Fascinating characters
When it came to sourcing her raw materials , Georgia found a willing supplier base among the beach and park concessionaires , who were otherwise having to pay to dispose of their old stuff . “ I was offering to turn up and pay for it , so they were pretty pleased ” she says . Over the past seven years , she ’ s worked hard to build relationships of trust with her suppliers - many of them fascinating characters with a fund of stories about a fastdisappearing way of life . She pays particular tribute to Norman Abram , who set her off on this unlikely business path by offering her the first lot of deckchairs from his many beach concessions on the Isle of Wight – which included Sandown ’ s Eastern Beach and Sundial Cafe . As her business has expanded , she now makes trips around the whole UK coast , sourcing her raw materials for the bags . In fact she plans her next pick-up trip at the end of February , calling in on 25-30 suppliers , and says this is the part of the job she loves most . “ I worked for three or four years to develop some of these relationships , which primarily involved sitting in huts talking to septuagenarians who are wondering what on earth you want from them !” she laughs . Georgia certainly wasn ’ t looking for a quick profit : the work of re-claiming and cleaning the materials is hard and heavy graft , and most of it she ’ s done herself . The materials can also be tough to work with – especially those bits of the deckchair seat that have a well-worn indentation from cupping hundreds of backsides ! In fact for most of the past seven years since
she started , business has hardly been what you ’ d call lucrative – more a labour of love . She admits that she probably made the mistake of spreading herself too thin , at one stage having no less than 75 different designs of bag in her range . For a small craft maker employing just two home-workers , that was never going to work .
Winning formula
Ultimately , Georgia realised she had one bag design that was massively outselling the rest – her classic tote - and decided to concentrate all effort on that . “ It took a while but eventually I found the right formula . I realised it was enough that we are the only people in the country doing this , and in this way – so it only really needs one product rather than dozens of them ”. The totes come in a choice of colours , and as well as having that “ scent of the beach ” about them , the bags also sport an inside message such as “ Once upon a time I was a bouncy castle ”, which buyers seem to love . Particularly buyers of an environmentallyfriendly persuasion - shoppers at stores such as the trendy Jack Wills and members
Inside Business
of organisations such as Friends of the Earth and Surfers Against Sewage . Sales have suddenly started to boom and Georgia says : “ This is the year ! The difference is amazing and I really couldn ’ t have predicted what ’ s happening now ”. Typically of her , though , it ’ s not the pound signs that are exciting her , so much as the fact that more defunct bouncy castles and dogeared deckchairs will get a new lease of life . “ It ’ s brilliant because this fabric shouldn ’ t be just chucked away ” she says . “ I literally can ’ t make enough of the tote bags and have sold ridiculous amounts in London ”. Georgia now has a total of 50 stockists , located all over the UK , in Australia - and a new one just coming on board in New York . As she says , they are literally flying off the shelves of her unit in Bembridge . Still operating with just a couple of outworkers and doing a lot of the work herself , she dedicates one day a week to producing more creative bespoke products for organisations such as Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth , and the rest of her time to the primary range tote bags . With the business now growing , she says she ’ s keen to create Island jobs . “ There ’ s a lot of unemployment here and it would feel good to be able to make a small difference to that ” she says . “ For me , it ’ s never been about the money . I was brought up being taken on picket lines and was writing letters to the Australian Prime Minister at the age of eight , so I do care about this stuff .” The bags are also available on her website www . wyattandjack . com , or direct from her workshop at Weavers Yard in Bembridge .
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