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About us
Sixteen years in the
unglamorous end
of fashion
Pennine Trade Co. started in 2009 with one van, a rented arch in Salford and a pallet of cancelled-order fleeces. We now move around 2.4 million units a year out of a single site in Trafford Park.
Somebody has to
move the stock
Every season, a proportion of what the fashion industry makes does not sell. Orders get cancelled, ratios break, a colourway dies, a retailer goes under with stock on the water. It is nobody’s fault and it happens to everyone.
Our founder spent eleven years as a buyer for a northern department store group and watched the same parcels of stock go round the same three phone calls every February. In 2009 she decided to answer the phone properly: pay for the stock, take it away, and be honest with the brand about where it was going to end up.
That is still the business. We are not a marketplace and we are not a broker. We buy stock, we own it, we take the risk on it, and we sell it to people who are going to sell it on. Everything else — the catalogue, the showroom, the groupage into Europe — exists to make that trade less painful for both ends.
We would rather lose a deal than sell a brand into a market they asked us to stay out of. It is a small industry and everyone remembers.
— our fictional founder, in a fictional interview
Founded
One van, a rented arch in Salford, and a pallet of fleeces.
People
Buying, warehouse, logistics, accounts and four account managers.
Under roof
Racking, pick faces, a photography bay and the showroom.
Countries
Where our buyers are. Half the business is now outside the UK.
Four rules we
do not bend
Off-price has a reputation, some of it earned. These are the things we decided early on and have not changed since.
Authentic only
Brand owner, appointed distributor, or the original retailer. We keep the invoice trail and we will show it to anyone who asks.
Restrictions are binding
If a seller excludes a country, a retailer or a marketplace, that goes on the line and into the contract. We have walked away from orders over it.
Counted, not estimated
Every parcel is counted in and reconciled against the packing list within 48 hours. The catalogue shows what is in the racking.
One price, both ways
Buyers see RRP against cost. Sellers see a firm per-line offer, not a range. Nobody has to guess what the other side paid.
The showroom
Open weekdays,
no appointment
Four hundred square metres of current stock at Unit 14, Ashburton Road, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1RY. Ten minutes from junction 9 of the M60, parking on site, kettle on. Monday to Friday, 8.30 to 5.00.
Contact us
Let’s grow your
business, together
Jump on a rewarding partnership today. Open a trade account, or just tell us what you are looking for.