YPIE Tour Blog Day Six: Panaz

Emily Dwyer of Herman Miller reveals what the  Young Professional Industry Experience tour group learnt on their trip to fabric company Panaz.

We started the day off with a short taxi ride to contract fabric company Panaz at its design, manufacture and distribution centre in Burnley.

Sarah Lloyd, Head of Creative Resources and Branding, gave us a brief introduction to the company and how it operates.

Liz, who designs the print collections, talked through the print design process and how they find new trends.

Paul Watson, Commercial Manager, then took us on a very informative factory tour, where we saw the print manufacturing process in action and learnt about the testing Panaz does on new products in their Quality Assurance laboratory.

Panaz test every new product to check the material specifications and to ensure that every fabric fits the required standard.

After a buffet lunch, Sarah Tebbutt and Hayley Butterworth, who make up the Marketing Graphic Design Team, talked to us about marketing and all the work they do for pattern books, photoshoots, and exhibitions.

Helen Rushowski then talked us through the weave design process and the different types of weaving methods, before Mike Gibbins, Supply Chain Manager, spoke to us about the supply chain.

We finished our trip with a tour around the factory of one of Panaz’s suppliers – DHJ Weisters Limited, by Duncan Weisters, Managing Director, and Richard Tillotson, Sales Manager, who showed us the Jacquard weaving process in action.

We were all amazed at the large number of SKUS Panaz have in their range and surprised at how quickly they can get orders despatched. Their commitment to ensuring all products meet the relevant standards for each application with their in-house testing facilities was impressive. We also thought it was good that there was a very low minimum order quantity for printed fabrics of only four metres.