Sheepskin saddlery company Bartl rebrands to beat the fakers
German sheepskin saddle pad and numnah business Bartl is relaunching itself under a new name — Horse Pad Factory — and has appointed a UK distributor in a battle against fake products.
The family-run company has been increasingly concerned about the number of inferior goods bearing the Bartl trademark being faked by Chinese manufacturers.
Sales manager Hans Jurgen Bartl said: “UK customers were returning items, complaining that they were of poor quality or ill-fitting.
“Further investigations by our quality control team traced these goods and found they were not genuine Bartl products but were in fact copies being made in China.”
Bartl ceased deliveries to the UK in March 2009 because of these concerns.
But now it has taken a major step towards fighting the fakers and re-establishing itself in the UK market.
The company has changed its name to HPF (Horse Pad Factory) and all its products are now being produced under this new name.
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They are being manufactured solely in Germany and are of the superior quality that customers have come to trust.
HPF has also appointed a single distributor for its new-label products in the UK. North Yorkshire-based Adala Ltd has been granted sole license to sell the exclusive range of HPF goods.
Adala Ltd director Amber Barnitt said: “This is a big task as the Chinese copies are easily available, especially online.
“Many other international brand names have had the same battle with imitation products — it’s a global problem. But customers can now get in touch with me directly to place orders from HPF that they know will be genuine.”
HPF is celebrating the relaunch of its company name with the arrival of a new, top-quality sheepskin line.
The new items can be seen at www.horsepadfactory-uk.com.
For further information on genuine Horse Pad Factory (formerly Bartl) products in the UK, contact Adala Ltd on 0800 032 8450 or email sales@hpf-uk.com
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.