2010
Bristol
Garment Quarter is a luxury fashion and designer clothing retailer. The business was founded in 2010 by John Reid and Peter Lake, who aimed to establish an innovative multi-brand fashion business.
The company has a flagship store in Bristol as well as an ecommerce platform.
Our search grew far and wide until we came across Growth Street – it’s a shame it took us so long to find them.
Like many fashion retailers, Garment Quarter purchases stock well before they begin selling it. As well as the seasonality of Garment Quarter’s stock purchases, John and Peter have to manage the running costs of their Bristol store and online platform. As such, John and Peter need to have enough capital to sustainably manage their cash flow throughout the year.
In the early stages of the business, John and Peter had taken on relatively expensive short-term credit to help them through the aftermath of the financial crisis. Seeing that this would be unsustainable for the longer term, the founders had begun looking for a more flexible solution to help them plan and deliver on their growth ambitions.
Despite being a profitable business with a strong balance sheet, John and Peter hadn’t been able to find a traditional lender that would lend to them. Banks’ automated credit procedures frequently turned them down.
However, Growth Street took the time to understand the business behind the numbers. Without setup fees, John and Peter were able to start using their GrowthLine facility just a few days after being introduced to Growth Street.
The directors were attracted to the structure of GrowthLine, which allowed Garment Quarter to draw down funds and make repayments as often as it liked in a given month, as long as the business stayed within its limit.
As well as this flexibility, GrowthLine meant that Garment Quarter would only have to pay for what it used: if John and Peter’s balance stayed at £0 throughout a month, that period wouldn’t cost a thing.
These aspects of GrowthLine helped make Garment Quarter’s cash flow easier to manage. John and Peter are able to confidently buy increased levels of stock, helping their business grow.
Garment Quarter’s dedicated Growth Street relationship manager has been working closely with John and Peter, providing them with regular updates on their facility.
Growth Street continues to play a significant part in the growth of Garment Quarter, helping us to invest in our store, warehousing, IT and add further brands whilst maintaining full ownership of our business.
In the short term, Garment Quarter are looking forward to continued strong sales growth, as their stock levels have significantly improved in comparison to previous years.
Having already seen their GrowthLine limit increase since coming on board with Growth Street, John and Peter are gearing up for continued success in the months and years ahead.