Cleckheaton business goes global after UKTI funding

In these difficult financial times one West Yorkshire company is defying the credit crunch and is making a name for itself in the international music business with help from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).

Fusion is fast becoming a household name for musicians across the globe with an exciting range of colourful musical instrument bags, which have even received the seal of approval from a top jazz legend.

The Cleckheaton-based company, founded and run by four business women, is just a year-and-a-half old, but already has a strong international client base. Its stylish and unique product range has impressed many musicians, including saxophone and flute musician Ronnie Laws, who is best known for his part in 70’s soul band Earth, Wind and Fire and for penning the classic jazz-funk hit, “Always There”. 

The Fusion range covers stylish bags for acoustic and electric guitars, cellos, brass and woodwind instruments and keyboards. The company is now striving to become the number one musical instrument bag company in Europe. And with the help of funding from UKTI, it looks set to achieve its goal.

Designer, musician and one quarter of the Fusion team, Amanda Wheatley said: “In the short time we’ve been up and running we’ve been amazed with the response. We’ve had a lot of really positive feedback from our customers, including Ronnie Laws, which we’re thrilled about!

“We are four women who run the company and in a male-dominated field such as the music business this too has attracted attention. Doing our first trade show in Shanghai in 2008 took a lot of nerve but it paid off. We had such a great response to our bags and we got plenty of orders.”

Amanda is now encouraging other companies to take advantage of the help on offer from UKTI’s international trade advisers. She added: “With help from the UKTI advisers we received funding under the Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP), which enabled us to attend the Shanghai music exhibition and go to follow up shows in America and Germany. Although we only had a small, basic stand, our product stood out and created quite a stir. We also joined UKTI’s Passport to Export programme which gave us some great exporting tips and valuable master classes on things like agents, distributors and doing business in the USA.

“We’ve now received additional funding from Yorkshire Forward’s Targeted Export Support Scheme (TESS), which we will use to take our products abroad to future trade shows. The funding and support has been invaluable in allowing us to continue taking our products to new audiences and will help us to fulfil our dream of becoming the market leader in Europe, if not worldwide.”

The team at Fusion has worked hard to get away from the basic black gig bag. They wanted to go one step further and provide greater choice for the customer. Having identified a gap in the market they also launched the unique Fuse-On range, which allows the customer to choose from five attachment bags, all of which are designed to fit onto the Fusion guitar, brass and woodwind gig bags. This mix and match system allows the musician on-the-go to travel at ease, especially if they have a lot to carry or are using public transport. The bags also provide lumbar support, an added feature for long-distance travellers.

Amanda continued: “As a musician I know what other musicians want when they take their instruments on the road. While the design priority is maximum protection, the bags are also stylish, eye-catching and functional, which is why we launched the Fuse-on range of accessory and laptop bags.

“Having had a great 18 months, we are extremely optimistic about our future. We’ve just returned from China, having designed our latest bag range, which we will launch in January 2010”.

Heather Guile, international trade adviser for UK Trade & Investment said: “In just a year-and-a-half and in what are difficult financial times for many companies, the team at Fusion has done remarkably well, securing new business in countries such as Germany, France, Switzerland, Taiwan and Japan. This, as well as an endorsement from talented musician Ronnie Laws can only add to the Fusion success story.

“As well as the recent funding from Yorkshire Forward’s TESS programme, we’ve also been able to point Fusion towards funding programmes such as the Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP). They have also benefitted from UKTI’s Export Communication Review (ECR), which helps firms take a closer look at their export profile in terms of their marketing tools, branding and image.

“They’ve worked extremely hard to make a name for themselves both in the UK and abroad and with help from various UKTI funding and training programmes, they can continue to go from strength to strength.”

For more information about Fusion’s musical instrument gig bag range go to: www.fusion-bags.com

To find out more about Passport to Export, Export Communication Review, Targeted Export Support Scheme and other UKTI services please call a trade adviser or use the links to the left.