History
How did Design IQ become a full service Design, Development and Supply company?
The company started out as a Sports Fashion Design consultancy designing everything from running apparel to skiwear… from tents to bags. Broadly we focussed upon markets where our Fashion skills and understanding of performance textile products could benefit our customers.
Over the years we designed for a wide variety of markets such as Cycle / Hike / Gym / Running / Ski / Urban wear / Travel / Soccer / Swimming / Tennis / Formula One teams / Camping, Hiking, Promotional goods for sports….etc.
The brands we have worked for include Berghaus / New Balance / Asics / Migross / Rohan / Lotto / Speedo / Vango / Rucanoor/ British American Racing / Subaru World Rally Team / Coca Cola ( Atlanta) Hi Tec, Uhlsport…the list goes on.
The specialisation in bags happened…
When we were approached by Berghaus, and Lotto to design bags for them and they sold well, even though we were not specialists in bags at the time…so we concluded that maybe bags would be a good area to focus upon!
Over the years we became more and more expert in bag design and production processes designing for both brands and retailers – but then came a change..
Design IQ become a ‘turnkey’ supplier:
Quoted from and interview with Guy Mathiot in “Textiles – the quarterly Magazine of the textile institute”:
“We are all aware that it is no longer enough to simply offer a good price for a product, suppliers now have to think themselves into the customers position”….differentiation is important but customization is even more so ensuring the product offered fits with the customers brand and environment”….Guy Mathiot head of UK Company Design IQ took a major decision in 2004 moving Design IQ from being a design house to being a supplier of finished product. They are now a design, development and supply company providing design and finished product solutions for brands and retailers, supplying bags, luggage and accessories in the lifestyle, outdoor and sports sectors.
Guy talked about the competition they had, and their competitive advantages “ the strange thing is – on one hand we have to compete with sourcing agencies and freelance designers on one hand, Brands that do Private label on another level and even with Chinese Factory’s who have their own designers. The bottom line is the key to our competitiveness is our research skills, trend spotting ability and finally our willingness to stand up and be counted, by making our own “flash ranges” ‘ready made’ for clients. Fundamentally we offer a Designer Level of Private Label service.”
Good design quality at affordable prices create happy customers
Guy is a Designer true to his instincts saying “I insist that every product that Design IQ develops is aesthetically pleasing, elegant or has a certain ‘flow’ to it’s appearance. I am impatient with poor design and am my own toughest critic when I see a sample that does not work well. Everyday we seek to be better at what we do and love to meet our end customers and hear about their experience with our bags – that way we can evolve products season on season and create products we are proud of. We work hard with our suppliers and customers as a team to get the price ‘just right’.
The best sight is a customer using one of our bags… and a happy trade customer is one who places repeat orders because of good ‘sell through’.