Until recently, there was one piece of the jigsaw missing; it was our inability to respond to our customers’ demands for etched buttons. It was an obvious and reasonable request. As we all know, branding has become indispensable to more or less every label, atelier and designer. Branding reinforces the names and identities of their makers, allowing them to individualise and project their names to customers on multiple levels. And etching buttons with brand names is an integral part of this exercise for many.

And so, our latest investment has been directed at acquiring, installing and learning how to use a cutting-edge laser etcher from our favoured machine supplier, Bonetti. With their expert help and guidance, we are now up and running and able to offer etching services to our customers.

The jigsaw is complete. And the picture it reveals is one which spans every aspect of button-making from rectifying blanks, to turning buttons, to polishing, dyeing and now etching our buttons to our customers’ specifications. All carried out right here in our Cotswolds factory.

If you would like to know more about our button etching services, please drop us a line. We’d love to help you stand out from the crowd.

A few months ago, we received a telephone call from Nadia Alexander at Alexander Manufacturing in Scotland, quite out of the blue. But it was anything other than a routine call. For Alexander Manufacturing had been selected to make the team uniforms for Team GB at the Paris Olympics and they needed buttons – a lot of buttons to tie everything up.

After sending samples, prototype uniforms were presented to the GB Olympic Committee who gave the go-ahead. In what became a team relay sprint (time is always short on these sorts of jobs), we had to turn, dye and finish thousands of buttons for the hundreds of uniforms which were being made (made-to-measure, as it turned out) for every member of Team GB. It was a sprint, relay and marathon all in one, but we got to the finish line well in time for the uniforms to be ready for the big event.

It is amazing to think that some of our great Olympians (think Tom Pidcock, Tom Daley, Keely Hodgkinson, Adam Peaty, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Dina Asher-Smith, Andy Murray and so many other amazing athletes) have come into contact with buttons made by us. It is really quite overwhelming.

And while we may not have been present at the games themselves, we really struck gold in being a part of the most prestigious sporting event in the world. We cannot thank Nadia, her team and all involved enough for putting their trust in us as suppliers. It has been a great accolade for us and our team in Bourton.

We were delighted (and not a little bit surprised) to receive an invitation for an event at No 10 Downing Street a few weeks ago. It was being organised by the Board of Trade and Anja Hindmarch, the head of the eponymous British handbag maker and was hosted by Akshata Murty, the PM’s wife, who is herself a fashion designer, having started her own brand called Akshata Designs back in 2009.

The event, held on the 17^th April, was billed as a ‘matchmaking’ opportunity to promote British makers and introduce them to a plethora of British brands whose knowledge and contact base of local British manufacturers needed a little ‘refresh’ and to encourage them to support local makers.

We were among an amazing number and variety of suppliers and garment makers from all over the country which collectively presented a really impressive cross section of many highly gifted, professional individuals and companies who are all too often overlooked in favour of their peers dotted around the globe.

Of course, local manufacturing and sourcing is not only good for the UK economy, it is also an astute alternative approach in a world in which conflict, climate change and pandemic have decimated global supply chains. Local production may be more expensive (this is not always or automatically so when seen in the broadest sense), but it does massively improve reliability, flexibility, consistency while maintaining or even improving quality. Coming as it does at a time when economies are struggling and excessive waste in the fashion industry is being penalised, there is now no better time for British brands to support British manufacturers.

Along with so many other firms here in the UK, we are ready to rise to the challenge and become a go-to and reliable ‘manufacturing partner’ to British brands for many years to come. The benefits are many and clear to see. Thanks go out to all those at the Board of Trade, No 10 and Anja Hindmarch for their invaluable support.