Welcome to the latest episode of the Beyond Threads podcast. In this edition, we caught up with Jimmy Charnock, Head of Community at our client Represent – a world-renowned streetwear brand born in Manchester with celebrity fans around the world. In this episode, Jimmy gives us insights into Represent’s experience of working with different third-party logistics (3PL) partners. Check it out now to explore how the right kind of fashion logistics partner can provide significant benefits to growing fashion brands.
What makes the ideal fashion logistics partner?
Working with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider can be critical in elevating the operational and customer service standards of your fashion logistics operations. However, as is the case across industries, not all 3PLs are created equal. Rather than just a service provider, the right apparel 3PL can be a proactive, strategic partner for your brand – providing expert guidance and solutions to help your brand maximise its efficiency and quality of service.
This was the case for Represent. The brand made the switch to Bleckmann in 2021, as Jimmy explains, because it needed more warehousing capacity to accommodate its rapid growth. This became clear during the Black Friday period: the volume of orders, which exceeded all expectations, stretched the capacity of their previous providers to such an extent that they were still fulfilling Black Friday purchases four weeks later. It was clear that a new fashion logistics partner was needed to help accelerate the brand’s growth.
Specialist expertise for every aspect of your business
However, above and beyond the additional capacity that Bleckmann provided, another decisive factor was our decades of expertise in fashion logistics. “Hiring experts in their field is such an important part of our business,” says Jimmy. “Our founders Mike and George are very good at knowing what they’re good at and what they’re not – so we try to work with the best possible partners to take the weight off us and free us up to do what we do best.” Bleckmann’s extensive experience in delivering high-quality fashion logistics for major brands was therefore essential in giving Represent the confidence to start working together.
A proactive approach to continuous improvement
In addition to ensuring seamless operations, another key role of a fashion logistics provider is to proactively drive improvements in service quality and efficiency. “One thing we really appreciate about Bleckmann is that they come up with solutions that we would never have even thought of and introduce them without delay,” continues Jimmy. “For example, they identified that the thickness of some of the Represent garments meant that fewer units could be loaded into packing cages. Bleckmann’s team quickly designed and implemented widened packing cages to address this issue and increase fulfilment efficiency.”
The critical importance of clear communication
Finally, keeping the lines of communication short is vital to successful fashion logistics. “Regular updates are essential from a day-to-day operational perspective, but communication is also about ensuring that the partnership is meeting our objectives,” concludes Jimmy. “Accountability was one of our key criteria when selecting a 3PL provider, and Bleckmann’s highly granular reporting – as well as regular monthly and quarterly check-ins – gives us detailed oversight of operations while providing a longer-term view. This commitment to openness enables us to deliver continued growth and customer excellence.”
Want to find out more about our partnership with Represent? Press play on the podcast to get the full story!
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Transcript
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Beyond Threads by Bleckmann podcast. Today we will be taking a deep dive, as we always do into developments and trends in fashion and lifestyle. On the one hand, for you, the brands and the enthusiasts and on the other side, for us, suppliers and 3PLs. Today's topic is the benefits that come from a partnership with a 3PL. For that purpose, I'm joined by Jimmy, Head of Community at Represent Clothing. Hi, Jimmy. Nice to see you again, man.
Jimmy Charnock: Always a pleasure meeting up with you.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Great, great. So, how was Black Friday?
Jimmy Charnock: Crazy, as usual. We did a lot of orders, a lot of customer service tickets and a lot of parcels left Bleckmann, so all good.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Perfect. Good to hear, mate. Represent is truly a standout brand. It's receiving a lot of attention in all that has to do with fashion and lifestyle, obviously. But can you share a bit more on who you are, who Represent is what you think is behind the 'stormy' growth of your company and what made it possible?
Jimmy Charnock: I'll start with the brand. It started in Greater Manchester in 2011. Two brothers started it, Mike and George, who are still the owners and founders now. They're in the office 9 to 5 every day, so that's fun. They started it selling T-shirts to their friends. It slowly grew and grew and grew over the years. They employed some of their friends. Eventually they got a warehouse, which we're currently in to originally ship their orders, many years ago and then they slowly outgrew that, in 2016, I believe it was and then moved to a 3PL, that's not Bleckmann, in 2016. And then the Covid pandemic really exploded Represent and they changed their business model to serve customers every week, dropping clothes weekly. And obviously during the pandemic there wasn't much going on, so people really latched onto it. And that's when the brand exploded. That in turn created a few issues around the 3PL. They couldn't service the orders they were getting. So in 2021, we moved over to Bleckmann which has been a fruitful partnership. I myself started as customer service manager in 2021, when we changed the 3PL. From the old logistics centre, which dealt with customer service we moved logistics to Bleckmann and customer service in house. Me and my team started in '21. That role slowly grew into more community-focused, because we realized. Well, I already knew before I started that people who like Represent really like Represent. They make their own Facebook groups, with 16,000 people in there are WhatsApp groups of hundreds of people, there's Reddits and Discords. People want to talk about Represent all day, every day. So my role moved more from customer service into community: Helping service the people who love the brand, doing customer service for those guys making sure those deliveries hit them early, giving them early access to our drops just communicating with them on a more personal basis arranging events for them and such. The way I explain it is like a hotel concierge for people who buy clothes which is my role, while still obviously in customer service. So reporting on tickets, deliveries, operations, that kind of stuff.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Thanks for that, man. I know, and I'm being reminded on a daily basis by my kids that I'm a far cry from a Gen Z. But what you are naming, the community, is so mind-boggling to me. We're in fashion and lifestyle,what do you mean, 'community'? But since I know you, I've been checking you out online, et cetera... and all that you're doing is amazing, man. I applaud you for it. It's kind of a new segment to the overall business that we work in.
Jimmy Charnock: I appreciate it. The younger generation, I feel, attaches to people more than brands. Because we're very founder-led, Mike and George are still very active, they're still replying to DMs people connect to them more than just the clothes themselves. If they connect to that lifestyle, they will check out the brand, and then maybe buy some clothes. But we focus on experiences and lifestyle and that kind of thing first and everything else kind of falls into line. It's a new way of operating, but it has done well for us.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Okay, back a couple of years. You mentioned that you had to make the shift from your previous 3PL to Bleckmann. Although you were not actively involved, I guess, in the decision-making do you know what triggered the guys to go with Bleckmann and why we were expected to bring a higher level of service support and partnership, so to speak?
Jimmy Charnock: I think the original conversations first started due to pure lack of capacity from our old 3PL. They were okay. It's just, we filled the entire building and they had no more room to grow. And in 2021, our Black Friday sales exceeded all of our expectations but the logistics couldn't keep up. They would take I think we fulfilled the last order of Black Friday four weeks after Black Friday...which was fun.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: In their defence and in proper British language, it was a bonkers situation, right?
Jimmy Charnock: Yeah, it was not their fault. They just didn't have the capacity. And it was because we smashed the forecast that we gave them as well. It definitely wasn't their fault, but there was no room to grow. So we'd spoken to a few potential logistics partners. Robert from Bleckmann approached some of our guys who were in charge of ops at the time. Bleckmann sold, obviously, room for growth, which is a big one for us because we'd need X amount of space right now, but in the next few years, potentially more and we have definitely used more. So flexibility on space and capacity was a big selling point. And also through industry information: We have some good friends in the ops team at Gymshark, who we knew used Bleckmann. We reached out to those guys and said: Listen, we're looking at Bleckmann. Would you recommend them? How have they done for you? They were very glowing and spoke about you in amazing terms, so it ended up being a no-brainer. We went from a few logistics options to one, and it was Bleckmann. It was signed, sealed and delivered from that talk with Gymshark, I believe.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Oh man, so great to hear. And as a result of the conversations with you guys we knew we would have to bring our A game to keep up your pace and of course, the ever-changing demands, requirements, et cetera. So, can you tell us a bit more about how that partnership is helping you as a brand? What is helping you as a brand to grow and venture where you want, instead of where you are confined to?
Jimmy Charnock: I think hiring experts in their field is such an important part of business. Again, Mike and George, the owners, are very good at knowing what they're not very good at. They don't attempt to get involved in things they're not good at or don't understand. We try and work with the best possible partners to take the weight off us. Like, I'm no good at logistics, in all honesty. If I've got to go through reports about how much we've shipped, how many units we've got, how much we've got to pack it takes my time away from what I feel I'm good at, and Bleckmann are very good at that. We get hourly, daily, weekly reports. We've shipped this, packed this, got this, all that kind of thing. So it gives me more room to deal with the community and how we need to service them whilst a very important part of serving the community is making sure they get the product they want and ordered, on time. If all that is sorted by you guys and I don't have to think about it at all, that's I can't speak any more highly of that service from you guys. And it's also things that we would never even think about that you fix without us knowing about it. I always bring up this example: The first time I went down to Bleckmann, we had two or three aisles of clothing. That was three years ago, and now we have, I don't even know, 40-50. The square footage is up by times six. After the first Black Friday we did with you, we got a roundup from Ben, who I have to shout out: Ben Wells, the ops manager over at Lutterworth, who we use a lot in the UK said we needed wider aisles so we could fit more products up and down. We were like: I guess, if you say so, go for it. And also the packing cages that you guys use. I mean, I'm explaining this to you, but you obviously know what's going on. Your packing order: You pack five orders, put it into a cage and then roll the cage down to the shipping bay or whatever they use over there. We were using regular-sized packing bays which Gymshark and the other vendors inside Bleckmann use. But our hoodies are a lot thicker, so we were getting less orders packed onto each cage because our order parcels were wider, which is a problem we never thought of. That is just not in our wheelhouse, what we'd even think of. It was reducing efficiency, which meant fewer parcels were leaving. So the guys down at Lutterworth, and at Grobbendonk, which we use in Belgium made, designed and, I guess, manufactured wider cages so we could fit more parcels in, so more Represent could leave the warehouse so our efficiency shot up. It helped our Trustpilot. People were getting things on time. Again, it was not something we'd ever have thought of and all dealt with without us really even knowing about it. You guys just fixed it up.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Yeah, I just hope that I don't start to repeat myself too often but that is, again, a prime example of you being able to focus on your core activities by us doing the exact same on ours. We need to ensure as a partner to do the pesky supply chain management and fulfilment stuff so you can focus on your core, your beautiful products, your community and whatnot. A good example, thanks for that one. If there are people listening to this podcast who are approaching, or actually at the phase of their company that they need to start looking for support, likely in the form of a 3PL partnership what advice can you give them to make sure that they don't make certain mistakes or that they select the right partner?
Jimmy Charnock: I would... Broad question. I would fully recommend getting a 3PL, just in general. If you think about it, go for it. I would obviously recommend Bleckmann, because we use them and they're amazing. I think a good logistics operation is similar to a good customer service operation: If it's good, you don't think about it, because there's no problems. We don't hear problems about Bleckmann. It isn't at the forefront of our thoughts every day because you guys just work in the background, doing the job that we pay you for. You ship the parcels, there's never any issues. In the same vein, if George and Mike never hear about customer service at Represent it means it's working well. Same thing. So if you're choosing a 3PL, I would just ask about the reporting features. That's very important. You don't want it to be at the forefront of your brain but you need it in the back of your brain to be up-to-date on what's going on.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: You need to be able to check. It's your product.
Jimmy Charnock: Exactly. I always work on... Again, coming along with my job about community, it's about the people for me. When we sat down with Ben, Gary and Tim from the UK site it was apparent they cared about what they did and wanted to service us the best way they could. And they were very accountable, which is one of our values at Represent. Not much goes wrong with Bleckmann, but things do go wrong in logistics. If anything does go wrong, they're straight on it. We have the personal numbers we can reach. They have a link to us directly. I think open communication from your logistics partner is very important. If they're willing to speak about potential challenges, I think that's a big green flag. Because if someone says: 'We can come in here and ship all your items, no problems there's going to be no challenges, no changes', that's not strictly true. People willing to talk openly about potential challenges that might occur is a very positive attribute. Just deal with the people and the logistics will well, not work themselves out, but they will work themselves out.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Definitely. If you deal with the people, they definitely will care more about your products because they care about you. We're all in the people game. So I think you're right.Yes, definitely. Going forward, do you have any nice projects? Of course you do but any nice projects and developments lined up for 2025 with us?
Jimmy Charnock: Yes, there's always things going on at Represent. Like I mentioned before, we drop pretty much every week. So in 2024 we dropped. It might be a new collection, it might be just one item that's a bit more hype. Always something coming at Represent. We dropped 50 times in 2024, basically every week. Challenging for the logistics partner, but you guys get it fixed up. A big thing that we're launching next year is women's wear which we've done a few years ago but it was just women's sizes of the things we'd produce currently. But this time we've got a whole women's team. We've hired like ten people: Designers, garment techs, the full team. I'm forgetting... Products is not my scene, so I can't remember the full job titles but garment techs, producers, designers, all that kind of stuff. Bleckmann-wise, a new challenge for us. We've never shipped dresses before, for example so we'll be working with Bleckmann to work it out. Oh yeah, obviously you have. So we'll be tapping into your expertise on storage, shipping, all that kind of stuff. So Q1 sliding into Q2 of 2025 that's the big new project we've got, women's wear. And we have our first gym footwear launching in Q1 of 2025. That's a new style for us. Our 247 brand has gone from 5% of the business to now 15% of the business in two years. Our gym, active wear, lifestyle arm of the business is really growing. I think those two are the main focuses for Half 1 of 2025 for Represent. But again, there's always something going on over here. Your guys in Lutterworth and Grobbendonk are very aware of how much goes on at Represent.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Looking forward to it, man. And those two examples you mentioned that's not small potatoes. So, well done. Well, I'm afraid that we are almost out of time but of course, I want to offer you the possibility to give us any 'afterburners' or questions. I don't think so, Erik. Very good.
Jimmy Charnock: Me and Erik met a few months agoat an industry event in London. We got on like a house on fire. I think we're both very similar, quite chill. We got through the podcast and I have no more of your time to take up.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Perfect. If you talk as often as we do there's not that much in terms of items we leave on the table. Thank you very much for your time today, Jimmy and thank you for joining us for today's podcast. I hope we will be seeing you back soon. Until then. Thank you very much.
