A Norfolk-based fashion brand unveiled as Norwich City’s latest shirt sponsor has opened a new outlet inside Jarrolds.
Blakely Clothing, which will replace Lotus on the front of the club’s kits next season, launched its new pop-up shop in the London Street department store on Saturday, July 6.
The firm was set up by Gareth Newman in 2012, which he ran from a garden shed at his childhood home in Briston, near Holt.
It has since grown into an international fashion brand, recording £37m in sales in the last 12 months.
Mr Newman, 37, was inspired to start the clothing brand after a holiday to America.
"I stumbled across a brand and when I put on one of their t-shirts it made me feel incredible, like the best version of myself,” he said.
"I thought we need to have this in the UK - I wanted people to feel how I had just felt.
"It was great fabric and a quality I hadn't come across much in the UK before.
"I wanted to create something of the same incredible quality which was more accessible than the traditional high-end fashion brands.
"I was entrepreneurial as a youngster and I always wanted to start something for myself."
SHIRT SPONSORS
The company is now headquartered at a 40,000 sqft warehouse in Melton Constable and has its main office in Norwich.
Last week, Norwich City announced that Blakely’s logo will feature on the club's home, away and third shirts, as well as training wear, for the upcoming 2024/25 Championship season, after its agreement with Hethel-based car manufacturer Lotus came to an end.
"Because the negotiations started just after the kit was confirmed we've not had any input, but we are absolutely delighted with the way it looks," Mr Newman said.
"I'm hopeful the next season we might be able to have an input into the kit, but the kit maker will always be Joma.
"The kit is beautiful, and I think fans will be over the moon with it.
"I read the comments on social media and people consider a local brand that they haven't heard of as meaning less money for the club, but we've paid over the average going price for sponsorship in the Championship."
BELIEVING IN THE BRAND
Mr Newman studied at the University of East Anglia where he qualified as a pharmacist.
After working as a locum pharmacist across Norfolk for several years, Mr Newman used the money he had saved to set up the business, launching it online in 2012.
Its name is inspired by the north Norfolk village of Blakeney, where his father grew up.
"For the first five years it was quite slow," he said.
"But I heard a quote which said you could have the best product in the world but people are too busy to come and find it, so we had to take it to them.
"That's when the marketing side of the business grew and the rest is history. We've been on a rising trajectory ever since.
"I always had confidence and believed in the brand.
"There was a gap in the market and the timing was good with social media just coming out."
FORMER NORWICH STORE
Blakely previously had a store in the city, which closed in April last year and is now set to be replaced by American fast food chain Taco Bell.
Its former London Street store opened in November 2021 and was only meant to be a pop-up shop on an initial three-month contract.
The company currently has a store in London’s Westfield Stratford City shopping centre but operates mostly online.
Alongside its UK warehouse on an industrial estate in Marriott Way, Melton Constable, Blakely has an EU distribution centre in Belgium.
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