Black Belt Embroidery, which specialises in supplying the martial arts community, has moved into its first business unit to keep up with global demand.
Owners Anja and Tim Hill have been running their company from home but, after winning new orders, they have moved into a unit at Space Business Centre Gloucester.
The company supplies belts to students, instructors and martial art clubs across the world, including options to customise existing belts, buy pre-designed belts or create their own.
Anja Hill, a martial art tutor originally from Germany and now living in Gloucestershire, spotted a lack of options in the UK to customise the belts that are used to represent a student’s ability level so she started her own business in the two-room top floor of the couple’s home in 2010. Her husband Tim, who she met through the martial arts community, joining the company in 2019.
After an increase in domestic and international orders from countries including Sweden, Australia and the United States, the couple wanted to expand their premises and buy new machinery to meet demand.
Anja said: “We both work as instructors in the martial arts and started the business over a decade ago because we are really passionate about working in the sport we love and proud to have expanded our client base and improved product range.
“Following a house downsize, we struggled with storage for the business and decided to look at renting alternate premises and really liked the look of Space Gloucester, with its easily commutable location and flexible contracts.
“The Space team were great as we worked through our application and we couldn’t be happier with the move, with the mezzanine level of our unit being the perfect layout for creating separation between the office space upstairs and the embroidery machines downstairs.”
Space Business Centres Gloucester and Cheltenham are owned by property development company AC Lloyd and offer flexible, multi-use units ranging from 275 to 775 square feet.
Lucy Iles, site manager at AC Lloyd Space Business in Gloucester, said: “It is wonderful to welcome Black Belt Embroidery, a unique growing business, as part of the community at Space Gloucester and I look forward to hearing about their future success.”
Pictured: Examples of Black Belt Embroidery’s work
