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Get to know me

Hello readers! My name is Evie and I am a new starter at The Hatchbag Company. I have recently graduated with a degree in English Literature and have always had a passion for writing. Throughout my degree, I found a love for creative writing and story-telling. I am excited to use this blog as a space to keep Hatchbag customers updated on what goes on behind the scenes at our warehouse in Birkenhead. I am thrilled to take this next step and take on the role as Digital Marketing Co-ordinator!

I am excited to be working on the Hatchbag blog and would love for to this become a space for informative and fun content. In this blog post, I will be taking you through my first week at The Hatchbag Company. I was taken across three main sections of the business, and was able to watch first hand the whole process of creating UK boot liners that are tailor-made to your car.

My time in design (creating the Hatchbag boot liner)

My time with the design team, Sarah and Gabriel, was both educational and fascinating. We covered the fitting of the boot liner and how vision becomes reality. Design starts with a more logistical process, looking at customer demand for boot liners and researching if these car models would work at Hatchbag. The Hatchbag Company uses software to give the designing process structure. This helps the team in creating the best boot protector for your car.

Starting off with looking at customer trends, your comments on social media such as Facebook and Instagram asking for car models, gives  a great starting point for research. At Hatchbag, we want to create boot liners that you want! The Hatchbag Company does extensive research on the car models, so your boot liner that you receive is perfect. This reinforces why our boot liners perfectly fit every curve and contour of your boot. These intricacies are all resolved in the designing process. To understand the dimensions of your own boot to place an order, websites such as auto trader and net car show images of the specific car boots.

Once our detailed research is complete, the desired car goes on our landing page and published on this blog! The new car additions are always under the ‘We Want Your Car!’ section. This is available to the public for enquiries to be made on whether they want to have their car scanned in order to receive a free boot liner.

A scan plan is then made when the research of the car is complete, and the customer comes in with their car. The scan is completed with a 3D scanning camera, which allows for the design construction. The prototype is then officially completed!

In terms of a customer coming in for the free boot liner in exchange for their car being the tester, the design team then will fit the liner. We have a description on our website on how to fit the Hatchbag boot liner, so customers who purchase can also fit their boot liner seamlessly. If there are any errors with the boot liner, the liner has to go back to design where amendments can be made. This is then able to be signed off and becomes a completed car, ready on the website for a customer to purchase the tailor-made boot liner. Our social media pages will always keep you up to date on this!

My time in operations (watching the Hatchbag boot liner come together)

I joined Natalie to take a tour of the warehouse and better understand the manufacturing of the Hatchbag boot liner. We see this product on Hatchbag’s website as a completed, sellable version, but looking behind the scenes, the manufacturing of the boot liner exemplifies its intricacies and well thought out design choices. Natalie initially guided me through the ordering process, going through the website and exploring how the boot liners are customisable and tailor made to each vehicle. She explained the purpose of elements crafted specifically for the Hatchbag boot liner, such as the split, and highlighted the importance of the customer thoroughly reading the product guide to ensure the correct boot liner is made. At Hatchbag, all our boot liners are made to order in the UK, showing how important it is to follow the product guide.

When analysing social media comments and responses, I have noticed that the main questions were based around the logistics of the Hatchbag boot liner. This included asking for measurements and questioning whether the vehicle would need extra additions to meet the consumer needs.  

I was then ready to observe the delicate crafting of the boot liners. I witnessed the precision and talent of the machinists and understood how their role transformed a design into sellable and desirable product. We first visited the cutters and welders of the PVC, the material used to make the boot liner. They created the intricate shapes that allow for the boot liners to be personal to each car. Large machines were operated in order to trace and cut the precise angles of the PVC, ensuring accurate measurements to perfectly fit the chosen vehicle.

We then saw the boot liners come to life in the sewing room. The liner initially starts as a jigsaw puzzle, with the highly skilled machinists using sewing machines to carefully attach the right pieces of Velcro to the right piece of PVC. This is then transferred to more machinsits in the Hatchbag team, where the pieces of PVC are then constructed into the shape of the Hatchbag boot liner. This is where design really becomes a visual reality. Even without being fitted in a car, you can see how all the specific design choices will complement the vehicle and protect from dirt, wear and tear and spillages.

The Hatchbag boot liner is then ready to be shipped! The order is packaged in a water resistant bag and is delivered to the customer in roughly 3-5 business days. Inside of the shipping bag, the customer will find the boot liner in addition to an information pack. The pack includes a manual that takes the customer step by step on the process of fitting the boot liner and any additional extras.

In terms of the behind the scenes of checking an order off, Hatchbag uses a specific software, where the necessary details are filled in and then the order can be marked as complete.

I was also able to shadow Gabriel and Sarah, who are our design team, and watch and assist the fitting of a boot liner. Hatchbag offers a system where if your car is classed as an unavailable model, you can bring it in to be scanned and then the liner can be fitted and you can take it home for free. All Hatchbag asks for is to borrow your car for the scanning and fitting. This example happened in my first week, where a car was brought in and the fitting took place to ensure all measurements and logistics were correct. The process of fitting the boot liner started with using a product called Autoglym, which acts as a cleanser to remove silicone build up. This helps with the Velcro tabs adhering to the sections of the boot where the liner is placed. It was fascinating watching how the meticulous cutting, welding and sewing all translated to the boot liner fitting perfectly in the car. The intricacies of designing the boot liner also made a vision come to life.

My time in customer service (helping the customers with the Hatchbag boot liner)

In my initial week at Hatchbag, I learnt all about customer service with Janine. One of the main things I took from learning about customer service was the accuracy and detail in which you phrase your responses. Many of the customer service queries were based on the functionality of the boot liner. This meant that responding to customers in a way that is easy to understand, but still hit the marks of successfully answering all of the questions, is vital.

What I really noticed this week, was that there is lots of interactivity between customer service, design and marketing at The Hatchbag Company. When customer service receives a high number of requests for a boot liner to be made for a specific model of car, design is then able to scan and create the boot liner. Marketing then has the ability to promote this addition to Hatchbag’s boot liner collection.

Customer service also involves being personable to customers and understanding about their queries. This is done through many websites that Hatchbag use, focussing on customer interaction to resolve any issues but also maintain customer relationships for repeat purchases and recommendations. At Hatchbag, we manage our customer reviews and love to reply to positive comments and resolve any issues that a customer has. Hatchbag always replies to reviews that are 3 stars or below, asking the customer about anything that could make the product better for them.

I have noticed that the care for customer opinion is at the heart of The Hatchbag Company, therefore using websites that join all reviews together allows Janine in customer service to quickly and easily reply. There are other websites that Hatchbag uses to look at customer feedback however, instead of reviews and rating, we use a website that compiles all of the comments, tagged photos and direct messages from all of the Hatchbag social media and places it in one inbox. This is fantastic tool to use as it keeps up the interactivity with customers by liking posts and comments, yet also allows for questions to be answered in the direct messages.

The phone is the easiest and quickest way to communicate with customers. However, the digital age and the rise in social media presence makes for more traction and attention on the Hatchbag social media pages, making it necessary to communicate and post to keep up customer engagement.

Blog posts, just like this, are another way that Hatchbag likes to be interactive with customers. Things such as recurring questions and upcoming sales can be answered in this form, giving the upmost clarity to the customer.

My Future at The Hatchbag Company

My first week at Hatchbag has been fast-paced, exciting and educational. Every day, I am  familiarising myself with our products and the support from the Hatchbag team has made me feel so welcome. I am thrilled to be working on this blog and will also be able to interact on our Facebook and Instagram pages. I can’t wait to share more about our boot liners and what we get up to at The Hatchbag company.

We have a list of unavailable models for which we are looking to create bootliners and offer the Hatchbag boot liner for FREE*!

*To create a new boot liner, we simply require access to the vehicle it will be fitted in.

This will require two visits to our factory, roughly 3-4 weeks apart, lasting around 2 hours each visit! So that we can scan the boot,design and then fit a tailor made liner to suit the specific shape of your boot. 

As a thank you for your time, we will provide you with a Hatchbag boot liner FREE of charge with your choice of options** 

**Any mats will be charged. All other options are free. Factory Address is: Unit 1, Turbine Road, Birkenhead, Wirral, CH41 9HP

If you have any of the cars listed below and live in the North West, click on car link !

If you are interested, please contact us via email [email protected] and we will give you all the information you need.

The journey of a Hatchbag boot liner.

Today we want to show you what happens between clicking “Place Order” and the parcel arriving on your doorstep.

Here at the Hatchbag Company, everything is made in-house. So from the moment an order arrives in our online shop our team takes over.

As our boot liners are tailored to fit your car model exactly, we sometimes will ask you very specific questions during the ordering process on our website. We check that your order has all the information we need, and we will contact you in case there are any unanswered questions. Our Customer Service team will help you if you need any more help with the configuration or are unsure about the specifics of your car model.

Once we have all the information we need, production begins. Your selected colour material will be cut by a state-of-the-art cutting machine and then hand-marked by the cutter. This is a unique identifier for your personal order.

How many pieces make up a bootliner?

It differs from car to car, model to model. But here is an example of what a bootliner looks like when the cutter is done with it.

It is then handed to our high-frequency welders, who weld the first batch of hook and loop fastener strips onto your boot liner.

Yes, you can weld fabric, too!

Once the smaller hook and loop fastener tabs are safely welded onto the PVC, the individual loose parts of the cut-out material move into our sewing room. Our team of highly skilled sewing machinists will then sew all the prep work like darts and long strips of hook and loop fasteners into the boot liner. Darts make sure the boot liner will fit into all the recesses in your car and will hug the edges tightly. The long strips of hook and loop fastener are your attachment points for extras like Bootliner Extension or Bumper Flap. No robots involved!

Once the prep work is complete, straps for the headrests and our logo are inserted.

From here the boot liner moves on to the next team.

All the various pieces that make up the boot liner are assembled into the main product, your boot liner is finally talking its final form. Every piece is sewn into place and all is secured with a black border around all of the outside. This is called TAPING and gives the edges of the liner and all our extras like bumper flaps and tailgate cover a nice, clean finish.

Your liner is finished, so now it gets teamed up with the correct tabs and strips of hook and loop fasteners so you can attach your boot liner securely to your car.

Every car is individual, so our logistics team will personalise your fitting kit before your order gets packed for shipping. Some cars need more fasteners than others, some don’t need any at all, so we take care in putting together the correct tabs and strips for your fitting requirements.

All that’s left to do now is ship your order out. Our courier collects daily and has a Next Day mandate within the UK, so your order is normally with you the day after it has left our sewing room.

If you are in Europe and USA, we aim to deliver your order within 6 to 8 days after it was placed.

We hope you enjoyed this little look behind the scenes and discovered something interesting in the making of a tailored car boot liner.

The Hatchbag Team

On Sunday, 27^th March the UK and Ireland will celebrate Mothering Sunday and we at The Hatchbag Company want to say a big THANK YOU to mothers all around the country!

This year, why not give your mother something that will not wilt or melt, but last a long time? Combine this with the most valuable present of all – spending time together – and you have a truly memorable Mother’s Day gift.

Here are some ideas that are suitable for every budget, but priceless every time:

Make it a fancy, luxury weekend breakaway in a SPA hotel, get a mud bath together and have a giggle reciting quotes form The Mummy during your hydrating full-body wrap.

Take a drive up to the nearest stately home and have a decadent afternoon tea, complete with that glass of bubbly and wishing you both could take the butler home to do all the washing up for you.

Or just have a long, good catchup and set the world to rights again during a leisurely stroll through a public park or gardens, or visit that local farm where you can pick your own flowers (and veg!)

Whether your Mum is outdoorsy, likes to garden or has a dog or two, a perfect gift idea could be a boot liner to protect her car boot from all the mud and dirt that comes with rainy walks, four legged friends and plant soil. The Hatchbag tailor-made car boot protector won’t let any dirt or water get into her car’s interior, it is waterproof and easy to clean (unless you want the car to join in the mud bath at the SPA weekend)

Check out our options on our website The Hatchbag Company

We would love to see whatever you decide to do, send us your memories on Twitter @HatchbagCompany, on Instagram @TheHatchbagCompany and on Facebook The Hatchbag Company.

Thank you, Mums everywhere, you are all superheroes!

If you’re not sure which colour to choose for your new Hatchbag boot liner, this guide will help you decide. The pictures below will not only show you what our boot liners look like when they have been fitted, but also how the colour could suit your vehicle and personal preferences.

Due to the large volume of vehicles we provide for, the pictures shown are only generic ones. This means the pictures will not match your vehicle exactly but should give you a good indicator on how the boot liner could look in your vehicle.

Most popular colours: Black & Grey

Unsurprisingly, most of our customers tend to choose black or grey for their liner. Black is what you would expect it to be, often complementing the existing darker colours of the boot. The grey can best be described as a battleship grey. An added advantage of the grey is that it shows the least marks over time.

Most vibrant colours: Red, Orange & Pink

If you’re looking for something more colourful then look no further. If you are the kind of person that likes to stand out with brighter colours, take a look at our red, orange and pink liners. They will certainly jazz up your cars’ interior decor and make your boot stand out from the crowd.

Great alternative colours: Blue & Brown

Our final two colours may not be the most popular or vibrant, but they do have a charm of their own and may suit your car perfectly. The blue is a royal blue, whereas the brown can be described as a milk chocolate brown. Brown is also very popular with customers ordering for cars with beige interiors.

Hopefully this guide has given you an idea of what the Hatchbag boot liner will look like in each colour. Now it’s time to go ahead and customise the perfect boot liner solution for your needs.

You've got a new lease car, but, you need to protect your boot when transporting your dog, pram, fishing gear, DIY tools, bikes etc. Here is where Hatchbag steps in with our array of boot liners in seven colours. Plus our boot liner extras such as, bumper flap, rear seat flap, tailgate cover and a choice of three mats; rubber mat, hatchbed mat and odour mat.

All of our boot covers act as a second skin to your car boot and will prevent your lease car boot’s interior getting covered in dog hair, scratched or damaged. And you may be thinking this all sounds great, but, if I use self-adhesive tabs to attach the boot liner to the car then will this damage the interior?

The answer is no. If your car boot is made from carpet and is self-adhesive tab friendly then you will not have to attach any self-adhesive tabs to your car. You may want to consider our frequent use fitting kit, which consists of thirty-two double-sided adhesive tabs. These tabs act as a sandwich between the liner and the boot carpet, so that when you remove the liner the carpet does not fluff up.

Cleaning your lease car boot

If your car boot is made from plastic, you will need to attach self-adhesive tabs to the boot. Before you do that, we recommend the following cleaning procedure:

• - Take two lint free cloths and Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover.
• - Soak one cloth in Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover and clean down the sides.
• - Take the second cloth and dry the sides to the point the cloth is dragging across the surface.
• - Test a piece of self-adhesive to see if it adheres to the plastic. If yes, continue attaching the remainder tabs. If not, please repeat the above steps.

When you come to remove the boot liner and self-adhesive tabs from the boot, we recommend the following procedure:

• - Take Autoglym Intensive Tar remover and a cloth
• - Soak the cloth in Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover and clean down the plastics to remove any residue
• - Then take any valeting product and valet the sides of your boot

If you return the car after your lease is up then the car boot will be in the same condition as the day you got the vehicle.