Welcome back to another CSI+ Meet the Member Interview! Today we will be joined by Ed Taylor, Managing Director of Taylor Made Designs UK Ltd (TMD).

What do you do at your company and in what circumstances would I come to you for something?
“You’d come to me if you wanted to discuss a new project or a new opportunity. I’d then build a team to manage this potential opportunity including the onboarding process should we be successful in our bid. Someone might also want to come to me just to pick my brains on ideas – I’ve been manufacturing and delivering uniform and branded merchandise for almost 3 decades!”

What’s the biggest misconception people have about your position?
“Working with so many Superyachts, Cruise Operators and Theme Parks – most of my friends think I spend all my time travelling to luxury destinations, schmoosing with the rich and famous or going on rollercoasters! Who am I to tell them otherwise! :)”

What inspired you to pursue this field of work? Or, what was your first taste of the cruise industry?
“Aside from uniform and branded merchandise, we supply a lot of PPE. A client once came to our facility to discuss their PPE forecast, but quickly realised our capability to supply their crew and officers uniform and marketing materials. A year later we were onboard delivering bespoke and off the shelf uniform to over 1000 crew. That was just the start. Since then we’ve gone from strength to strength working with clients to dress from 50 to upwards of 20,000 staff.”

If you could recommend only one of your products, what would it be?
“Right now, for the Expedition market, I would suggest our Expedition Pack – which includes but is not exclusive to a fully waterproof thermal jacket, thermal 1/4 zip fleece, thermal pants, thermal socks, a beanie and a chilli waterbottle. Of course, the pack can be made up of anything – we could add luxury items such as an Elliot Brown custom made watch, Revo or Oakley Sunglasses or binoculars, for example.”

What kind of questions do you ask before beginning a project, and which piece of information is of utmost value in planning a successful project?
“An idea of budget is always handy! Aside from this, I always ask where delivery is preferred and what fulfilment expectations my prospective clients have. We’re EU VAT registered and we have a third party logistics warehouse just outside Rotterdam, so were perfectly set up to manage the uniform and marketing materials for EU operators. Our bespoke manufacturing capabilities, combined with hundreds of suppliers across Europe, i guess my first question should be ‘when do you want us to start!”

What role does sustainability play in your company? How do you incorporate environmentally friendly practices and materials?
“Sustainability and Ethical Supply plays a huge role in our DNA. Ideally, everything we supply would be from organic or recycled origins, but unless we manufactured everything we supply this just isn’t possible. At TMD we don’t pretend we have all the answers, but our commitment is to always offer options. Constant development and the search for innovation in all areas of our business is at the heart of what we do. We partner with producers who are independently certified and accredited to manufacture products to the highest social, ethical and environmental standards such as GOTS, Ecolabel and Fairtrade.
As we continue to learn we promise to share that education with you. What’s right for one customer won’t necessarily be right for the next. We will work with you to offer the most sustainable and ethical choices to suit your needs. Our ‘End of Use’ garment recycling programme is an example of a new initiative we are very excited about, and particularly proud to offer our customers.”

What goals have you met so far in 2024? Or, what goals/milestones are you working to meet this year?
“We’re already ISO9001 accredited. We’re currently working on ISO14001 and hope to have this accreditation by the end of the year.”

Thanks again Ed Taylor for a great interview. You can view the video below to get exclusive insight into a day at Taylor Made Designs and the amazing team behind the work!