The Williams back story
So often in life, it’s those sliding doors moments that send us on a path we never could have envisioned.
Such was the case for William Karatasos back in 1982 when he fell from the back of the delivery truck he was unloading, suffering a catastrophic shoulder injury that led his GP to conclude his truck-driving days were over.
“They actually said they could give him compensation for the rest of his life, but he said, ‘No, I’m too young for that!’,” says Louis Karatasos, William’s son.
“He started helping my grandmother, who was working from home in Sydney as a seamstress for large retailers. She would sew the garments and he would iron them using his one good hand and deliver them to the retailer for her.”
What started as a way to fill time and earn a bit of pocket money soon morphed into a business idea, and William rented a small garage, bought three irons and slowly built a pressing and finishing business called Williams Pressing and Packaging, which hummed along nicely for 20 years.
“[By the early 2000s] fashion retailers were moving offshore and making clothes in China and India, and the need for warehousing became bigger,” Louis explains.
“Dad was ready to retire and I was working in finance and accounting and told him I wanted to join the family business and turn it into a warehousing and logistics company for fashion retailers. He had the trustworthy reputation in the industry and I had the warehousing experience – I said, ‘Give me one year to see if I can work this out’.”
Growing our areas of expertise
Twenty years later, and Louis, along with his sister Mary, is still at the helm of Williams, which now employs more than 100 people. While their passion for fashion is still well and truly alive, the business has also grown to work in other industries, including beauty, cosmetics and jewellery. Together, they are on a mission to take the hassle out of warehousing and logistics for retailers so they can purely concentrate on sales.
“Working with us, they’ve got a trusted partner that can provide the speed, delivery choices and accuracy to ensure customers get what they ordered.”
Now Williams operates out of an 18,000-square-metre warehouse that can deliver about 10 million units a year for everyone from MJ Bale to Faithful The Brand, Johnny Bigg and Loungeface. In the past, we’ve worked with key Australian brands, such as Showpo, to help them achieve substantial growth.
“Similarly, MJ Bale came to us when they had seven stores and no online offering. Now they’ve got 83 stores and a good online business.”
A system for success
Louis puts Williams’ success down to three factors – treating employees well, being experts in logistics, and constantly adapting with the latest IT and robotics to enhance capacity.
“When you’ve got over 100 staff and a good system to push out volume, you can help businesses reduce their staff costs from, say, 20 people down to six,” Louis explains.
“Whenever we bring a retailer on, they usually grow because we give their management time to focus on growing their business and making sales, versus trying to run a warehouse and dealing with all the issues after you’ve made a sale.”
