4 minute read
BUSINESS HOUR
Mark Hobkirk is the fourth generation working in the family’s Lancashire-based sewing machine business that has forged a worldwide reputation
Mark Hobkirk has a lot to celebrate this year. It is 30 years since he joined the family sewing machine company, which was founded 120 years ago. Fast forward to the 21st century and Hobkirk is known worldwide for stocking the latest, technology-led domestic and industrial machines.
Educated at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, Mark grew up in the Ribble Valley joining the family business soon after leaving school: “Looking back to when I first started in the business we didn’t have any of the technology we have today,” he says.
“We had only just got a fax machine, which we thought was amazing! There wasn’t any mobile phones and no emails – we just relied on the telephone and post. That was the norm.”
Originally founded in 1903 by William Hobkirk, over the years the company has continued to invest in premises in order to expand their sewing machine stock. At one point Hobkirk had shops in Preston, Blackpool, Burnley, Accrington, Bury, Rochdale and Blackburn where they still have five consecutive shops on Darwen Street.
“It’s very deceptive,” says Mark. “On Darwen Street we have numbers 118 to 130. We have 10,000 square feet, 45 rooms and a 22-space car park.”
Ever-evolving technology has transformed the way Hobkirk works in terms of how the business is run and with regards to sales, as Mark explains: “It is incredible how things have changed over the three decades I have been in the business.
“Email and the internet make things so easy and while the concept of how a sewing machine makes a stitch remains the same, the technology has made sewing faster and smoother.
“During the 80s and 90s we had seven shops, but we don’t need them any more –we can do everything online. We do demonstrations on You Tube and we do a lot of social media and short videos on Facebook, Tik Tok and Instagram.
“You have to move with the times to keep abreast of technology,” says Mark, who travels all over the world to see and source the very best and latest sewing machines.
“We import from China, Japan, Taiwan, Italy Germany and Poland. There are two sides to our business – the domestic market and the industrial market.
“The big industrial machines are high speed and good value. We have just got an order in from a UK company paying £32,000 for a machine from Italy – it will sew pockets on to jeans in one go. Normally it would take four different people to do this so it’s laboursaving and it’s understandable why factories are looking to de-skill as it saves them money.
“We have a commercial sewing machine that stacks the product once it’s been made –the technology is fantastic.”
With a team of 15, Mark has a co-director Marcus Gannon, who has been with the firm for a decade while his wife Kathy is company secretary. As a world leader in sewing machines, the Hobkirk team are proud of their product knowledge – their domestic department features Brother, Janome, Juki and Babylock backed by a full range of accessories and a team of in-house technical engineers. On the industrial side of the business Hobkirk has trading agreements for the UK with Seiko in Japan, Zoje sewing machines and Comel pressing equipment in Italy. The embroidery division, which accounts for 25 per cent of Hobkirk’s business, has its own dedicated showroom and supplies machines from leading manufacturer Ricoma and Brother supported by factory-trained technicians.
Within the Darwen Street building there is also a museum crossing three rooms where visitors can see more than 200 antique sewing machines that have been personally and lovingly collected by Mark’s father Peter over the last 50 years.
A keen golfer and a member of Whalley Golf Club, Mark and the Hobkirk team continue to stay true to the company motto: ‘The firm you can trust’. “I love what I do,” says Mark. “I find it really interesting and varied – it gets in the blood and becomes a bit of an obsession.
“You look at the technology involved in these machines and it’s difficult to imagine how they can get any better. But it does and we keep being surprised!”
