Signature Prints, a Sydney-based exporter headed by husband and wife team David and Helen Lennie, is taking Australian designs to the world’s interior design and high-end fashion industries.

The company, which prints textiles and wallpaper, is helping the world rediscover the iconic Australian designer Florence Broadhurst, whose celebrated designs are among the company’s overall library of 16,000 prints.

“We set out from the beginning to create a brand, not just to sell wallpaper and fabric,” explained David Lennie. “Now we’re moving into licensing the use of the designs.”

Thanks to EFIC Headway – a product from the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) – Signature Prints is accessing additional working capital finance from its bank, NAB, to meet increased overseas demand.

The extra working capital is vital to the company’s strategy to achieve further export success in North America and Europe.

“For the last five years we tended to develop product for export when we could afford it rather than when the market was calling for it,” said David Lennie.

“EFIC Headway helped us deal with cash flow issues and to align our export projects with growing overseas demand.”

“EFIC’s support also means we can achieve economies by purchasing our raw materials in commercial quantities.”

EFIC Headway is a financial guarantee from EFIC to a participating bank, designed especially for small to medium-sized exporters to overcome the common problem of limited access to working capital.

EFIC Headway is distributed by NAB, Westpac, HSBC, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, BankWest, Bank of Queensland, Bendigo Bank and St.George.