Now, the company employs 18 staff and offers a whole range of services to businesses including print and design; workwear – including embroidery and printing; office furniture and fit-out; general office supplies; and promotional items.
Michael Cawthorne – the great grandson of the founder – has worked in the business for 50 years and has now handed over the bulk of the ownership to his children, Hayley, Matthew and Harry who are shareholders and directors.
The company has been built on great customer service and continued investment in diversification of services and markets.
Those values remain true today with the firm enjoying a very low staff turnover rate due to the culture within Cawthornes and significant six figure investments in machinery and equipment to offer the highest quality print and embroidery to clients.
It serves a range of sectors including engineering, automotive, education, logistics, healthcare and SMEs across a host of industries.
Michael said: “Customer service has been at the heart of everything we’ve done for more than 158 years. You can see how important that is to Hayley, Matthew and Harry and it comes through in all of the staff too.
“The whole team has had such a big part to play in where we are today. If somebody comes to us with a problem we’ll try to fix it for them. If it’s something we don’t normally do, we’ll work hard to try to provide a solution for them and I think that’s why we’ve enjoyed such longevity and such loyalty from staff and customers.”
Hayley added: “We want to keep investing and growing. That’s something we’ve seen over the years and we want to carry that forward. The current economic climate isn’t easy but we’ve invested significantly in printers and equipment in the past 12 months because it means we can offer the highest quality in everything we do.
“And we have to make sure we look after our staff too and invest in them because there are a lot of skills and knowledge within the business. It’s a real honour to be taking the Cawthornes name forward as the fifth generation and we see exciting times ahead.”
Matthew said: “We’ve broadened what we do and the client-base we serve so we’re not vulnerable to a downturn in one particular sector.
“The office fit-out market is going strongly at the moment and if a company has an office of between 20 and 200 people we can offer them a full suite of services – print, stationery, workwear, furniture and promotional goods.”
Harry is the newest director of the business and is responsible for sales and marketing.
He said: “I love getting out into the business community – especially through the Chamber – and letting people know what we do. Lots of companies only know us for one thing so it’s important that we talk about the breadth of services we offer.
“It’s exciting times ahead for the business and it’s great to be working with Matthew and Hayley to take it forward.”
