BJORLOW (GREAT BRITAIN) LTD

Prior to 1933 high quality leather goods had been exported by Bjorlow’s from Copenhagen in Denmark but in that year the British Government imposed a high import tariff on leather goods so the decision was made to set up a factory in Britain and serve their well established customers with high their quality calf suede. In 1934 an independent company was set up and moved to a derelict site of Shaw’s Tannery adjacent to the Grantham Canal. A tannery had been on this site for over 200 years and much of the previous machinery was still available. Danish technicians initially set up production and recruited new staff as well as taking on a nucleus of previously experienced staff. The technicians returned home once their work was completed. Bjorlows started producing split leather suede in 1939 which was very suitable for heavier shoe production and served them well during the war years for supplying flying boot leather to the RAF. The company decided to specialise in suede kid which was a more popular leather for use in the manufacture of ladies shoes and produced from goatskins. Goatskins were imported from many parts of the commonwealth particularly East & South Africa, Nigeria and New Zealand. In the early 50’s a new suede product was pioneered by Bjorlows which rendered it water repellent and significantly improved the resistance to rain on shoes made from this product. Suede calf was made from domestic calf skins with a small amount imported, mainly from Scandanavia. During the 60’s production increased and the factory grew to occupy a ground area of 100,000 square feet. In 1965 the company began to manufacture a suede leather particularly suitable for clothing as it could be dry cleaned. There were at this time 170 staff, of which 32 had received gold watches as a token of 25 years long service. The factory closed in 1973.