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Signature Prints
Sydney has always been the most flamboyant city in Australia, so it’s no surprise that design company Signature Prints has built its empire on selling vivid textiles, striking wallpaper, distinctive art, and even contemporary luggage.
Husband and wife owners David and Helen Lennie evolved Signature Prints from a manufacturing business to what is now a niche textile designer brand. The Lennies are custodians to famous designs by the late Florence Broadhurst, with exclusive worldwide commercial licence to her design library. Just like Broadhurst, a musical personality who performed internationally before she became a designer, Signature Prints was “born global” and now exports to 21 countries.
The business still manufactures products by hand from its Sydney location. With Broadhurst once again a talking point-due to the release of a couple of biographies and a documentary, Unfolding Florence, by Gillian Armstrong-Signature Prints can certainly take some credit for reviving international interest in Australian design.
Ilum-a-Lite
Ilum-a-Lite managing director Mark Rutherford is relieved that the first product the business tried to export was imperfect. Back in 1997 the manufacturer, which designs and produces energy-saving devices for fluorescent lighting, had a naïve approach to export: “China is a big country, let’s see if we can sell there.” All that happened was their ‘partner’ copied the sample and their export attempt failed. “Fortunately the sample was an early model and not very good,” Rutherford recalls.
It was another four years before they exported again. The second time, Rutherford used NSW’s Department of State & Regional Development (DSRD) and Austrade for a more structured approach to export. “Primarily we started to take advice and become educated. We joined the Australian Technology Showcase [ATS] run by DSRD and, through that, had access to different forums to learn about export,” he says. “Most significantly, a lot of our business has come from attending trade missions run by DSRD.”
It was via a trade mission to China that the business came to own a 51 percent share in a joint venture there. “We did business matching through DSRD and Austrade. It took three visits to China-two of those official trade missions-before narrowing it down to a potential of two partners and choosing one. We also used Austrade to identify in-country resources to help us form that joint venture and take us through all the laws and the regulatory side of things to get set up,” explains Rutherford.
The next step is to expand the product range and look at new markets in Africa and South America, where rising energy prices have started to make Ilum-a-Lite’s products more attractive. Rutherford recently returned from a trade mission to Africa and the company now aims to distribute through Ghana and South Africa. “It’s an energy-saving product and it’s most successful in places where energy costs are high and there is a demand for energy-saving. I know that’s worldwide, but in some places it’s more prevalent than others.”
Rutherford doesn’t hold a grudge against the early export failure. If anything, it means today’s product is more difficult to copy. The only thing he would differently in hindsight is start slowly and research properly. “We could have waited a bit longer and gone in with a measured and considered approach and we might have saved ourselves a couple of years.”
Rutherford’s recommendations:
Find endorsement: “If you have a unique technology, ATS is something I’d recommend. It provides forums to engage with and carries a bit of kudos. We’ve benefited from funding to do market research in India, which led to us setting up a licensing arrangement there.”
Find a good freight partner: “Freight companies, if they’re not doing their job properly, can be disruptive. We’ve gone for a smaller, more boutique company, possibly not the cheapest around, but we get a high level of attention.”
Secure payment early: “Have a strict policy on payment and adhere to it. We basically don’t give credit, but we do give people incentives to pay via telegraphic transfer or letter of credit.”
Ilum-a-Lite is a micro-business finalist in the 2008 NSW Telstra Business Awards, winner to be announced this month.
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