"I looked all over the world for a traditional nightshirt - and found yours!" Michigan, USA

"My nightshirts arrived today, and I was delighted with them! They are exactly what I wanted. Thank you so very much, I will have no hesitation in recommending you to my friends." Edinburgh, UK

"Thank you very much for my two nightshirts. I am very pleased with them - they are bliss! Now I know why my husband says yes everytime I ask if he needs a new nightshirt!" Essex, UK

  

"Nightshirts are as rare as hen's teeth in California!" California, USA

"Many thanks for the nightshirt...the fit is good and it washes beautifully, like it's predecessor! No doubt it will be worn until it disintegrates!" Wiltshire, UK

"Thanks very much for the nightshirts which arrived safely - I now look superb in bed!" Aberdeen, UK

"May I say what a pleasure it was to deal with someone so helpful, and with a sense of humour." Somerset, UK


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Selling winter warmers to the frozen north
(The Newcastle Journal, March 2001)

A mother and daughter business team from Northumberland has dreamt up a novel idea - selling nightshirts and pyjamas to the Scandanavians.

Hexham based Hextol was set up in 1987 by Sheila Dobbins, and she is now assisted by her daughter Kathryn Hague. Prompted by a friend, they have just broken into the export market.

"Selling warm night clothes to the Nordic countries did seem like selling coals to Newcastle," said Mrs Hague. At an event organised by Business Link in Northumberland, Mrs Hague was advised by the commercial officer from the British Embassy in Oslo to target the top-end of the market with luxury products.

Business Link and the Government-backed support group Trade Partners UK helped them secure a grant fro brochures and a place on an Export Explorer trip to Iceland. Explorer trips are trade missions organised by Trade Partners UK.

Mrs Hague added: "It would have been much harder to organise on my own and travelling out to Iceland in a big group made such a difference."

Hextol is now exporting to some shops in Iceland and has taken on an agent in Norway to open up market opportunities there. Mrs Hague is now preparing to visit Hamburg in May and is targeting all three markets with ladies' and men's pyjamas.