the history bristol uniforms history of bristol uniforms... · rapid growth and colonial trade...

1 The History of Bristol Uniforms 1801-2017

Bristol Uniforms1801-2017Bristol Uniforms was founded

back in 1801 and over a period of 200 years, it has been

shaped by four entrepreneurial families – the Gardiners,

Wathens, Hills and Dorrells – who in turn, have taken the company from its humble

beginnings as a small clothing business, to a leading global designer and manufacturer

of protective clothing for the emergency services.

The History


The 19th Century: rapid growth and colonial trade

Bristol Uniforms started life as Gardiner & Sons. Gardiner & Sons was founded in 1801 by John Gardiner, at a time when Bristol had a thriving clothing industry based around the woollen mills of Gloucestershire.

John, a small retail clothier and one-time Postmaster and High Sheriff of Bristol, was based in central Bristol and between the 1830’s and the end of the 19th century the company grew rapidly by securing lucrative colonial trade deals.

In the early 1830s the company began exporting ready-made clothing to the West Indies in large barrels known as ‘puncheons’, which were usually used for rum! In the early 1850s, John Gardiner’s son, Henry Gardiner, took the helm, supported by his two brothers, James and Charles. He not only saw the huge benefits of colonial trade but also substantial new opportunities in Australasia, and the company began exporting there in 1854.

During the middle of the 19th century the expanding business moved first to premises in Maryleport Churchyard and then to 38 Broad Street next to Bristol Guildhall. The extract below provides a colourful description of the business activities at the turn of the 19th century;

‘At Broad Street there were great underground storerooms containing ‘saxonys, cheviots, worsteds, serges, vicunas, meltons, pilots, naps, friezes, flannels, drills, ducks, moles and cottons’ of every type. The cloth was despatched to various cutting rooms and each garment was rolled into a bundle with the various trimmings and sent off to the various employees, some being factory-hands and others outside workers. Some concentrated solely on trousers, others were responsible only for coats. After this the results were despatched to the pressing tables, operated by women. Coat collars were blocked (pressed by hand) by men. The garments were packed in tin-lined cases for shipping in a room which was formerly the County Court.’

Sir Charles Wathen partnered with Henry Gardiner in 1862 and the company became Wathen Gardiner & Co. Sir Charles effectively took control and steered the growth of the company for the next 25 years until his death in 1887. He vigorously pursued export markets across the vast British Empire, and prided himself on providing consistently high quality clothing from his Bristol factory. He is reputed to have bought wool landed early in the morning from Australia and New Zealand, which was turned into ready-to-wear clothes by the end of the day!

Knighted by Queen Victoria for services to the public, Sir Charles was also mayor of Bristol on six separate occasions. After the death of Sir Charles Wathen in 1887, William J Hill took over Wathen Gardiner & Co.

The advertisement dates back to the 1890s and shows ‘a bevy of smartly-dressed men and boys standing by the statue of Queen Victoria (erected 1887) on College Green’ in Bristol.

The picture is an advertisement for boys clothing dating from 1893.

In 1899 the company moved out of the city to a new factory built on a greenfield site at Staple Hill, which at that time was a semi-rural environment surrounded by fields.


The early 20th Century: continued growth and the rise of corporate clothing

In the early 20th century the business went from strength to strength and William J Hill partnered with H R Smith in 1910.

Disaster struck the same year when a fire reduced the factory to rubble (insert picture) and the owners had to find temporary accommodation until it was finally rebuilt in 1917. In 1912, records show the company had 54 employees and, by 1925, this had grown to 66.

By 1921 a considerable volume of business was being done in South America and South Africa, in particular sales of overcoats. This however incurred substantial bad debts and saw the beginnings of a difficult financial period for the company.

An agreement dated November 1925 was drawn up between Wathen Gardiner & Co and a Mr A E Stafford of Capetown for the sale of clothing to customers in South Africa. The representative was paid 5% commission of the net value of sales made (less charges for cases). The terms of the agreement included one which states “all the accounts which are opened to be approved by Wathen Gardiner & Co and the execution of all orders to be subject to their decision”.

In the early 1930s the business was being run by Smith and Hill but by 1935, with the recession looming, the business was starting to struggle. Pat Hill, W J Hill’s son, who at the time was learning his trade in Selfridges, was brought into the company to learn purchasing and sales. Mr Smith, who had been unsuccessfully heading up sales of civilian clothing in the pre-war years was bought out before World War 2.

By the mid-1930s the company had diversified into the design and sale of civilian uniforms to both public and private sectors. Customers during this period included the Board of Trade, water companies, bus operators and mental hospitals, as well as Customs & Excise for whom they began supplying uniforms in 1932.

In 1937 tunics for the air force were made for the first time and the company continued to make them throughout the war.

Pat Hill was called up in August 1939 and spent six years on active service abroad, mainly in the Middle East, returning to the UK in late 1945 to re-join the business. He was officially demobbed in January 1946.

At the end of the war the company gradually reverted back to its pre-war civilian clothing activities whilst maintaining some links with the military. Employee clothing once again became the mainstay of the company’s business and during the next 10 years there was a large expansion in the design and supply of today’s equivalent of corporate wear. Increased competition came from a number of large businesses making serge uniforms for both the public and private sector.

From the outbreak of war in 1939 until the mid-1950s the company continued to sell its products across the world through a network of agents who were paid on commission which ranged from 5-7½%.

Pat Hill became the senior partner in 1954 at which time the company was employing around 200 people.


The late 20th Century: the beginnings of specialised firefighter PPE

The mid 1960s was a period of major change for the company. William Hill retired in 1964 and Wathen Gardiner & Co became a limited company.

Due the company’s close links with the military, the company was asked to develop suitable protective clothing for permanent firefighters who had been recruited to handle emergencies at RAF airfields.

In 1961 Bristol Uniforms (Bristol) was created by Wathen Gardiner & Co to focus on this side of the business. Bristol created the first aluminised suits, which were loosely designed around the buoyancy suits the company had developed for pilots during the war.

Wathen Gardiner & Co focused on the civilian side of the business and a new factory was opened in Calne, Wiltshire, which employed some 50-60 people to meet the growing demand for casual trousers now being sold by major retailers who purchased in bulk direct.

By the 1970s the company employed almost 400 staff at its two factories. As the civilian market became saturated, highly competitive and subject to increasing overseas competition, the civilian business started a long decline and the Calne factory was closed in 1985.

Back at Bristol, things were on the up. New specialist materials started to come onto the market during the late 1960s and early 1970s, including the first Nomex® fabrics from DuPont®. This enabled the development and introduction of new specialised fire clothing to replace the woollen fire tunic (the T9B) which had widely been in use and largely unchanged, since the end of the 19th century.

The T63 was introduced as the forerunner of the modern fire suit and incorporated a serge material with a fire-retardant finish. There was, at this time, no national standard for firefighter clothing but matters started to change slowly. Pat Hill became a pioneer during the 1970s when his approaches to the London Fire Brigade and the Home Office led to the beginnings of a long period of product development. First came the A19 Home Office specification which was a Nomex® outershell short tunic with yellow PVC wet legs. This was followed by the A26 Home Office specification which was the forerunner of the first bunker style fire coat which drew heavily on Bristol’s fire garment design at the time.

Eventually, the first European Standard for firefighter protective clothing was introduced in 1995. The working party, on which Bristol’s technical staff were represented, started work in 1992 and EN469:1995 became the first standard to cover all countries in the European Union.

Pat Hill’s son Ian took over as MD in 1989 when his father, then 74, took a more part-time involvement in the business. Ian had been running Wathen Gardiner & Co since 1981.

Bristol Uniforms and Wathen Gardiner & Co traded alongside one another until the early 1990s.

Pat Hill briefly took back control of the company in 1998 to oversee its sale.

At this time, Bristol Uniforms became part of the international BTQ Group, whose major shareholder was Alan Dorrell. Peter Warr became its chairman. Bristol’s sister companies included Bristol Fire Apparel, Topps Safety Apparel, Quaker Safety Products and Pro-Tuff in the USA. Bristol remains part of BTQ Group to this day.

Pat Hill


The 21st century – the first decade: a time of major change and a new chapter in the company’s history

2001 saw the appointment of Roger Startin and Ian Mitchell as joint managing directors of the company.

Huge strides made in fabric technology and design This period saw considerable change in fabric technology which in turn, led to rapid developments in firefighter clothing design. These ran hand in hand alongside changes in international standards for PPE.

Bristol was of course at the forefront of firefighter PPE development at this time and continued to set the pace for design and firefighter safety.

Strides made by the fibre manufacturers – in particular DuPont®, PBI® and Kermel – meant lightweight fabrics became a reality, which when combined with high performance moisture barriers developed by W L Gore, enabled Bristol to design a lighter, more flexible PPE solution without compromising its resistance to fire, heat and water.

In 2003, ground breaking human physiology trials took place on behalf of Bristol to determine the impact of different designs on heat stress. Following these trials Bristol launched its Ergotech™ and Ergotech Action™ ranges - a new generation of lightweight PPE which ushered in a new era of firefighter clothing design.

Introduction of after-sales care and maintenance In another move to help employers meet their health & safety obligations, an integrated managed care service was launched in 2000 by Bristol Care™ - a new division of the company, which has grown significantly over the years and continues to this day. This service includes collecting soiled or damaged garments from FRSs around the country, transporting them to one of Bristol’s Service Centres for thorough cleaning, inspection and repair, before returning them to the customer within a guaranteed seven days. At every stage in the process, customers are able to access their own confidential services records online, and track progress of their equipment.

Diversification into emergency services market Following the London bombings in July 2005 the UK’s emergency services saw major changes to the way they operated. Greater collaborative working and coordinated control at times of major incidents, enabled them to respond better e.g. to the major flooding we saw in 2007. These developments brought with them the need for all frontline emergency services personnel to be suitably protected, in particular for search and rescue missions associated with major industrial accidents, terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

These developments saw Bristol embark on a new business strategy in 2005 and use its skills and experience to develop PPE for the police and ambulance services.

In 2006, Bristol expanded its managed services offering, providing lifetime maintenance for police public order PPE – the first time it had diversified from its core fire market for almost 40 years.

In 2007, it then launched its own comprehensive range of PPE for the police and became the first ever manufacturer to supply and maintain customers’ garments all under one roof.

In 2008, Bristol entered the ambulance market for the first time by designing new technical rescue PPE to protect ambulance crews working in ‘hot zones’ alongside firefighters and the police.


New International Distribution Centre2009 saw the opening of the company’s new international distribution centre at Yate, to the north of the city. With easy access to the motorway system, it provided an additional 11,000 sq ft of storage space. By moving the entire distribution facility to this new site, it enabled the expansion of the materials warehouse and Bristol’s Head Office in Staple Hill.

Introduction of the Integrated Clothing Project 2007 saw the UK government introduce a scheme called The Integrated Clothing Project (ICP), a national procurement framework, which aimed to save FRS’ time and money without compromising on quality. Leading UK and European companies bid to become the lead ICP supplier for a 15 year period up to 2022. This competitive tendering process looked at every aspect of PPE supply, from design and manufacture, to the financial and commercial stability and capability of the tendering companies. It also evaluated the bidders’ managed service provision. In April 2007 Bristol was identified as the Preferred Bidder, opening up new opportunities to expand its share of the UK fire and rescue (FRS) market not only in PPE, but for station wear, ceremonial uniforms and managed services.

International growth During this time rapid changes abroad saw the company’s presence in overseas markets expand considerably as its brand became firmly established in international markets across the world - synonymous with innovative and world class specialist protective clothing. Bristol rekindled its long history with Australia. 150 years after its successful entry into the Australian market with woollen clothing, the appointment of a new distributor there re-opened the market. Bristol is now the largest supplier of firefighter PPE to the country’s airports.

It also became a major supplier of structural firefighter PPE to a number civil defence forces in the Gulf States, and expanded its presence in Eastern Europe when new members joined the EU and its influence increased along the Pacific Rim.

International Distribution

Centre, Yate


The 21st century – the second decade: Expansion and innovation

Our peopleSadly Pat Hill died in 2010, aged 95. In the same year Alan Dorrell became chairman on the retirement of Peter Warr.

2012 was a landmark year which saw Joint Managing Directors Ian Mitchell and Roger Startin celebrate ten years together at the helm.

During 2014, three senior managers were appointed directors in recognition of their contribution to the growth and development of the business in recent years. Philip Tasker became UK Sales Director; Edward Shepherd, Service Operations Director; and David Thompson, Finance Director.

Some key milestones• New service centre opened in early 2010 at Rainham, Greater London and

the company’s offices in Staple Hill were enlarged and refurbished

• In 2010 Bristol celebrated 10 years of managed services, which continued to be adopted by more and more FRSs and ambulance services across the UK

• During this time the company introduced a new wet cleaning process for PPE and an innovative decontamination process for hard PPE, such as boots, helmets and SCBA supporting frames

• Over this period, Bristol distributors began offering maintenance services in Spain, Slovenia, Netherlands, Australia and Finland, as the importance of regular cleaning and repair of technical garments and the health and safety of front line emergency responders became better recognised and understood

• Bristol’s 9th International Distributor Conference was held in 2014 which attracted over 40 delegates from 28 countries

• The company continued its well-established support for leading international fire and emergency services exhibitions

• The Integrated Clothing Project (ICP) was renamed and became the Central PPE and Clothing Contract (CPCC) in 2014

• A CPCC Technology Refresh was undertaken and in 2015 a new range of PPE was included to the scheme. New structural, wildland and technical rescue garments were added to the range

• In April 2016 the company’s product innovation department expanded. It took on more staff and invested in a new custom-designed studio at the heart of Bristol’s factory in Staple Hill

• In autumn 2016 Bristol’s Managed Service Centres in the UK expanded, allowing it to handle up to 3,500 items of PPE every week. The company increased its team by more than 30%, and its facility at Staple Hill doubled in floor space and underwent a thorough re-organisation in order to increase capacity

• In 2016, Bristol celebrated a 40 year partnership with Concorde Trading Company, its distributor in Abu Dhabi. They were Bristol’s first ever overseas distributor and paved the way for the future development of a global network of distributors

Roger Startin and Ian Mitchell

Edward Shepherd Philip Tasker David Thompson

Peter Warr

Rainham Service Centre


New contracts• Our international distributor network was further expanded and we

continued to open up new export markets, with new contracts in New Zealand, Australia, the Gulf States, Scandinavia and the Caribbean

• Demand from FRSs in Spain and Nordic countries grew as did substantial new business from civil defence authorities across the Gulf States

• In 2010 Bristol alongside distributor PAC Fire, won new contracts to supply the Australian Defence Force as well as Airservices Australia whose 1400 firefighters operate at 21 of Australia’s largest airports

• In the UK new PPE contracts helped drive business growth including London Fire Brigade, Cambridgeshire FRS, Greater Manchester FRS, West Midlands FRS, Channel Islands fire services and Avon FRS. New airport customers included Gatwick, Prestwick and further growth at Bristol Airport

• Bristol became an approved supplier to the UK’s Department of Health

New products and technical developments• During this period, Bristol continued to build on the well-established

external collaborative research and development programmes with its key fibre and fabric suppliers including DuPont®, PBI®, Hainsworth and W L Gore

• Bristol introduced XFlex™ in 2011 - a structural range with a unique thermal lining, ECO-dry™, made for Bristol by A W Hainsworth

• It launched RescueFlex™ in 2012 - a new generation of USAR PPE

• Between 2012 -2014 Bristol expanded the number of products made in-house to include a new range of hoods and gloves to enhance PPE compatibility and security of supply

• In 2012 Bristol launched new technical rescue flying suits for air ambulance crews

• In 2013 the revised NFPA1971:2013 standard saw the introduction of two new NFPA ensemble options based on the Ergotech™ and XFlex™ designs

• The company introduced an EN361 compliant, integrated safety harness

• It designed a lighter weight firefighter motorcycle suit which is dual certified to meet both the European Standard for Professional Motorcycle Riders and the European Standard for Fire-fighters’ Clothing

• In 2014 Bristol introduced the LayerFlex™ range, which was expanded in 2015 to include an increased range of colours and fabrics

• It designed a new generation of protective clothing for ambulance crews operating in hot zones and hazardous areas. By 2015 the company was the dominant supplier of HART kit across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

• Developed new marine firefighting PPE to meet the European Marine Equipment Directive 96/98/EC and the performance standard, EN469:2005. In 2015 it became a fully integrated head-to-toe range of garments, which included a coat, trouser, and an updated set of hand, foot and head protection

• A new Gore® Parallon™ fabric, a combined thermal and moisture barrier, was introduced in 2015 and has already been offered as an option for XFlex™ garments

• In 2016, it introduced a new technical rescue coat and jacket, made with the latest GORE® PYRAD Fabric Technology. The new Gore® Varde jacket and trouser combination is part of Bristol’s RescueFlex range, offering significantly more comfort and flexibility for firefighters faced with technical rescue operations


2017

2017 was an exceptionally busy year for Bristol Uniforms, at home and abroad.

Major new contract win in UKIn June, Bristol Uniforms was awarded a major contract to supply firefighting PPE for a new Collaborative Procurement Framework, accessible to all Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) across the UK. The contract allows them to save time and money, share best practice, and provides access to high quality PPE ensembles, suitable for the varying roles and activities faced by the modern firefighter.

Expansion of UK operationsFollowing a very busy year and increased demand for the company’s PPE both internationally and in the UK, Bristol appointed Contracts Manager Adele Harris to provide operational support and manage deliveries for existing long-term managed services contracts, as well as implementing new contracts.

In addition, it more than doubled its manufacturing capabilities in 2017. The company recruited extra staff and opened a new 40,000 sq. ft. Central Cutting Unit, which is home to lay planning, fabric cutting, and its fabric and finished goods store. It also expanded its sewing production line and Western Service Centre.

New productsIn March of this year the company launched a brand new textile structural firefighting glove into the Australian and New Zealand market, which was the first of its kind to meet local standards. This was quickly followed in August by the launch of a brand new range of Wildland Firefighting PPE, which came off the back of an increase in demand for higher performance protective fabrics, lighter weight solutions and improved ergonomics and fit in wildfire protection.

These products enabled Bristol to grow its market share significantly in Australia.

2017 also saw Bristol launch a revolutionary new hood to protect firefighters’ vulnerable neck and upper jaw area. The Particulate Protection Hood is proven to be 99.8% efficient at filtering harmful smoke particles and was designed in direct response to recent research highlighting a potential link between exposure to smoke particles and higher rates of cancer amongst firefighters.

Expansion of International Distributers’ networkBristol’s International Distributors’ network continued to grow in 2017. In May, distributors from across Asia, Europe, South America, Africa and Australia attended a three-day conference in Bristol, which was a great opportunity to chat about business and catch up on all the latest industry developments, including European and international standards and Bristol’s new product development programme.


Bristol Uniforms1801-2017

The History

the history bristol uniforms history of bristol uniforms... · rapid growth and colonial trade...

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