Gloucestershire’s 50 Leading Entrepreneurs - September 2019

Pushing all the right buttons

Rescuing 150 years of history, preserving a near-lost craft, bringing back to life a Gloucestershire invention and making the fashion industry look good are all in a day’s work for a Cotswold business. The 150 years of history refers to the last UK horn button maker, Grove & Sons Ltd, the county invention is an ingenious material made from milk, and the green credentials of its products are irresistible for a fashion industry keen for a clear conscious. We are talking about the intriguing story of the Cotswold button manufacturer, Courtney & Co, whose beautifully crafted, classic discs can be found on the cloths of labels fashionistas would die for. Its 150 years of heritage makes for a great back- story – patterns, tools, machinery, photographs, drawings, all bought after the death of a British institution, the aforementioned Grove & Sons. But it shows a respect for and celebration of British manufacturing, of old fashioned (in the best possible way) handmade quality, which fit perfectly in a marketplace hungry for impeccable detail and provenance. “Back in 2013 we became involved with a company called Grove & Sons Ltd based in Halesowen in the West Midlands, which went bust in 2012. It was a venerable name in the industry and 155 years old and we became involved in a project to save it,” said David Courtney, whose first contact with the old business was as an investor. And save it they did, but under new ownership it lasted just 18 months. “So in December 2015 we were left with all the machines and assets and not knowing what to do with them.” Which is when they came across a man called Michael Davis, who had been making polyester buttons in Corby for some time and wanted to diversify. By then Mr Courtney had fallen in love with the idea of re-establishing it as a business and could not let go entirely. A partnership was formed and the result saw Mr Courtney heading up the new company built on the history and heritage of Grove & Sons, alongside the

expert button maker that is Mr Davis and a small team based at its new headquarters in Bourton-on- the-Water. For those still intrigued by the mention of the milk- based material, it is trademarked as Codelite – a material known as casein, cured and hardened milk protein which was first produced in the UK back in 1910 at a factory in Stroud. It is not the only material it uses, but all of its materials are biodegradable. Courtney & Co’s celebration of British business and manufacturing recently drew the attention the Princess Royal, no less. She is the president of the British fashion & textile network the UKFT, of which the button company is a member, and she was intrigued enough to visit for a personal tour of the company. Sales are to trade – usually designers, tailors, and brands and this year it expects to sell an estimated 750,000 buttons. Customers have come from as far afield as South Africa, Ghana, Singapore, Canada and Kenya l

10 | September 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com

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