Boden History 2001-2006
By 2001, our Christmas parties had grown from a few of us sitting in our local pub, The Castle, into properly big and messy affairs where staff are invited to tie up the Directors and throw things at them.
We launched in America in 2002 and you've been very kind to us. We are very much a niche brand, even though we have at least one customer in every state (in some, it really is just the one). The US now represents just over 20% of the business, so thank you very much.
More growth meant that in 2003 we had to open a brand new warehouse in Leicester. It's pretty big, and was opened by the High Sheriff of Leicester (the guy in the hat - n.b. he has a sword too!). Everyone was disappointed that he didn't wear a cowboy hat, but he looked very smart anyway.
We ventured into retail in 2004 opening a shop in Hanger Lane, West London. We've tried to make it as practical as possible - lots of space for Womenswear, a play area for children, and somewhere to sit and read the papers for the men. We won an award for it, and like it so much that we might even open some more.
We're now one of the fastest growing mail order companies in the UK, with sales of $102m and 550 staff. That's how we did it. Pretty much, anyway.
