exciting news

4th December 2006 8:16AM, posted by David

Myself and Clare have spent over a decade building howies.

Like anything worthwhile, it takes time, energy and love. It helps to have an unshakeable belief in what you are doing. I have learnt too that it helps if you are as stubborn as a mule. And, it also helps if you are willing to risk everything you have.

Along the way, we have built something to be proud of.

And as a business, it's beginning to work. The good news is we are growing like heck. The bad news is we are growing like heck.

Around 12 months ago, both myself and Clare realised that we would need more funding and this time it would take millions of pounds. We had already re-mortgaged our house twice, and used the rest of the house to guarantee the company overdraft. All our savings had gone into howies. We have never been the highest paid people at howies. Instead we preferred to invest in building the team that would build the company.

We knew we couldn't give howies any more money. We didn't have any more to give.

Even though we had been lucky to find some funding through Finance Wales, we both felt getting further Venture Capital would put too much pressure on us to grow and, maybe, force us to start cutting corners that we would have found hard to live with.

So the answer for both of us was clear and that was to find a like-minded company to help howies become brilliant at being howies.

That has always been the dream. We have built this thing to try and to do something better than our rivals. To try and show that there is another way to do business. And to try and change things that we think are dumb.

To find a like-minded company didn't take long. Looking around we could only find three companies around the world that do business our way. We spoke to all three.

Many more companies outside this group of three wanted to speak to us, but we only wanted to talk to like-minded companies about investment. Our aim wasn't to get the biggest deal but to find the right one for howies. Our Financial Advisors would never fully understand our thinking on that.

We had to pick our partner very carefully indeed. Like any important decision in life, it comes down to does this feel right. If it does, then go do it.

After speaking to all three, we knew whom we wanted to partner with. And that was Timberland. It just felt right from the first phone call. They were down to earth and honest, forward looking and into ideas and their values matched our own. They understood why we do business our way. It's their way too.

Although they don't like shouting about it, they have made commitment for carbon neutrality by 2010. 60% of the energy for their distribution center in California comes from solar power, and their European distribution center is powered by 100% renewable energy. They are one of the first companies in the world to have developed ingredients labels on every box of shoes to increase environmental transparency to help customers make more informed choices. They will be the first shoe company to give an environmental Green Index hangtag to provide a product-specific rating of select environmental factors on five shoes this coming Spring. They give employees 40 hours of paid time-off to serve in their communities. They were voted one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For by Working Mother magazine. They have pledged to plant a million trees around the world. They issue a CSR Report and recently launched their first facility-level sustainability report for their Dominican Republic Factory. This is stuff to be proud of. And stuff for howies to strive for. We have a long way to go on our journey.

So what will Timberland mean for howies? Well, it will help us make better and lower impact products, to give a better service and to do more good as we go about our business. Those are our rainbows to chase. They always will be.

For us personally, we still keep a stake in the success of the business, we will maintain creative control of howies as we always have done, and the same management team will continue to run the company from good old Cardigan Bay. And, as you'd expect, the Earth Tax pledge is maintained. So really it's business as usual.

For both myself and Clare, when you start something like howies, you have to think your decisions through carefully. To think like a parent and put the child first before yourselves. To think of the people you employ, your customers who believe in you and what your company stands for, and the importance to staying true to those beliefs as you go forward. The reason you set up business should always shine through. Those are the important things. They define your place in this world.

That is why we are proud to have done this deal with Timberland. We needed to find someone to help us grow as we couldn't do it on our own anymore.

I believe we have chosen well. I can't think of anyone better to have teamed up with. Believe me, we have looked. They are here to help us, to improve us, but not to change us.

For us there is a real excitement that this our chance now. The chance to go and show the world how good howies can be, and to show everyone out there that there is another way to do business.

That a business can change things as well as make things.

That gets us out of bed in the morning.

And I hope it always will.

David and Clare

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