A new UK shower tray manufacturer, Private Room, has entered the market, promising a robust UK-sourced supply chain and no sales through third party online vendors.
The company was founded by Jon Fudge, Brian Edwards and John Tanner earlier this year. Both have both been involved in manufacturing shower trays for 15 years, while Tanner is new to the industry.
The new company plans to source its materials from the UK so it can better control the supply chain and product quality, and promises not to make the brand available through third parties online so as to avoid a ‘race to the bottom’ on pricing.
Fudge said: “We aim to source all our raw materials from within the UK, thus giving control over our supply chain and providing retailers confidence in our quality and delivery. This is just part of our promise to retailers. We believe in supporting them with a fair pricing structure and ensuring our products are not available via third parties online, avoiding the all-too-common ‘race to the bottom’ discount pricing strategy.
“As the Private Room team are new to the industry, we are constantly consulting with our agents and retailers and learning all the time – an approach they find refreshing. The feedback from retailers is that the market is currently buoyant, people are spending more time at home than ever before, which is giving them time to reflect and the desire to change and update their surroundings.”
The company started manufacturing at the start of 2020, but had to put plans temporarily put on hold as the pandemic began. The business had to diversify and started to produce safety screens for retail and hospitality in response to the pandemic.
Co-owner Fudge said: “We had to change our business strategy quickly to react to the new climate. By combining our experience and skills, we were able to set up and start manufacturing acrylic safety screens to help the retail and hospitality market, while continuing development of our first shower tray range.”
Fudge added: “2020 has been the most difficult year many of us have ever experienced. We see the remainder of the year as an opportunity to build upon our foundations, which will enable us to hit the ground running in 2021.”
The Revelation shower tray was launched in September, which is initially available in five natural granite-effect shades. The most recent launch is aimed at the cost-conscious client and is a Glacier White gloss tray.
The company has worked with Virtual Worlds to make the products available in its design software.
The brand has a number of new launches planned for 2021 including Shower wall panels and the Serenity and Heavenly trays, which will be offered in new colourways. These will have warmer, milky and almond-toned neutrals as opposed to the cooler grey hues that have been more popular in recent years.