Hotter Comfort Concept welcomes Royal visitor

Sophie, Countess of Wessex – wife of Prince Edward – recently visited the Hotter Comfort Concept factory in the English town of Skelmersdale to celebrate its manufacturing success. Her Royal Highness toured the facility, which is said to make one-third of all the shoes manufactured in the UK, and met staff in the company’s UK and USA customer service centres. She was then introduced to the team behind Hotter’s current retail expansion programme, which has spearheaded the opening of over 35 stores in the past two years.

“We were delighted to welcome our Royal visitor and show her the passion and pride of our very British brand,” said Stewart Houlgrave, Hotter Comfort Concept founder and chief executive. “The Countess was a wonderfully charming guest, who was genuinely interested in what we were doing and took time to speak with many of our staff. Everyone was delighted to have the honour of such a distinguished visitor at our headquarters, and the seven longest serving staff who were introduced to Her Royal Highness have already said that meeting her was the highlight of their combined 263 years service!”

At the end of the tour, the Countess was presented with a pair of Hotter Comfort Concept shoes by Stuart Brooks from the company’s store in Bournemouth and Yvonne Hamilton, who represented the warehouse team.

The Hotter Comfort Concept brand was founded in the early 1990s by Mr Houlgrave, whose parents had set up Beaconsfield Footwear to manufacturer slippers in 1959. The company manufactures 1.6 million pairs of shoes each year, and employs nearly 800 people across the UK.

In the photograph above, Hotter Comfort Concept Quality Manager Steven Stewart (right) shows the Countess samples of materials used in the company’s shoes, as founder and Chief Executive Stewart Houlgrave looks on.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 3 of the December 2012 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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