A once small time Amersham roller skate manufacturer has wheeled its way to success by growing its export sales from 5%-50%.

Stateside Skates LTD was set up in 1981 to plug a gap in the market for roller skates and since then the company has gained international success after seeking help from the Intellectual Property Office and UK Trade & Investment.

The company now has 18 UK registered trademarks and has protected these with European registrations and further world wide applications are now in the pipeline.

After UK success the business entered the Spanish market which was followed up across Europe then further expanding to South Korea, Canada and Russia.

And operations manager, Alistair Crichton said the secret to success was the help provided by UK Trade & Investment.

He said: “The Company has always traded internationally. We realised in 2010 that the internet was breaking down geographical barriers so we then made the strategic decision to really attack the European market.

“UKTI have been a great support throughout our international sales growth. They have provided training, advice on languages and great contacts.”

One of the many UKTI schemes Stateside Skates has taken advantage of is Passport to Export which provides training and support for SMEs with little exporting experience.

Mr Crichton said: “They gave us an insight into how we should approach markets outside the UK. Before we became involved with UKTI our export sale accounted for around 5% of our total sales. Now that figure is around 50%."

The business has also undertaken an Export Communications Review which helps businesses overcome the language or cultural barriers they face in foreign markets taking in to accounts all aspects of a business.

With the business growing quickly Mr Crichton says the company plans to continue to design its products and make them more desirable to the European market and expand the brands across the world and sell in to Asia, Australia and North America.