A corporate clothing company plans to double its workforce in the next two years.

Workwear Express, of Coxhoe, County Durham, which counts Sage and Durham County Council among its customers, recently moved to 10,500sq ft premises.

It also invested more than £200,000 in machinery to double production of its embroidered and printed garments.

The company, which recently created eight jobs in customer services, sales and production, has 20 full-time staff.

The installation of embroidery machinery from Japan - the first of its kind in Europe - will allow the company to embroider 15,000 to 20,000 garments a week and deliver them anywhere in the UK in a matter of days.

The company was formed six years ago by 31-year-old managing director Andrew Ward. He established the company from his home in Coxhoe, initially specialising in safety wear.

Mr Ward said: "Workwear Express is going from strength to strength, thanks to the dedication and commitment of my employees,who are all local people.

"Our company continues to diversify into new markets and our customer base, which is currently 3,000-plus, is growing rapidly, which is fantastic given the current climate in the textile market."