"I didn’t tell her about it until last year.”
Ben Mercer is the founder of Mercier
Ben Mercer is the founder of Mercier
Whether it be hoverboards, autographs of Manchester United players or selfie sticks, Ben Mercer has sold almost everything he could get his hands on. As a teen, he had a natural inclination to monetise the latest fads of that time.
But when he started his beloved clothing brand, Mercier, he was so set on succeeding that he risked losing his house.
“I had some savings, £8K to 10K, spent all that on the brand and it didn’t sell.” He told the M.E.N. “Then I started getting personal loans because the bank wouldn’t lend me any money as a business.
“I think I got up to £48k worth of debt with the bank, I asked for more money and they said I needed to put some collateral against it, so I put my house on it without telling the missus.
“And then it took off. I didn’t tell her about it until last year.”
Ben inside one of Mercer's first offices
Ben inside one of Mercer's first offices
From Mosley Common, in Tyldesley, Ben, 33, says he has always been into his fashion, but it took him a long time to finally settle into the industry.
A self-described ‘class clown’, education wasn’t much of a factor for him, leaving high school with five GCSEs and dropping out of college within the first year.
“My earliest memory was when I was in year seven and I used to buy super baggy jeans when no one really wore jeans and wore tracksuits,” he said.
“I used to bleach them myself and buy badges and iron them on.
“I kind of always had my own fashion sense and twist on things back then. I kind of forgot about that and went into other things.”
Ben with Real Madrid star, Endrick
Ben with Real Madrid star, Endrick
Thus, began his journey into becoming an entrepreneur. Which saw him dip his toes in several schemes, motivated by the reality of being working class.
“I was always fearful that I’d never have money when I was growing up.” He told the M.E.N.
“I always thought I’d be poor, so I did everything in my power to make sure I had money.
Whatever I saw out there that was ticking over or people were wearing or doing, I thought I need to find the source of that and start selling it.
“It first started by getting autographs outside of football stadiums, selling them on eBay. Waiting outside hotels for singers and selling them on eBay.
“When that wasn’t cool, I moved onto something called shisha pens, and that was before vapes came about. I used to sell them online but didn’t really know how to run a business.
“I went into hover boards, then I did selfie sticks, I was number one on Google, running everything out of my mum’s box room.”
Mercer has become a world renowned clothing brand
Mercer has become a world renowned clothing brand
But it was during one holiday in Cambodia with his now wife when he decided to pursue fashion. During a conversation with his partner he said he was going to start a headwear brand and he was determined to make it a success.
Now, Mercier is now a multimillion pound clothing brand that has been worn by some of the biggest footballers and musicians in the world and is heavily featured in all the major streetwear outlets in the UK and abroad.
Mercier really took off during Covid, after a period of trading seeing modest returns, the international time of staying at home meant that people were looking for clothes to wear indoors and Mercier’s tracksuits proved a big hit.
“Because everyone was at home, everyone was wearing tracksuits.” He explained.
“I brought out a tracksuit once and it took 12 weeks to sell.
“Then people asked for it to back into stock during Covid times. I only ordered around 500, we were only doing about £2k to £3k at this point.
“I dropped it one evening and in two hours we had done something like £72k. That was a real turning point for me, there was tears of relief and stuff like that, I thought ‘we’ve actually done it.”
Ben with Olympics legend, Usain Bolt
Ben with Olympics legend, Usain Bolt
But it hasn’t been plane sailing, he’s had to endure some tough times including thefts, warehouse break-ins and cyber-attacks.
However, he says his toughest period was when the company received cease and desist letters from three major brands who believed there was too much of a resemblance in the Mercier logo and products to their own entities.
“It took over 12 months to resolve, I lost over a million pound and I had to recall over £800k worth of stock from JD.” He said.
“I lost myself a lot, I lost weight, I didn’t sleep at night. It felt like it was going to be taken away just before I started making good money.
“I had the biggest brands in the world trying to shut me down.”
Mercer has become a global brand
Mercer has become a global brand
Ben says that now those troubles are past him, and from a one-man-band, the company is now a lucrative brand with ten staff which is steadily expanding into the American market.
“Sometimes I sit back and think that it doesn’t feel real.” He reflected.
“Other times I just go with the flow, crack on, it’s another day and there’s more fires to put out.
“I had three things that when I started the brand I wanted to do. Get into Foot Asylum, which we did.
“There was, JD UK which was a big goal and I hoped I’d get into. Then my biggest one, that I never thought would happen, was JD USA.
We got in there as well and that was a pinch myself moment that I thought would never happen.
“There’s no easier advice than never ever quit. It sounds so easy and cliché, but honestly, never ever quit.
“The only way to guarantee failure is by quitting, if you never quit, you’re still in with a chance.”