Georgio Clothing’s owners to retire after school uniform availability battle
After providing school uniforms to generations of Townsville students, Georgio Clothing has called it a day, blaming a corporate takeover of the uniform market. Find out more.
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A clothing manufacturer which provided school uniforms to generations of Townsville students has called it a day, with its owners ready to hang them up for the last time after a corporate takeover of the local uniform market.
Georgio Clothing is a family business that was established by husband and wife team Georgia and Richard Pengelly in 1992.
Starting as just a humble effort ran out of a family home thanks to a single sewing machine during a time of sky-high interest rates as a side-gig to keep them going, the business has now grown in leaps and bounds.
Encouraged to buy another machine and find someone from the TAFE to help, Ms Pengelly kept taking on more work before reaching a point where they could no longer work from home – prompting them to purchase a factory in Hamill St, Garbutt.
“Then we outgrew it, and we went to Hugh Ryan Drive and that’s when it seemed to really take off, and we really grew a lot. It was a huge place. We had 20 people working for us by then,” she said.
“We’ve been in this place where we are now (in the Woolcock Centre, at 238-262 Woolcock St) for about seven years.”
The business has primarily manufactured and retailed school and corporate uniforms for the Townsville area, as well as a large range of corporate, healthcare and hospitality uniforms and workwear sourced from other reputable Australian suppliers.
They also offered a comprehensive embroidery service using four state-of-the-art multi-head embroidery machines, and were willing to make alterations and customise uniforms for students outside of conventional sizings.
The couple decided to call it a day in April.
“I’m sorry for the people that we used to help that may not get the same help and service that we offered them, but life goes on, and we’re of an age now where we want to retire,” she said.
“We’ve had people put on our website how upset they are, and how the clothes that we made really last. It’s like an era gone by now … that’s just how life has turned out.
“It’s gonna be difficult not having somewhere to go every day … but it’s like a new chapter in our life, and it is what it is.”
In addition to rising uniform imports, the couple’s retirement decision was linked to Townsville schools reducing their logo availability in favour of corporate competitors who offered larger financial incentives.
In the end, the business had just five schools’ uniforms and staffing numbers dwindled to two employees.
While Georgio Clothing was no longer manufacturing or taking orders, and ceased trading on July 5, their retail shop would continue to trade until July 18.
All stock was discounted to half price and anything not cleared, including sewing equipment currently up for sale on Gumtree, would be auctioned off or sold to Lowes.
For more details visit Georgio Clothing on Facebook.
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Originally published as Georgio Clothing’s owners to retire after school uniform availability battle
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