ImagesMagUK_February_2022

IS DECORATOR PROFILE www.images-magazine.com 32 images FEBRUARY 2022 Every year it has just got bigger and bigger are a crazy amount – as much as £30 – so we have to make sure they come back every time. Our customer lifetime value is extremely high. Every garment goes through quality control and is checked individually.” Corey learned about the business of garment decoration while looking after goods in and out at Merch Asylum. He has now assembled a team around him with more technical skills, including Robbie Davies who has been trained in how the machines function, Callum Crewe, general manager, and Callum Appleton, who oversees print and embroidery production. Corey also continues to draw on Tony Palmer’s expertise. “I’m so grateful for what Tony has done. It’s not just a job for him – he’s so into it and wants us to be the best we can be. Without Tony, the growth we’ve had wouldn’t have been possible.” The DoomsdayCo team members are all under 25 and Corey says there is little hierarchy within the company. “Everyone has their own specific things to do and knows what they’re doing without being told.” It is part of a company culture of being a fun place to work, he adds, boosted by the presence of Corey’s three dogs: a four-year-old boxer called Doris and two young Italian mastiffs called Florence and Gwen. Company culture This company culture, founded on a genuine passion for tattooing, has helped to attract artists from around the world – from Tony Blue Arms in Norway and Baldo in Italy, to Manh Huynh in Vietnam, Samantha Fung in Hong Kong and Alex Gracia in Australia, as well as British artists including Alex Roberts and Amber Rainbow. “I can’t draw at all myself but I’m such a fan of the art and work with my favourite artists,” Corey says. He finds artists via Instagram and seeks to collaborate rather than simply buy or license artwork like other clothing companies. “Our competitors tend to use UK-based graphic designers to do the designs for them, but we are more well-known for our collaborations with tattoo artists. We work together to produce it, and that’s what people buy into. If you live in Berlin and you love a tattooist from Singapore, not everyone can get a flight to Singapore to get a tattoo – although me and Crewe would do that – but at least you can wear their art on a T-shirt.” Working with tattooists around the world also boosts international sales. “When we work with a new artist, we tend to see more sales coming from those countries. For instance, we didn’t get many Asian sales but since we’ve been working with two artists from Asia, we’ve had a lot more sales from there.” With around 134 new products introduced last year to bring the range up to 940, DoomsdayCo has continued to diversify. It now includes dungarees, sherpa jackets, corduroy trousers and shorts as well as tapestries, or throws, which are woven for the company in China. It also offers prints and posters of up to A1 of some artists’ work after investing in a Canon TM-200 large- format printer. This follows “massive” growth in 2020 when online fashion sales soared because of people stuck at home during lockdown. “Every year, it has just got bigger and bigger, but 2020 was just another level. It plateaued a little bit but then at the back end of 2021, with Black Friday, it was crazy again.” Taking on new people was a challenge at first, Corey adds, but “now they know their jobs so well”. Overseas orders About 60% of orders come from overseas with 40% from the EU, so Brexit has been a challenge. “Europe is central to the business and that took a massive hit with Brexit,” Corey says. “Before, we were charging customers a £10 shipping flat fee no matter what was bought, and free if over £100; we then had to charge them £25 no matter what they were buying. That caused uproar. We didn’t get much from Europe after that and it’s only just gone back to what it was. But I’m sure we would have seen a lot more growth from Europe.” Brexit red tape has also been a headache, especially for Callum Pembridge who looks after shipping. “The amount of forms and software, with breakdowns for every item we had, with its own HS [Harmonised System] code. If that wasn’t exactly right, they would be sent back.” Brexit and Covid-19 continue to cause uncertainty; however, Corey has ambitious plans for bigger premises and more equipment in the longer term. He would like to revive Evergreen Print Co, which he set up in the early days to provide decoration services to other companies. “We closed that down when we moved into this unit as it was too much to manage, but when we get our new unit, I really want to get another press and do that on the side.” He also wants to fully shift by the end of 2022 to using DoomsdayCo’s own custom garments. “We used to buy in only blank garments but now we order high-quality garments made for us overseas to our own specifications.” With six extra people taken on in November 2021 to help with a peak in orders, DoomsdayCo looks on course for the growth that Corey hopes for. “I love everything about it. When I started out at 15, I never thought I’d be doing anything like this.” www.doomsdayco.com Sewing on the Zoje machine The Xerografia T-shirt Managing stock at DoomsdayCo