Alami international is a substantial family-run business based in east london,generally involved in importing goods from all around the world-inparticular from India,China and other Far Eastern countries,Europe & South America. The company has 3 divisions, baby and nursery supplies,house hold textiles, handbags and luggage. From its premises Alami offers both show room facilities and stock availability to the nursery trade. The site has over 65,000 sqft of warehousing and office space which allows Alami to hold sufficient stock that it runs a virtually never out of stock service.

Established nearly 30 years ago,Alami international has a footing in the supply of a basic nursey items to the trade at a very competitive prices,Raymond Binke national accounts manager explained " we act mainly as importers and distributors although there is now an increasing degree of selling to groups and independents. We have our own brand of nursery products Junior Joy of which we are trying to make the public more aware. Currentky we are looking for niche markets to expand into, while also raising the awareness of Junior Joy name".

To this end , the entire range of Junior Joy products is being repackaged in a new, clean and crisp design, with a clear message on packaging as to what is in the packet. " A great deal of our product is predominantly white, so the vibrancy of the packaging is very important " MR. Binke continued " we are developing new better product ranges all the time, we try to bring in added value to our products , increasing the quality , and it is no different with the packaging. Every three to four years, we feel is the right time for complete reassessment of the packaging."

The product range offered by Alami covers all the basic clothing and bedding necessities for small babies and

toddlers including sheets , blankets , face cloths, towels & bath robes, shawls, bibs, vests & body suits, booties and socks, hats, gloves and mitts and reusable cotton terry & muslin nappies, including pre-folded nappies.Mr Binke said : "There is growing market for reusable nappies with many councils offering incentives to new mothers to adopt using cotton nappies as part of their war on waste campaigns. for example kent county council offers mothers a discount of 30 pounds when buying real nappies instead of disposable nappies. It has been shownn that 4% of the volume of domestic waste is made up of disposable nappies and it is estimated they take 500 years to decompose." Alami has been sending out samples of its prefold nappies to nurseries, NHS hospitls and laundries that run a nappy wash service, challenging these organizations to trial the nappies and to wash them repeatedly. " we have found this to be a very successful excercise and we have had a universally positive response.

In addition to these care 100 percent cotton products, Alami has a number of micro fleece garments and blankets. Mr Binke said : " We use micro fleece , which is a finer and softer than the more traditional polar fleece and the quality of the garment is not only evident in the shop but also after being washed." The range includes great vibrant colours as well as softer pastel colours to appeal to all tastes.

One of the Company's unique and very popular products is it's spanish blanket wrap, which converts from a soft and comforting blanket into a cuddly and warm wrap just by popping up few poppers. This dual-purpose blanket has the advantange of not attracting VAT, and retails for just 15 pounds. representing extremely good value, while still returning excellent margins for retailers.

In conclusion Mr Binke said : " In order to keep our prices this competive. we don't have reps calling on our customers. But we can supply a price list and catalogue, and welcome buyers to our dedicated showrooms. Most of our product is sold in bulk , which allows us to keep quality high and prices low.

"In this category after product quality, one of the most important things is stock holding. Alami offers next day delivery and has an 'everything all the time in stocK'Policy which we feel makes us a little bit special and different. We are confident that Junior Joy brand is going to be one of the bigger brands for the baby & nursery industry in the years to come".