Steel cap shoes, safety glasses or safety trousers often spring to mind on the topic of safety clothing, however reflective clothes and accessories are equally important. Refloactive is one of the leading players in this segment. eppi magazine learnt what distinguishes the Polish company from its competitors, what the highlights of their line-up are and why the prospects for the future are so radiant, in an interview with the company’s CEO, Aneta Niciak.
Some people are familiar with them from their school days, others from road traffic reflectors. But Aneta Niciak, CEO of the Polish company, Refloactive, places great value on the fact that not all reflectors are the same. “The whole point behind so-called personal protection equipment is safety. Here it is of immense importance that high standards are observed and certified products are offered. Especially when that comes down to items that are to be implemented for promotional purposes and which quite literally aim to generate positive, dazzling effects for the promoting companies,” the CEO explained. The majority of the products that Refloactive sells are thus manufactured in Poland. Only the small plush key pendants that are made from reflective materials, are imported. All other items such as magnetic clips, bags and loop straps on the other hand are made under high quality standards in Bydgoszcz, approx. 130 km north east of Poznan. Here, more or less in the centre of Poland, is where Refloactive has its headquarters comprising of welding tables, a printing shop and even its own designers and photographer. Around 50 employees cater for the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and other road users.
On a mission through Europe
“Scandinavia is our most important market,” explained Niciak. “Because it gets dark very early there in the autumn and winter, everybody owns reflective products, both children and adults and they use them too. Children are taught at an early age to appreciate the importance of reflectors.” Shopping bags made from reflective material are particularly popular in Northern Europe, but also bag pendants are purchased frequently. “Our Scandinavian customers know what they can expect from our products,” Niciak stressed. There is also a great demand in these markets for different certificates that distinguish Refloactive products from cheap imports from the Far East.
The biggest difference between certified and non-certified reflectors lies in how far they are reflected by the headlights. Whereas for instance non-certified reflectors often don’t reflect the light of a lorry until a distance of approx. 30 m, the certified reflectors of the Polish company already reflect light from a distance of 300 m. Refloactive only sells certified products that comply with these norms.
Furthermore, a new European standard was introduced last year, which increases the quality of the foil used and prescribes a minimum reflective surface. These specifications were immediately applied at Refloactive and correspondingly they already offer the appropriate foils. “We can draw up declarations of conformity for personal safety equipment and other reflective items from our company so that every buyer knows that our products comply with the European regulations,” the founder confirmed. Because the individual raw materials are welded together and processed in Poland it is safeguarded that they contain no toxic substances, which is particularly important in the case of products for children. All of the available products also pass the chemical tests that the items are subjected to.
Important message at the Rema Days in 2022: The products are manufactured in Poland.
The reflective textile stickers are punched into
special customer-specific shapes.
What has already been achieved in Scandinavia, is now to also happen in Germany, France and Switzerland. “The German market is particularly interesting for us, because the Germans are very safety-conscious and often travel on foot or by bike, is how the company owner explained her motives. The company also intends to exhibit at the relevant trade shows more frequently than in the past, because reflective products require a lot of explanation.
About printing errors and foils
Niciak and her team know from their own experiences that their items are not self-explanatory. “When we started off we had a very small stand at a show in France and merely displayed the products. Hardly anyone understood the purpose of the products and the quality of the customisation wasn’t perceived either,” Niciak recalled. A lot of progress has been made since. In the meantime, the company implements child-size and adult-size dummies at shows and cases and handbags are displayed at the stands of Refloactive so that the perspective customers can see at a glance how the individual products can be implemented.
But not only the approach of the Polish company has changed at trade fairs. Three different catalogues are currently also presented on the website. In addition to a classic product catalogue, a further catalogue demonstrates which special shapes are possible. The third catalogue concentrates on the materials that are used and explains which options the different foils offer. Later the user can choose the solution that suits him best in the configurator.
The reflective polyester fabric TXR is used for reflective textile buttons or for safety vests.
Oralite foil that is made in Germany also comes in yellow and white.
A further important point that requires indepth explanation are the foils that are used for the reflex products. Different materials are suitable depending on the respective product, these are also outlined in detail in the current catalogue. Refloactive currently works with four different types of foils, two of which, namely the reflective AGR Max and the RGR reflex foil, originate from South Korea. The manufacturer of these foils, the company Reflomax, among others manufactures foils for road signs in the USA and Japan, which meant that it soon became clear to Niciak and her team that the quality of the foils was spot on. An impression that was confirmed after several visits to the company and various tests. Refloactive has had an exclusive franchise with the manufacturer for the past six years. The assortment of foils is enhanced by the 3M foil manufactured in the USA and Oralite foil that is made in Germany. “We still have a lot of customers in Germany that favour the 3M foil. We are still using this foil at the moment, but due to the new standards we will be discontinuing it over the course of the next two years, because it doesn’t comply with these norms,” explained Niciak. “But since we have enough other foils, the customers now have the opportunity to gradually opt for a different one.”
Broad alignment
Extremely popular: Gift sets containing different reflectors.
The promotional products market was a segment that was interesting for Refloactive from the very start. The company’s customer base includes several large retail brands, however the promotional products industry remains to be an important market. “We work together with a lot of distributors and agencies and observe that the end customers come from totally different industries,” Niciak stated. “In addition to public authorities like the police, these also include ecological associations, security firms or hiking and cycling clubs.” It is important for Refloactive that the design of the products is also attractive, especially in the case of sports clubs. After all, people who spend a lot of money on a bike, don’t want to fit it with a cheap looking reflector, for instance. High-quality products that look good go down much better here.
There is a large selection of products at Refloactive. The different products are divided up into 17 categories on the website. Reflective items of all sizes can be found on the homepage, from small key pendants through to jackets or bags. Alongside classics like vests and everyday products such as jackets and shopping bags, which are of course all customisable, there are many different pendants and clips for jackets, bags, cases, etc. All of these products are available in a range of different shapes, which are also listed in an own catalogue. But on request, the employed graphic designers also produce bespoke shapes. To this end, the enquiring companies simply have to send in their logo and possible ideas. The graphic team then compiles possible options and sends them free samples. The already existing shapes can of course also be ordered as samples so that the customer can convince himself of the quality of the products. “This is very popular especially in the promotional products industry, because although the customers tend to order fewer products in the meantime, they do opt for more highquality ones,” the expert explained.
Radiant future
Refloactive is also taking into account the fact that the customers have not only become increasingly more safety-conscious, but also more environmentally aware over the past years. For example the TPU foil, which small pouches are made out of, was redeveloped for the presentation of the promotional products. This foil is sustainable and thus fulfils the requirements of the customers. “Sustainability is becoming more and more important. With regards to the packaging we have also reacted to the customers’ wishes, since they increasingly ask for sustainable packaging options,” is how Niciak explained the company’s decision to stop using conventional poly bags.
A further important argument regarding sustainability is the short transport routes thanks to the European production. It became evident above all during the recent pandemic years, how advantageous manufacturing in Europe is, because whereas no products at all were delivered from the Far East, Refloactive was able to continue producing and supplying. “The customers now spend more time thinking about how to invest in promotional products. Reliability and also customer service are currently particularly important, because if these factors are up to satisfaction the customers place follow-up orders,” commented Niciak.
Aneta Niciak (m) and her team.
Whereas the pandemic brought everything to a standstill at many companies, Refloactive actually benefitted from the delivery suspensions from the Far East. Warehouse stocks of vests and similar products allowed the company to deliver fast. Since the majority of the products for the remaining reflectors are delivered from Spain and Italy there were no shortages in the raw materials either so the supply chain remained stable. “We are very pleased that we opted for this European approach,” the CEO stated.
She also has many plans for the future. First of all, the website is to be translated into German to address even more customers. The configurator will be made more accessible and placing orders will be made even easier for the customers. So that the website reflects the high quality of the offer, the company director has also employed her own photographer. Because taking photos of reflective items is an art in itself. “In the light the products all look the same, one only notices how good they are night,” she explained. The product photos of the items offered are often of poor quality and the reflective area glares out. “That wasn’t what we wanted of course. Our products are supposed to convince on the Internet, so we now have our own photographer. In this way, as with the dummies at trade shows, we directly demonstrate what purposes our products can be implemented for,” is how she justified her decision.
Further new products are planned too. Recently the reflective textile sticker won a Promotional Gift Award in the category Communicative Products. “We were very proud of that. The award is a fantastic channel for presenting a product to a large audience. We have also planned new, exciting products for the future as well,” Niciak added. One will be able to see which reflective novelties the Refloactive team have come up with at more and more at shows, because one can safely say there is still plenty to do on this front!
// Sophia Arnold
Photos: Refloactive
