The Last Word: Syd Snowball

The business recently launched A2B Luggage – Modrec International’s first new brand in 15 years. What prompted the move, and how significant a role will A2B Luggage play in future growth plans?

The launch of the A2B brand is a natural progression for us as we widen our scope in the travel, leather goods and accessories industries.

We’ve spent many years helping other brands execute their needs in this field.

We’ve been tremendously successful operating in a business-to-business environment when producing products for companies such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Diners Club, Lotus and Amex.

While Modrec continues to be a major business-to-business player and supplier to many retailers, we have a deep understanding of creating our own brands too.

Gino Ferrari, for instance, occupies a specific niche in the market, whereas we know A2B, as the name suggests, works perfectly for a more contemporary traveller well used to making a number of domestic and overseas trips annually.

Without giving too much away, we are continuing to develop a stable of brands, which will create a unique offering in the business-to-business, business-to-consumer and direct-to-consumer markets.

The company celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. Across those four decades, the firm has navigated numerous bouts of travel market turbulence, not least the incredible challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. How are you leveraging those experiences to shape future strategy?

Budget airline travel really took off post-millennium, and we were in a great position to capitalise.

From that point onwards, we’ve always been very comfortable with a consistently evolving market situation.

During COVID-19, we understood retail would have to take place online, and rapidly adapted our business accordingly.

As there was no travel, our luggage ranges naturally took a hit, but we still did tremendously well with traditional gift items like wallets and purses.

The experience of the pandemic means that A2B, and future brands we might choose to launch, will be equally relevant to the online sales channel and wholesale customers alike, with all the marketing, social media and PR support that today’s customer expects from a brand.

Headquartered in Newcastle, Modrec International has deep roots in the North East. How important is the region to the business, and in what ways does the area influence operations and the company’s broader outlook?

I’m a big believer that good, hard-working, flexible and loyal employees are the backbone of any successful company, and there are no finer set of people than those from the North East.

We have steadfastly maintained a family-oriented culture here, while still successfully expanding operations with bases in China, India and North America.

The North East has faced its challenges, but I firmly believe it is the ideal place to operate.

www.modrecinternational.com

LinkedIn: Modrec International Limited