Tuesday 16 May 2017

From Bags to Blenders: The Journey of a Yorkshire Businessman    

                          

Picked this little gem up recently. Not too much about Peter Black's involvement with adidas in it, but an interesting and inspiring read all the same. You can pick a copy up at

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bags-Blenders-Journey-Yorkshire-Businessman/dp/1785782045/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494963256&sr=8-1&keywords=from+bags+to+blenders

                            

5 comments:

  1. I'm from a place called Keighley in West Yorks, Peter Black had a couple of factories and warehouses there (as you'll know from the book). We used to get the odd pair of Adidas trainers in the factory shop. The selection was never very wide, there'd be lots of pairs in one style,then nothing for months. If something a bit different came in, it'd mean a race between all the lads in the area to get a pair. It's so long ago, early 80's, I can't really remember just which models I bought from there. I seem to recall a lot of them were 'seconds' and it meant going through them to find a defect that was so slight nobody would notice, like a defect on the sole.

    Similarly, Keighley also had a shop attached to a mill that produced Lyle and Scott and Pringle jumpers. We'd be in there every week when these were popular in the early 80's. Going through bins full of jumpers with various things wrong with them. They also sold perfect jumpers for a lot less than the shops. There was (and still is, but not for much longer) a Burberry factory a couple of miles out of the town centre. For us young 'Dressers' (bloody Cockneys and their 'Casual' nonsense!) in the area, this was an ideal way to try and find fashionable clothes for not much £. Some tried filling their Head bags, but they cottoned on to that one pretty quickly.

    As one of the few lads in the town that wasn't a Leeds Utd fan. Shopping wasn't quite as relaxing a leisure pursuit as it is these days. And even friends that were Leeds supporters had to be careful of older kids attempting to 'tax' us of our clothes. I can remember sporting a particularly bright 'shiner' because there was no way I was giving my Vila track top away!

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    1. Thanks for sharing the memories Rob. Another chap I spoke told me that his mum picked him a up a pair of Kick for about £6, which was about £10 cheaper than retail. I guess based on your story they were probably seconds from the factory shop hence the price.

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