enable him to combine his role as systems administrator with the maintenance and development of a School Trends website.

Rick Norris added: “The thought of installing a new IT system was very daunting, and without REACT we would probably have carried on using outside contractors to look after our IT maintenance. We are now completely self-sufficient and our streamlined systems will prove very beneficial as we embark on the next stage of our expansion, marketing our garments to secondary schools across the country.”