EMMA & Tric: Growing together through ambition and commitment

Belgian workwear company Tric. Saartje Vandewiele is the fourth generation to helm the company. Her vision? To grow big by staying small and preserving the company's roots. We spoke to Saartje about Tric's significant growth under her leadership and its partnership with EMMA Safety Footwear. "Presenting ourselves together, as a manufacturer and distributor, shows the market that we know and trust each other."

When we ask Saartje to introduce Tric, she says, "We're a small company with just 16 employees. We have two physical stores that mainly sell to SMEs, but we also supply work and safety clothing to other organisations like local authorities, healthcare institutions and retail chains. We offer a wide range of clothing and footwear for various sectors, such as hospitality, construction, industry and healthcare. We offer advice on our extensive selection of standard collections, but we also offer bespoke solutions where needed, for example, if someone needs orthopaedic shoes or custom-made clothing. This allows us to provide a company's entire staff with the right clothing. "

Family culture and direct communication

In 2012, Saartje took her first serious steps into the family business, which was then run by her parents. "My parents were very busy, so I helped them out for a few weeks. Although it had never been my ambition to work for Tric – I studied tourism – I ended up sticking around. In 2017, I took over the reins completely."

Tric has always been a family-run company, and Saartje wants to preserve those roots. They can be felt in the company's DNA and in her approach. "My husband and I handle almost all of the external sales ourselves. Companies really like having a regular contact person and being able to order all their clothing and footwear from one source. We can guarantee personal contact and flexibility, which is not always the case with bigger companies. Clients appreciate that we prefer to focus on building long-term relationships – we're not about quick targets or sales figures. But that's only possible if our suppliers share our vision. That's why close collaboration is so important to us."

Growing Together
One of those suppliers is EMMA Safety Footwear. "The cooperation with EMMA started before my time," Saartje tells us. "But since I took over at Tric, our cooperation has intensified, and sales have more than doubled. What do I value in a supplier?  Transparent and open communication! Our relationship with Gene, our Sales Manager at EMMA, is excellent. We hold each other to account when we need to, and we can always find the right solution together. We consult each other often and offer joint advice to customers. We often also do other things together, such as putting in bids for big contracts or making joint visits. Presenting ourselves together, as a manufacturer and distributor, shows the market that we know and trust each other. But as well as that, we want to grow together, and that only works if you have commitment from both parties. We are both investing in this partnership, and it's paying off." 
 

"Presenting ourselves together, as a manufacturer and distributor, shows the market that we know and trust each other."
 

Working sustainably
Sustainability is another area where Tric and EMMA Safety Footwear are in alignment. "EMMA is leading the way in this," Saartje tells us. "It's important to me personally, but it's also important to our customers. Sustainable procurement is often a requirement, especially with local authorities and large government organisations. The fact that every EMMA shoe has a materials passport is a real selling point for customers. As is the fact that EMMA is committed to recycling safety footwear. At Tric, we're also making strides in sustainability. We collect all our wastewater, use LED lighting, and we have collection boxes for unwanted clothing and shoes in our stores. We also offer the collection boxes to our customers, which allows end users to deposit their old clothes and shoes, which we then recycle for free. Perhaps the impact made by our efforts alone isn't huge, but if all companies did little things like that, it would make a big difference!"
 

Investing in people
Saartje tells us that everything else at EMMA is a good fit for Tric, too. "We're happy with the competitive prices, the excellent quality, the wide range, and the fast delivery time. And the fact that EMMA shoes are made by people who would otherwise struggle to join the labour market is a big plus for us. I think in a similar way; I want to give everyone a chance. I don't care if my employees have qualifications or not. If they're motivated and have a good character, I want to bring them on board. Our training is done in-house by me. I continue to invest in people once they've been taken on, for example, by holding regular one-to-one meetings with them or offering training. Partly because of this, I now have 1great people around me who feel at home in our team and can champion what Tric stands for. I'm very grateful for that."
 

"We're happy with the competitive prices, the excellent quality, the wide range, and the fast delivery time."
 

Twelve metres of EMMA
The partnership with EMMA on project sales is going so well that Saartje recently proposed expanding their collaboration to include retail sales to SMEs. "EMMA is our main brand for safety footwear, and I wanted that to be reflected in our stores. Until recently, EMMA safety shoes were displayed on the warehouse shelves alongside other shoe brands and weren't getting the attention they deserved. Together with Gene and EMMA's marketing department, we developed a shop-in-shop concept with beautifully designed display shelving in the recognisable EMMA style. Our Kuurne store now has an 'EMMA wall' spanning an impressive twelve metres, where we can showcase the shoes properly. And we noticed an immediate difference; people now reach for EMMA shoes right away!" 

"EMMA is our main brand for safety footwear. I want that to be reflected in our stores."

Future plans
There are also big plans for the Wondelgem store. "We're building new premises there at a more accessible location and hope to move into them in the summer of 2024. We want to create a shop-in-shop there too, so we're once again collaborating with EMMA for the design. This one will be even bigger and more beautiful than the one in Kuurne." When we ask Saartje about her other plans for the future, she beams. "I'm always thinking about the future. I have so many ideas! My ambition is to grow Tric steadily. I can see plenty more opportunities in both project and retail sales. There are no concrete plans yet, but I secretly look for premises from time to time. This is how I'll continue to develop Tric, just as previous generations of my family have done. I'm excited to see what the next 75 years will bring for our family and Tric!"