ONE of the south’s fastest-growing clothing brands has credited a storage facility with its early success.

Sandbanks, which produces a range of ethical products and has football pundit Jamie Redknapp as a brand ambassador, was launched in 2018 by Sam Harman and Wayne Collins.

It has achieved a 700 per cent increase in sales over the last year and ships its products around the world.

Having started in Sam’s spare room the business needed a serviced office and storage facilities – and moved into Store & Secure in Bournemouth behind the Castlepoint shopping centre.

There the business developed until it outgrew the premises and moved into its own large warehouse and office in Poole.

Store & Secure, which also operates a large facility in Basingstoke and is opening another one soon in Poole, has incubated a number of start-ups.

Lucy Maidman who runs the storage business said: “Many people don’t appreciate that we have serviced offices and are ideal for new businesses.

“Sandbanks is a perfect example – it needed somewhere to grow during its embryonic stage and we offered exactly what was needed to incubate it.

“The offices offer everything that is required and the storage facilities are on site and secure.

“We are able to take in deliveries if no one is present and assist in other ways to help our clients.

“We are also perfect for businesses that are down-sizing from high street premises, for example, and require storage for stock that they sell over the internet.”

Sam Harman said: “When we launched the Sandbanks brand we started in my spare room but really needed somewhere bigger.

“Store & Secure were perfect for us as it had a serviced office and storage facilities so we were able to concentrate on growing the business.

“Compared with other storage places we looked at it was cleaner, tidier, warmer and cheaper.

“Our brand creates a variety of clothing products, produced in Europe from recycled plastic and without using fur or pelts.

“For every item we make we plant a tree to off-set carbon emissions and now have 30,000 growing.

“With the business developing so quickly – a 700 per cent increase this year alone – we simple grew out of Store & Secure’s premises and needed our own.

“But without our time there it would have been far more difficult to get to the stage we are now at and we owe them a great deal.”