Press Release

N.E. wear launch hampered by supply shortages.

So far it has been available to a few film stars, but from Saturday, N.E. wear leisure clothing goes on sale in large department stores across the nation. If pre-launch orders are any guide, the first items will not be on the shelves very long before they are snapped up by eager buyers.

The amount of clothing being offered for sale looks like falling well short of demand because N.E. wear can't get enough fabric. Sales manager Steve Jones explained that Hapman,'s parent company, which has been supplying family clothing for 73 years, needed new suppliers for N.E. wear fabrics.

"The fabrics for N.E. wear come from east Asian companies, and we are struggling to find enough companies that meet our standards in terms of quality, price and ethical management" he said. "We have turned down offers from companies with one or two of these qualities, but N.E. wear as a brand is not going to compromise, even if it means that we make less clothing than we could do otherwise."

Mr Jones admitted that N.E. wear had not been able to supply all retailers with the quantity of goods that they had requested, but denied that they were favouring any particular retailers at the expense of others. He also admitted that N.E. wear were considering setting up some outlets exclusively for the brand, but said these plans were still on the drawing board.

When asked whether N.E. wear was positioning itself as fashion or as leisure clothing, Mr Jones was in no doubt. "N.E. wear is leisure clothing which happens to be fashionable. But first and foremost, N.E. wear is clothing you can take to the great outdoors and be confident it won't let you down. We would not compromise that just to follow a trend."

If you have any queries, or would like to know more about the information contained in this release, please contact Sandra Sean
33 Stilwell Av. 102 3GW Tel 01223 783412 Fax 01223 78400 www.xverityx.com e-mail sandra.sean@xverityx.com