ImagesMagUK_October_2021

IS BRAND PROFILE www.images-magazine.com 28 images OCTOBER 2021 Above and beyond Sabur has emerged from the past 18 months stronger and fitter. Images talks to Dean Sanger, MD, to find out the secret of the company’s success during the most challenging period in its history M arch 2020, everything stopped. Shops shut, factories closed, people stayed at home. At Sabur, which supplies the UK digital printing industry with printers and consumables, it was no different. But then business started to come back. Garment decorators began to print face masks. Textile printers started churning out floor vinyls. More than 18 months later, Sabur has nearly completed its expansion into a neighbouring unit, boasts two new members of staff and has taken on two more equipment lines. After being in business for more than two decades, this distributor knows not only how to survive, but how to thrive. Once the country had shut down, says Sabur's managing director, Dean Sanger, customers started to realise they needed a new plan. "People had to change tack. We did very well with the Covid sign supply, the floor graphics. We couldn't get enough vinyl for floor graphics for customers." Those printers used to creating small transfers for garments and textiles started ringing Sabur, asking, 'What can we do?', explains Dean. "So we had small rolls chopped up so they could accommodate them in their 30" or 54" machines." Like most companies at that time, the directors at Sabur furloughed staff, topping up their wages so they got their full 100% salary. The company shut fully for two weeks but business soon started to pick up again: in fact, reports Dean, trade was slightly up on the year before. The fashion and sportswear industries were "very, very flat" though. "They were the people I felt sorry for, because they've had the hardest of times. They were doing masks, because they had to try and keep going. There's 60 million people in the country, they're all going to want a mask of some sort. And then eventually, sportswear opened back up. Every single sportswear customer that I have is now absolutely booming." One sportswear manufacturer bought two DGI machines from Dean during the pandemic, then ordered a third in September this year. Dean puts this boom down to everyone being locked up and told 'you can't do this, you can't do that'. "Then suddenly, everyone is allowed to do things again so they're back with a vengeance. I think it's been a massive wake-up call for people. People have stopped taking things for granted." On top of this, the shipping crisis [see the September issue of Images for a special report on the shipping issues the industry is facing] is changing the way The IEcho machines offer continuous cutting