Tuesday 8 March 2011

Pulsarail products

Lots of new items feeding through on the development side later in the year – just in time for the next big freeze! Our range of Pulsar and Pulsarail high vis clothing has sold exceptionally well this last year. Cotton and polyester yarn prices have hit record highs which have impacted strongly on the raw fabric price. This has been controlled very well and we have seen minimal increases reaching the retail side. So much so that the cheeper end of the competition has not had the success in controlling their costs. This has resulted in a significant closing of prices between the cheep and nasty side of the supply chain and our own range of Pulsar and Pulsarail. Several of the corporate contracts that we are supplying have been commenting on this and have made the step up in quality by purchasing our own plain, embroidered and printed High Vis range.

The availability of Cotton has been significantly reduced by the floods in Pakistan (a second year of cotton crop failure), flooding in Australia, drought in central and northern China so we anticipate more increases in cotton prices up to the third quarter of the year. I am sure that I don’t have to remind anyone of the oil price increases over the last few months. This has and will continue to impact adversely on synthetic yarn prices such as polyester, nylon and some of the more exotic yarns now being produced. So not a rosy outlook.

However, this has impacted on our business in an unexpected way. As the cheeper end has to pay significantly more for its basic raw materials as they have become scarce and it has enabled the gap to close between the better end products on the market as the gap between well produced fabric and the ‘never mind the quality – feel the width’ type has closed significantly. The main difference in the cost price of the garments now being the superior make-up, components and finishes that are applied. If a comparative review was applied to the cheeper end versus the Pulsar and Pulsarail range regarding the ‘life cost’ of a garment I for one am convinced that whilst in the past, our ranges have always offered better value for money, I am absoloutely sure that to stick to the cheepest available in the market just to squeeze into a budget would be absoloute madness. The range specifically designed for rail clothing GO/RT3279 certified and for highways and construction in our opinion, offers the best value for money in the marketplace.

Lots more new goodies in the range come August / September to keep you nice and warm and comfortable – and seen!

Watch this space for announcements as they complete their testing and certification.