Tackle Trade World - October 2023
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FEATURE<br />
SEMPERFLI STILL<br />
FLYING HIGH AFTER<br />
MATERIAL SUCCESS<br />
British fly tying materials manufacturer Semperfli has had an amazing year or two,<br />
including a prestigious export business award, impressive growth, key distribution deals<br />
and its biggest product launch ever. As it prepares for the Confluence event director Ann<br />
Kitchener explains why there is no stopping it at present.<br />
ttW: it’S been Quite a<br />
WhirlWind 18 monthS for<br />
Semperfli Since You attended<br />
the international flY tackle<br />
dealerS’ ShoW in Salt lake<br />
citY, uSa back in earlY<br />
2022. What have been the<br />
highlightS?<br />
ann kitchener: It has been an<br />
incredible time for Semperfli since then. We<br />
actually heard we had won the prestigious<br />
Queen’s Award on the first day of the<br />
show but, due to the embargo, we were<br />
not able to tell anyone! We had to wait<br />
until the Queen’s birthday when all the<br />
announcements were formally made. We<br />
were buzzing at the show!<br />
From there on, the show was hugely<br />
24 www.tackletradeworld.com<br />
successful for Semperfli. It was great to have<br />
a stand with our US team and amazing Pro<br />
Team who supported us there. They are all<br />
such wonderful people.<br />
Interest in our materials at the show was<br />
amazing. We had such a warm welcome.<br />
We loved meeting existing Semperfli<br />
partners and a host of great new dealers who<br />
came on board as a result. These included<br />
independent stores from across the world<br />
and even multiples such as Sportsman<br />
Warehouse and Scheels. It’s great to be<br />
working with so many wonderful retailers<br />
globally.<br />
Demand for our materials got so high we<br />
had no choice but to move premises. We<br />
had been looking for new premises for a<br />
while but, luckily, the perfect place became<br />
available. After a period of renovation to<br />
make them bespoke for us, we had fantastic<br />
new warehousing, offices and a factory<br />
across three units.<br />
Then we invested hugely into even<br />
more sophisticated computerised dyeing<br />
machinery. This is the ultimate dyeing<br />
equipment (and it’s big too) that we believe<br />
is unique to this industry. It gives perfect<br />
result time after time. No stock pots and<br />
wooden spoons here! Tyers want consistent<br />
colours with quality and reliability, that is<br />
what they get from Semperfli.<br />
hoW have You managed to<br />
deal With the huge influx<br />
of orderS that haS come in<br />
during that time?<br />
We came away from the show with a<br />
host of significant orders that we were
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