With the exciting news of Maker&Son now signing their exclusive U.K. license, the Inc & Co marketing team sat down with Group CEO Jack Mason to ask him the big questions and delve into the big issues with buying such an established and much-loved brand.
For readers who are not regulars to our blog, please introduce yourself.
I’m Jack Mason, Group CEO of Inc & Co and one of the founders of the group who purchased Maker&Son in 2022.
Who are Maker&Son?
- Maker&Son was founded in 2018; they’re a designer of Luxury and extraordinarily comfortable sofas and furniture that are handmade locally using natural materials. As of 2022, they are part of the Inc & Co group of companies, and I’m delighted to have them as part of the group.
Who are Inc & Co?
- Inc & Co is an award-winning business group based in Manchester, and I’m proud to say that we have clients and employees all across the globe.
What do Inc & Co do?
- We acquire and turn around businesses that can benefit from our expert group, ensuring the brand’s future remains in safe hands.
- Whether through insolvency, liquidation, or just shutting up shop, it’s hard to see any business close, especially a small business, so normally when we have an opportunity to acquire a business, it’s always in tough circumstances.
We’ve been fortunate enough to work with some incredible brands and watch their journey, from dealing with some tough times to putting them back on their feet and watching them flourish.
What has happened at Maker&Son?
- In August 2022, Maker&Son Limited was sold as a business to Inc & Co. Whilst our immediate priority was to ensure we could fulfil all existing customer orders despite all debts that had been built up, a creditor of the old company (Maker&Son Limited) put the company liquidation. Because of that decision, it became impossible for the new company, Maker&Son Ops Ltd, to run operations and manage manufacturing and customer deliveries. Maker&Son Ops Ltd was also therefore placed into liquidation.
We’ve always remained determined to put the brand back where it belongs, and as a result of this, we decided to bring forward UK plans to operate under a licensing model so that customer orders could continue to be fulfilled. I’m delighted to announce that the UK licensee has been appointed, and a bespoke team has been formed to work purely on orders placed by Maker&Son’s UK customers. This is made up of a team of people who already have years of experience crafting quality Maker&Son products as one of our external manufacturers.
You can therefore be assured that any products you receive from Maker&Son will be of the high quality you rightly expect.
Who is the new licensee?
- The first new licensee announced is the experienced team behind one of the brand’s existing manufacturers, The Hastings Sofa Company
Led by Danny Cleaver – Managing Director, Marc Gall – Operations Director, and Mark Hillyard – Finance Director, the team will run the Maker&Son business in the UK & Ireland territory, managing customer orders, and will be selling and making the same luxury furniture direct to customers under the Maker&Son brand.
What about delivery?
- Taking account of the careful craftsmanship required to produce each order, the company predicts a maximum period of 16 weeks to fulfil the backlog of orders; however, this will be communicated with each customer order.
Will the quality of the products stay the same?
- Absolutely. In the UK, our new licensee manufacturer is made up of people who already have years of experience crafting Maker&Son products.
This means that they know exactly how important the high quality of Maker&Son products needs to be, so robust checks will be implemented to ensure that the new manufacturing and supply chain meets the highest standards. It is important to us that, everywhere in the world, all made-to-order items continue to be made lovingly by hand by a team of highly skilled craftspeople with the same focus on using natural materials.
Is the full range still available?
Yes. All our existing products you know and love will be available going forward. Please take a look on the makerandson.com site to view their natural furniture collections.
What about past UK orders?
- We can confirm that the Maker&Son UK team will contact customers with an existing order by no later than the end of March 2023 to provide a completion timeframe.
Within that completion timeframe, the customer will also receive a telephone call so that payment can be made and delivery can be scheduled.
What’s next for the brand?
Stay tuned for more updates, but we’re already in the process of planning more licensee deals overseas and taking the Maker&Son brand name back to where it truly belongs.