Loan to help 'morphsuit' maker meet demand
Costume maker AFG Media has secured funding that will allow it to meet a global rise in demand for its "morphsuits".
The Edinburgh-based firm said a £600,000 loan from Barclays Corporate would help it boost production of the polyester and Lycra costumes.
Last year AFG secured a major deal with a leading party wear retailer in the US.
The firm was launched in 2009 by three young Scottish entrepreneurs.
Fraser Smeaton, Gregor Lawson and Ali Smeaton have since attracted 850,000 fans of the stretchy costumes on Facebook.
AFG finance director Ali Smeaton said: "The company has grown incredibly rapidly, but has been entirely self-funding to date.
"This short-term facility has given us the ability to rapidly increase production in order to meet growing general demand across all of our markets, but has also allowed us to fulfill our largest trade order from a major US retailer."
The trio gave up marketing and banking jobs in blue chip companies to develop the morphsuit.
They had 250 printed on polyester and Lycra to test the response at a rugby event, and quickly found the products selling out.
Last year, they landed an initial order of 100,000 morphsuits from Party City, a 2,000-outlet American retail chain.
The three company directors expect revenue to soar to more than £10m by the end of this financial year.