RETAIL giant Lakeland Limited is stepping up its search for innovative household gadgets that have proved the backbone of its success.
The Windermere company says its most popular products tend to be unique to the business and are sourced from around the world.
These products - sold as Lakeland Exclusives - are credited with helping the company to enjoy a bumper year in 2006, as previously reported in The Westmorland Gazette.
In a bid to track down the very latest product ideas and inventions, the company has launched a new initiative of its own, dubbed The Next Big Thing.
Buyers took to the road by attending the Spring Gift Trade Fair at Birmingham's NEC, which attracts thousands of exhibitors and trade visitors.
But instead of looking at countless stands around the vast exhibition centre, Lakeland invited businesses and inventors to come to them for meet-the-buyer style talks - a first for the trade fair.
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