Thumbsie® has struck up a supplier agreement with Premier Textiles as it ramps up its mission to stop children sucking their thumbs and fingers.
North West-based Premier, one of Europe’s leading importers of fabrics, yarns and finished fabrics, is providing pre-shrunk cotton poplin and Warp Satin Fine Cotton to Thumbsie®.
Jo Bates, founder of Thumbsie Ltd, said switching to Premier as a supplier represents a refreshing high-quality UK-based approach for her business.
“We’re delighted to be working with Premier Textiles,” she said.
“Earlier in the year we decided to start designing our own fabric, due to the restrictions of buying online. Suppliers were unable to provide the composition of each fabric and were having to constantly buy outside of the UK.
“Thankfully we found Premier to supply the fabric and have already redesigned 11 fabrics and our branded lining, which we are very happy with.”
Thumbsie® launched in 2013 when Jo’s daughter Isabel was struggling with a thumb sucking habit.
Since then the Buckinghamshire-based company helps more than 5000 children to stop thumb and finger sucking each year.
Independent family owned group Premier employs more than 40 people across its group of businesses and has more than 50,000 sq ft of modern warehousing space in Stockport, Bury and North America.
Sales Development lead Toby Lunn said: “When Jo and Thumbsie® came to us we were excited to say the least. It’s a company that provides a multi-award winning solution to help children with what can be a very stressful habit to give up.
“We worked closely with Jo early on to understand the problems she was facing sourcing the best possible fabrics for what are intricately designed and small end products.
“With the pre-shrunk cotton poplin we soon knew we had it right, as it helped increase the durability and softness of Thumbsie’s® products. We’re looking forward to evolving our relationship with Thumbsie® and have no doubt Jo’s company will achieve even greater things in the future.”
Jo said: “Since our inception there has been growth in the business. We are proud of what we have achieved over the past 11 years. Thumbsie® is on the Oral Health Foundation’s approved product list, we have won multiple awards and we are very appreciative of so much strong feedback from parents and families of young children whose children have stopped sucking.
“We believe that to continue to be the UK market leaders in fabric thumb and finger gloves then we need to be continuously improving our offering. Moving forward we want to be able to eventually offer all of our products in 100% cotton, designed and printed in the UK. This is a big step forward for us.”
She added: “I felt throughout the early stages with Premier that it wasn’t just about money. They offered great customer service and it was more about getting the product right and getting it right for Thumbsie®.”
