An online men鈥檚 fashion business with deep tech knowhow has established its headquarters in Manchester.
Blake Mill creates ethically made apparel with designs spanning an eclectic range of themes and colours.
It is the brainchild of FinTech entrepreneurs Ken Price and Steve French, who realised they had a flair for creating 鈥榪uirky yet meaningful designs that people loved鈥�.
The duo was able to draw upon their expertise in complex data systems to understand consumer behaviour and predict buying patterns.
鈥淲e are committed to ethically creating the best shirts possible and are obsessed with the quality of all components of our shirts, including the collars, buttons, stitching, seams and prints,鈥� said founding partner Price.
鈥淎dditional priorities of the team include plastic free packaging and excellent customer service.鈥�
Its Burn Baby Burn shirt marks the recent 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11鈥檚 launch to the moon. The team translated NASA鈥檚 computer program for Apollo鈥檚 launch into binary code and embedded the design into the shirt.
Other range themes include Skulls鈥� N Roses, Circuit Board, Brainwave, Show Me the Money and Radioactive Paisley.
French and Price met聽at Toronto FinTech start-up Algorithmics where they聽grew the business tenfold in the first year and turned it from a loss leader to a significant profit centre.
French then聽ran a major Swiss bank鈥檚 global data warehousing before the duo聽launched data management company Avox.
Headquartered in Wrexham, the company maintained complex networks of data for global financial institutions including Citigroup, HSBC and Mizuho. They secured investment from the German stock exchange Deutsche Boerse before selling up to a New York-based financial institution.
They have chosen Manchester as the headquarters for their latest venture.
鈥淢anchester is a vibrant, energetic city and we are delighted to have located our new headquarters here,鈥� added Price.
鈥淢anchester鈥檚 reputation as an important centre for business and as one of the most liveable cities in the UK make it the perfect fit for our company.
鈥淲e are looking forward to building our business here and to immersing ourselves in the spirit and culture of the city.鈥�
Farooq Ansari has been appointed digital director of Blake Mill and is responsible for all digital implementation, including overseeing the platform, eCommerce and related underlying strategies.
Ansari has held senior roles at digital and ecommerce agencies including Space48, Reason and Zodiak Active.
He has also worked at the BBC in Manchester, where he was responsible for strategy, production and development across its websites and digital products.