Trends visit
Monday night saw a good turnout of members, partners and friends of Rotary. After a lovely meal we adjourned the meeting and 31 members and friends headed over to Fairfield to visit Trends. Formerly known as Tuapeka Gold Print, it was the brainchild of Jim and Karyl Robertson. The business was started by printing business cards at their kitchen table. The business began to grow, in 1990 they started to print pens and other promotional products. In 1993 they became New Zealand’s largest supplier of promotional pens, 2005 saw Tuapeka Gold Print selling over 12 million pens a year.
In 2007 Brad Houghton brought a 50% share in the business and with that brought a whole new set of skills, consequently growth began to take off. Greg Jolly joined the company as CEO in 2013. Following a shift to Dunedin in 2016 the business saw a 300% growth by 2018. They are now the largest supplier of promotional products in Australasia. The growth has continued and even with interruptions like Covid 19, annual sales exceed $120 million per annum. The company changed their name from Tuapeka Gold Print to Trends as many overseas clients had difficulty pronouncing Tuapeka Gold. 85% of the companies products are exported, predominantly to Australia.
It was fantastic to see happy staff and the huge number of products being worked on as we toured the factory. The use of laser printers and etchers, screen printers and transfers was amazing with an average order size of only 300 pieces it is a truly remarkable eye opening business.
We would just like to say a big thank you to Greg and his team at Trends for an awesome visit.
