When Dan and Tanya Farmer set up Homeys Slippers, they were on a mission to create the perfect blend of style and comfort.
With a profitable business and a demand from customers across the UK, the brand needed a reliable and experienced fulfilment partner to take it to the next level.
We caught up with Dan to talk about his journey with Diamond Logistics.
Where did it all start for you?
In the early 2000s I was running a PR agency in London with my then-girlfriend (now wife). We bought our first home which was a Victorian house and it had wooden floorboards everywhere, so we had cold feet.
I wanted some slippers but everywhere we looked were just the most horrible granddad slippers you’ve ever seen, so I thought ‘someone has to make a slipper that looks cool’.
With the help of some friends and contacts we manufactured 500 pairs of stylish slippers in two colour options. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, and a friend of mine had a warehouse so I just stuck them all in there.
We made a one-page website that just had the two colour options, and this is where the story takes quite a mad turn.
I had all these slippers in this warehouse and my wife used to do a fitness class with a DJ on Radio One (Sara Cox), who bought a pair for Chris Moyles for his birthday. We ended up getting a shout out on Radio 1.
I don’t know where I was but I remember my phone ringing and ringing. Within that next week it just went crazy. Suddenly we had orders coming in and needed to manufacture thousands of pairs – and we had to get more than two colours…
We decided to get out of London and get a warehouse in Lincolnshire. It just went from strength to strength.
How did Diamond Logistics help?
We were dealing with lots of retailers in the UK and then Covid hit – which obviously changed lots of things. People started Googling our name and buying direct from us. We had a very small team and we were really busy and it was a real strain to just get the stuff out of the building.
We realised we needed help so we spoke to Bob Fenwick at Fleetline Despatch, one of Diamond Logistic’s partners.
Bob stepped in and it’s just been smooth sailing. He’s taken over all the distribution for us and all the postage. We are rated five stars on Trustpilot with over 600 reviews and a lot of those mention delivery, which is all down to Bob’s team and Diamond Logistics.
We’re very pleased with how it’s all turned out and it’s left us able to focus on the marketing of the brand.
What’s next for Homeys?
We’ve got a far greater customer base now with us being able to focus on the marketing side of the business rather than having to worry about getting the boxes out, getting the boxes in and all the logistical side of things.
It’s really freed us up to push the brand. This last Christmas was our biggest yet and we continue to do really well.
Now we have this new structure in place where Diamond and Bob and his team have taken over the logistical side of things, I think we can now grow the brand maybe internationally. That’s something we’re looking at at the moment.
In the future we might introduce a summer product, something that we could do with the same quality the same passion and the same brand.
We know our customers, we can keep them happy and they come back to us year after year. Now with diamond Logistics we have a great partner in making sure that our products get onto their feet as soon as possible.
