Portlantis has been extremely busy throughout the Autumn and early winter as demand for things like puffa jackets and waterproofs shot through the roof here! October and November were really wet for much of the UK – with some areas getting over twice their usual rainfall according to the Met Office. Fear not (!) - Portlantis sources reliable brands and will kit you out whatever the weather – we can even do red suits for climbing down chimneys! As we head into January we can expect temperatures to drop further and we are big fans of bodywarmers (aka gilets). These sleeveless garments come in all sorts of guises – softshell, fleece, padded – and are designed to keep you warm but allow plenty of movement – maybe Santa should consider one! 

Following the hottest August Bank Holiday ever recorded in the UK we thought it was important to remind everyone that we logo plenty of headwear as well as clothing! For hotter days Portlantis can supply baseball caps, bucket hats, outback hats, sun visors and even straw hats – so whatever your preference we can keep you cool, safe, and branded with your logo. 

Every single one of the hundreds of thousands (if not millions!) of logo’d garments Portlantis has produced since we started our business in 2005 has been stitched on a Tajima embroidery machine. Headquarted in Japan and now a global company, Tajima manufactured the first multi head automatic embroidery machine in 1964. 

 

This revolutionised what was essentially a manual process up to this point – and meant embroidered logos and designs became accessible for everyday use. In 1980 the first computerised embroidery machine was introduced, which led to greater benefits in production – benefitting both the garment decorator (us!) and also the customers (you!). Each machine has 15 needles - which means we can stitch up to 15 colours per design! At 1200 stitched per minute. 

 

This is just one of our Tajimas in action this morning: 

Extending the services we offer - check out our latest purchase! 

 

Here at Portlantis we’re excited! Always keen to offer more and better services to our customers, we are now the proud owners of a BN20 inkjet printer/cutter machine! Following recent installation and training by our friends at Dorotape, we were up and running immediately after our staff attended training at Roland's amazing HQ – check out a couple of the designs we have already produced for multi-national Walls ice-cream and for South-West based craft beer experts The Real Ale Girls. 

The team at Portlantis are a cross-section of regular people who are focused on supplying our customers with top quality logo’d gear – we don’t spend our spare time hugging trees or worrying about wearing leather shoes (although that’s fine for those who want to) - BUT we do all care about the environment so we wondered what steps we could take – as part of our everyday working lives – to “do our bit” to respect Planet Earth a little bit more? 

We have signed up to a great Exeter-based initiative called Grow Green. Matt and the team at Grow Green simply ask businesses to pledge to follow some basic principles. It’s really not that difficult, and in fact Portlantis is even ahead of the game in some areas. The principles are – 

 

• Recycle waste where possible 

• Limit plastic consumption 

• Limit energy consumption and/or use renewable alternatives 

• Encourage and/or reward green commuting 

• Allow remote working where possible 

• Give local companies an opportunity to tender for business 

• Reducing paper use, more effective ways to work online 

• Reducing water consumption 

View our GROWGREEN homepage HERE. 

01-03-19 

It’s official – Portlantis’ new website is up and running and so is our shiny new blog! 

 

It’s the morning after our NEW website launch party. Yesterday evening we were pleased to host a get-together for clients, suppliers, local businesses, staff, and our Charity of the Year - The Calvert Trust Exmoor at Claytons Glasshouse in Barnstaple. 

We kicked the night off with bubbles and open networking at the top of the secluded glasshouse in Claytons, who looked after us very well. 

The room was prepared displaying the new 2019 catalogue and samples of our work. Everyone attending received a branded Portlantis goodie bag. 

 

Against a backdrop of the new website projected large onto a feature wall, Managing Director Trudy Reynolds delivered a presentation about the successful transfer of the business to the South West. Emphasising the importance of teamwork and providing first class customer service, she also commented on the way organisations here really identify with the SW region: “There is a very positive ‘loyalty factor’ here that drives business and also extends to the wider community – I believe Portlantis has benefitted from this – in fact our sales are up 30% in the last 12 months”.